The 2023 Field Season of the Libarna Urban Landscapes Project (LULP) (15 min)

Presenters

Katherine V. Huntley, Boise State University; Alexis Christensen, University of Utah; Alexis Mosley, Network Archaeology (UK);, and Richard Chadwick, Museum of London Archaeology

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the initial excavations of the Libarna Urban Landscapes Project (LULP), a multiyear study aimed at understanding the urban environment of Libarna, a Roman city in western Cisalpine Gaul. During July 2023, LULP undertook excavations at the site to address questions pertaining to the development of the urban layout. Founded in the second century B.C.E. and located in ancient Regio IX Liguria, Libarna was a major trading center along the Via Postumia that ran from Genoa in the west to Aquileia on the east coast. The public buildings, including the amphitheater, theater, and bath complex, are well-known and were constructed in the first century C.E.

The focus of these new excavations is a central part of the city situated between the forum and theater, in an area believed to be made up predominantly of private and domestic buildings. Preliminary results from the excavation of two trenches this season attest to two periods of significant change at Libarna: a period of development and remodeling in the first century C.E., when Rome was carrying out building programs throughout the region, and a period of contraction in the fourth–fifth century C.E., not long before Libarna’s assumed abandonment. Our excavations revealed evidence of significant reworking of a domestic building façade and sidewalk contemporary with the construction of major public works such as the nearby theater in the first century C.E. Less attention has been paid to the end of Libarna and its afterlife, but remains of late antique walls and associated ceramics discovered this season will allow us to better understand this late phase. Additionally, evidence of postantique spoliation tells of the ongoing engagement with the ancient city by those who continued to occupy the Scrivia Valley.