The Archaeology Centre presents Dr. Seth Bernard.
The basic history of the Roman city of Falerii novi (“new Falerii”) is known from our historical sources: the site was established in 241 BCE after the Romans conquered the nearby Faliscan hilltop site of Falerii veteres (“old Falerii”, modern Cività Castellana) and forcibly moved its indigenous population to a new site in a low-lying area.
Subsequently, the city’s geographical and political proximity to Rome helped it thrive through both Republic and Empire, for almost a millennium. In the medieval period, its population transferred once more, this time back to the easily defended hill of Cività Castellana, leaving the “new” city abandoned.
Several decades of geophysical research reveals the site’s impressive urban plan of regular streets and monumental architecture.
This talk presents a new collaborative project to test these results through open context stratigraphic excavation.
We will explore Falerii novi’s history as a case of urban patterns of discontinuity and resiliency while discussing the methodological question of how to pivot from survey to excavation in the context of a large greenfield site.
