The evolution of Rome's maritime facade: archaeology & geomorphology at Castleporziano

Arising from questions raised by the excavations at the Vicus in the 1990s, the project investigated the nature and chronology of physical changes affecting the litus Laurentinum before, during and immediately after the Roman period. A GIS database for current and future archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research in the area was created to integrate different categories of data and provide an understanding of the spatial development of the area through time. Archaeological, geophysical and geomorphological survey methods are being combined in the study of a series of transects across the ancient coastline as it is preserved within the Castelporziano estate. The aims of the project were: definition of a broad chronological framework for the advance of the Tyrrhenian coast south of the Tiber from c. 10,000 BC to AD 2000; analysis of the palaeoenvironmental changes associated with that advance; investigation of the relationships between the geomorphology and the pattern of human settlement in the coastal zone during the Roman period (100 BC-AD500).