Research
AMP is led by a team of American and Italian scholars with both academic and professional archaeological expertise. We have designed our excavation methodologies in combination with modern surveying and documentation technologies to document the stratigraphy and materials to as high a degree of accuracy as possible.
We are in constant conversation with the archaelogical superintendency of Rome (SABAP Roma) to answer our wide-ranging and diachronic research questions.
We are committed to disseminating our results in both English and Italian in a timely and thorough manner through academic publications and presentations in international academic conferences.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Wueste, Elizabeth, Giulia Facchin, and Pier M. Barone. 2022. "Aventinus Minor Project: Remote Sensing for Archaeological Research in Rome (Italy)" Remote Sensing 14, no. 4: 959. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14040959
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a preliminary survey in a central urban area of Rome, Italy. The results were obtained from both desktop and remote sensing surveys. The Aventinus Minor Project (AMP) is a community archaeological excavation project focusing on an understudied area in Rome with limited modern archaeological excavation: the Aventinus Minor or Little Aventine. The remote sensing (RS) anomalies revealed by the survey illustrate that this area is potentially rich in buried structures potentially correlated with ancient visible remains (i.e., the Servian Walls and Santa Balbina church). The application of RS approaches (such as NDVI, VARI, and GPR) and the creation of a GIS platform lays the foundations for a correct and georeferenced reporting of all collected data, providing a nuanced understanding of the urban archaeology in the dense topography of Rome.
Keywords: AMP; remote sensing; GPR; NDVI; VARI; GIS; Rome
Academic Conferences
The Archaeological Institute of America 2022 Annual Meeting
The Aventinus Minor Project: the inaugural 2021 field season
Elizabeth Wueste, Giulia Facchin, and Pier Matteo Barone
Session 4L: The City of Rome
January 7, 2022
This field report presents the preliminary results of the first on-site season of the Aventinus Minor Project [AMP], a new archaeological excavation project located in urban Rome. The site is located in in the Aventine neighborhood, between the Circus Maximus and the Baths of Caracalla, and adjacent to Santa Balbina Church. Limited test trenches excavated in the 1980s and preliminary archival, cartographic, and topographical research suggest that the site might have an intact stratigraphic sequence beginning in the Archaic period. Additionally, the site may contain a portion of the Servian Wall, second century CE houses, and Renaissance vineyards.
In May and June of 2021, AMP conducted archival research and noninvasive geophysical prospection, including ground-penetrating radar, drone photography, and photogrammetry of the site. The AMP team also completed extensive community research on the Piccolo Aventino Hill, and produced a GIS database that maps both the known archaeological remains in addition to historical and modern landmarks. The first season of excavation is planned for summer 2022.
AMP is designed as a community archaeology project and includes local high school students from St. Stephens School, community members from the Instituto Santa Margherita convalescent home, students from the American University of Rome, as well as academics and researchers from both Italy and the US. The archaeological research purposefully involves multigenerational local community members in the processes of discovering, interpreting, and presenting information about their own cultural and material histories.