Excavation at Portus

Excavation is critical in allowing us to answer fine-grained questions about the site such as the nature of individual buildings, their chronological development and the material culture of the people that used them. Targeted excavations were started in 2007 under the direction of Simon Keay and Graeme Earl. These are beginning to disentangle the structural sequence of the port; this is particularly important for the pre-Trajanic phase since many structures were either obliterated or built over in the course of the Trajanic transformation. Portus is exceptional in the range and volume of pottery and marble, as well as animal and fish bones, and botanical remains. All of this material has huge potential for writing the economic and social history of the port, thereby making an important contribution to our understanding of its role and relationship to Ostia, Rome and the Roman Imperial Mediterranean.