OSTIA ANTICA CONSERVATION PROJECT

Invited by dott. Angelo Pellegrino, Director of Ostia Antica, AIRC began a collaborative effort with the Archaeological Superintendency of Rome and Ales, spa (dott. Enrico Rinaldi) to complement their conservation work in Region III, on the Via della Foce, across from the Sanctuary of Hercules.  In this effort, where vegetation overgrowth has been cleared recently and walls recapped by Ales, AIRC began to address the age-old problem of vegetation regrowth after conservation work in a limited test area.  In our initial survey, in which we produced drawings of the walls of a single room, we excavated to the floor (in May and June-July periods) to reveal the ancient levels, in order to understand and document the many periods of occupation.  In November, we covered the floor with a new aggregate material that is both impervious to biological growth and totally reversible.  Our colleagues at the Villa of the Quintilii have had great success with this inexpensive material, and we look forward to implementing this phase in the fall. We are looking forward to expanding this project in 2012, and we give special thanks to long-standing AIRC excavator Jeff Edwards and new archaeologist collaboratordott.ssa Claudia Micari!