Forum I

(Teresa Clay, 1991)

Objectives

Forum I was excavated towards the middle of the forum on the southeast side of the 'short axis trench' excavated in 1973. It was intended to recover the stratigraphy of the open area of forum and to establish whether there was any late occupation there.

Dimensions

The trench measured 5 x 8m., and lay exactly 9 meters from the southwest kerb of the forum.

Stratigraphy

Hollows in bedrock were filled by the red silt characteristic of the hill. Above this, 6 probably represents the Augustan surface of the forum. It consisted of very compact brown-brown loam, with mortar flecks and a few limestone pebbles. It remained unexcavated, so no precise date is available. Over it, and cut slightly into it, was a linear feature of pebbles (7) running diagonally across the trench (pl. 44). This was not excavated either, and a doubt remains as to whether it represents a path running diagonally across the forum, or whether it is the fill of a deep cut, visible in section, which cut through 6. This might represent some sort of drainage, or, possibly, a drain that was later filled in and surfaced with the pebbles of 7. No certainty is possible, so the question must remain open.

Above these surfaces a relatively thick layer of brown-brown sandy loam, 5, probably represents the makeup for a compact beaten earth surface, 4. A fragment of ARS form Hayes 88 dates this surface to the sixth century. Above it, a spread of rubble with a compacted surface (3, 2) may represent the use of this surface or, more likely, the surface of the road that ran across the forum from the ramp in the Curia. This was covered by topsoil, 1, which suggests that no further activity took place in the forum. Two coins, the first dated to the late fourth Òfifth century, and the second to the late fifth or early sixth century, were found in this layer (catalogue nn. 82 and 83).