Forum II and III

(Elizabeth Fentress, 1991 and 1992)

Objectives

The trenches, to the east of temple B, were aimed at investigating an area of walls whose orientation was skew to the Roman alignment, suggesting that they might be medieval, and at understanding their relationship with the church excavated on temple B in 1953. A further objective was the understanding of the Roman plan of this area, which would have completed the line of public buildings on the northeast side of the forum.

Dimensions

The northwestern limit was the trench excavated around temple B in 1953, which cut through most of the stratigraphy in this sector. The trench followed the orientation of the Republican grid, running from temple B to a wall (16) on the southwest edge of street Q, 22.5 meters from temple B. The trench was 10m. wide, narrowing to 5m. near temple B to avoid a tree and some large blocks. An 'isolation trench', 5m. wide at the top, with a sloping section, had been dug around the temple.

In 1992 the trench was extended to the southeast, with a further, triangular extension to recover the whole section of the ditch revealed in the east corner. Once it was established that the medieval cemetery covered almost the whole trench, it was decided to limit its excavation to the area close to the temple, and an area to the southeast of wall 11 was left unexcavated at the top layers of the cemetery. In 1992 a second trench, Forum III, was opened parallel to Forum II to the northeast, leaving a 3m. baulk between them for a barrow run. The trench measured 4 x 10m., and was excavated only to the latest levels. It will be discussed with Forum II. All context numbers are assumed to be from Forum II unless Forum III is specified. A small sondage, measuring 2 x 2.5 m., was excavated in 1993 under the cemetery at the edge of Richardson's 1953 excavations to connect the Byzantine and later sequence to the construction layers of temple B.

Stratigraphic sequence

The Roman period

A thin layer of red earth over bedrock, excavated in the sondage next to temple B (68) contained charcoal flecks, and two sherds of apparently archaic Etruscan pottery. As this was only excavated in the 1993 sondage, we cannot be sure whether it was associated with occupation of the hilltop or with the cemetery for which there is evidence elsewhere at Cosa.

The earliest structure in the area of the trench is the Roman wall 16, and its two returns toward the northwest, 35 and 63. 16 runs along the northwest side of street Q. It is probable that both of the returns marked the corners of the building, giving it an overall width of 8m., comparable to houses elsewhere on the site. An alleyway ran between it and the 'carcer'. A probable step in this alley, 17, links the corner of the building to the carcer, abutting both buildings. The rest of the building was entirely cut away prior to the construction of temple B (69). A small patch of tile flooring, covered by rubble destruction debris remained against the wall (19). This lay at the same absolute height as the floor of the carcer, and a cut sloped down from this toward temple B, cutting away the earlier stratigraphy and, in some cases, the bedrock. Near temple B, the 'archaic' deposit 68 was covered with a thin layer of earth with a few republican sherds (67), and then a thicker layer (66) filled with limestone spalls from the shaping of the blocks for temple B. This was also recorded by Richardson in 1953, as level III. 16, or what remained of it, then served as a kerb for street Q. It is uncertain how high it stood: it is preserved to 80cm. over the Roman cut, and it may have been considerably higher, serving as a sort of temenos wall to delimit the space to the southeast of temple B. Later disturbances prevent us from knowing anything about the space between wall 16 and temple B during the Roman period. There is a slight trace of a midden deposit over the construction layer (21) but this is largely 2nd c. A.D., and it may be presumed that the area was grassed or otherwise planted during the republican period.

The only Roman layers recorded in the trench lay to the southeast of wall 16, over the surface of street Q. These consisted of midden deposits, relatively rich in pottery, piled up against the face of the wall. The earliest of these reached by the excavation, 61 and 62, contained pottery of the first half of the 1st c. A.D., while the later deposits, 55, 54, and 42, contained pottery dating between A.D. 80 and 130. This suggests that the road was no longer kept clean from the beginning of the first century: indeed, it appears to lie outside the limit of the Augustan recolonization. After this time the pottery sequence stops, and we have no way of dating precisely the two tombs found cutting the middens. One of these (58, 59) is a small cist built against the southeast side of wall 16. It contained disarticulated human bone, and may represent a reburial of a tomb disturbed by some activity, or, possibly, an incineration. The other, 60, 64, was a 'tomba a cappuccina', covered by pantiles. This was observed for a short distance only, as it ran under the section, but it clearly cut the midden deposits. It may be interpreted as a burial dating some time between the third and the sixth centuries, but no further precision is possible. The midden was truncated by the digging of the medieval ditch.

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