Forum Novum was a new Roman foundation which developed as a forum or market centre during the Republican period. By the early 1 st century AD Forum Novum had been elevated to the status of municipium, appearing as such in Pliny's list of towns. Knowledge of the history of the centre comes largely from literary sources and the rich epigraphic evidence. Forum Novum seems to have functioned throughout the imperial period and a market was still being held at the centre in the fourth century. Although urban life probably underwent a decline around this period, Forum Novum, later Vescovio, continued to act as a local and regional focus with the establishment of a bishopric in the fifth century, a role it maintained throughout the early medieval and medieval periods. Little systematic archaeological work has been carried out on the centre or its valley. Excavations carried out by the Soprintendenza Archeologica per il Lazio in the late 1970s and early 80s revealed the basilica, a temple complex, part of the forum and various associated buildings of uncertain function. The results have never been fully published.

The current project began in 1997. The aim is to apply a series of approaches to the centre in order to provide a detailed and systematic study. As such it provides a complement to the other urban studies being carried out as part of the Tiber valley project, in particular to the study of the larger scales of urban form currently being carried out by Simon Keay and Martin Millett ( Roman Towns Project ). This includes examining (1) the size and organization of the centre, (2) its growth and development in relation to the surrounding territory and to Rome itself; (3) developments during late antiquity and the early middle ages, which saw the decline of the municipium and the emergence of the site as a bishop's seat.

The investigations are directed by Vince Gaffney (University of Birmingham), Helen Patterson (British School at Rome) and Paul Roberts (British Museum), in collaboration with Salvatore Piro (CNR - Istituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali), the Soprintendenza Archeologica del Lazio and the Provincia di Rieti. The size and layout of the town is being investigated through a range of surface survey techniques, in particular geophysical survey (resistivity, magnetometry and georadar), combined with intensive field survey. This is followed by the excavation of selected areas to examine the origins and social and economic development of the centre.

Initial work aimed to define the extent and spatial organisation of the town. Resistivity and magnetometry survey of the area carried out in September 1997 revealed that Forum Novum was a very small centre limited mainly to public buildings. Discoveries included the identification of a large villa just outside the town. The clear plan revealed a suite of rooms composed around a central courtyard. The combination of resistivity and surface survey revealed the presence of a possible bath complex, again just outside the town centre.

With regard to the rest of the ancient centre, much of it appears to lie underneath the church of Santa Maria in Vescovio itself and modern structures (roads, car parks and buildings). As magnetic and resistivity prospecting is unsuitable in these conditions, Dean Goodman (University of Miami, Ishikawa), Yasushi Nishimura (Nara National Cultural Properties Institute, Nara-Shi) and Salvatore Pirò (CNR - Istituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali) carried out a georadar survey in July 1998 to the southwest of the forum complex in an area, which is now a gravel-surfaced car park. The results were impressive: a complex of axial, linear structures, possibly fronted by a colonnade respecting a road, with room divisions and doorways was clearly visible. The structures probably represent a warehouse or horreum . Further georadar work has revealed a series of additional structures clustered around the area of the forum complex, including the clear plan of an amphitheatre to the southwest of the forum, whose existence was previously unknown, the podium of a large temple, a large complex which excavations later showed to be a bath complex and, just outside the centre associated with the villa, a large diamond-shaped precinct associated with tombs.

On the basis of the geophysics results, excavations were carried out of the amphitheatre, the bath complex, the villa, and a tomb complex. Further excavations are being carried out behind the apse of the Romanesque church of Santa Maria in Vescovio with its eighth to ninth centuries crypt aimed at investigating the late Roman and early medieval transition phases.

 

Results suggest that the centre, which on the basis of the present evidence appears to have been founded as a market centre or forum by the 2 nd century BC, enjoyed a period of growth during the Augustan period and the first century AD. In this period the forum was rebuilt on a different orientation, a basilica was built, the amphitheatre was constructed and outside the immediate centre of the town a large villa and associated funerary complex and baths were built. However this initial investment seems to have been short-lived, by the third century AD the town was already in decline with many of the monumental features, such as the amphitheatre and baths, being abandoned. Nevertheless the town continued to function, for example a market was still being held in the fourth century AD and the continued importance of the centre as a local and regional focus is confirmed by the establishment of the bishop's seat in the 5 th century. Testimony to its significance throughout this period is the church of Santa Maria in Vescovio, which still dominates the landscape today. Excavations behind the church are shedding light on developments between the late Roman and medieval periods with a sequence stretching from the first to thirteenth centuries AD.