With the 2016 season the archaeological project at Interamna Lirenas has entered its seventh year of fieldwork. Building on an integrated array of research activities carried out across town and countryside, our team has been gathering a rich and varied array of evidence attesting to the liveliness of this Roman town from its foundation (312 bc) until the late Imperial period (Bellini et al., Reference Bellini, Hay, Launaro, Leone and Millett2012; Bellini et al., Reference Bellini, Hay, Launaro, Leone and Millett2013; Bellini, Launaro and Millett, Reference Bellini, Launaro, Millett, Stek and Pelgrom2014; Bellini et al., Reference Bellini, Hay, Launaro, Leone and Millett2014; Ballantyne et al., Reference Ballantyne, Bellini, Hay, Launaro, Leone and Millett2015; Ballantyne et al., Reference Ballantyne, Bellini, Hales, Launaro, Leone, Millett, Verdonck and Vermeulen2016). In 2016 we concentrated on two main activities: the excavation of the theatre and the full coverage ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the urban area, the latter being paired with systematic sample surface collections and test-pitting of the plough-soil.

As far as the excavation is concerned, the thorough and timely study of finds from the sub-trench laid across the cavea [A], the orchestra [B] and the pulpitum [C] left little doubt that the interior of the theatre had been used, over a rather extended period of time, as a ‘dump’ for (Roman) building debris, most likely the result of field-clearing from across the urban area in the medieval and post-medieval periods (Ballantyne et al., Reference Ballantyne, Bellini, Hay, Launaro, Leone and Millett2015; Reference Ballantyne, Bellini, Hales, Launaro, Leone, Millett, Verdonck and Vermeulen2016). This large and deep layer of debris was therefore (for the most part) excavated only to reveal more extensive and articulated traces of that late phase of use as a quarry which we identified in 2015 (Fig. 1). The spaces of the orchestra and pulpitum appear to have been somewhat unified by having the proscaenium wall [D] (and related aulaeum slots [E]) razed to foundation level. A relatively thick layer of opus caementicium (concrete) laid over a soil embankment is what is left of the lower cavea, entirely deprived of its stonework, were it not for scant remains of the last two rows of seats and a section of the praecinctio [F] at its northwestern end. The orchestra was completely robbed of both its flooring and the broad steps that most likely ran around its rim (only the underlying preparation in opus caementicium remains). In fact, after it ceased to be used for entertainment, the theatre was subjected to a systematic process of spoliation: the original stonework was sorted according to quality (for example, marble semi-columns were kept separated from the rest), broken up as needed and gathered in small heaps. A large and thick layer of chipped limestone in the centre of the orchestra provides evidence of further processing of the spoliated stonework (for example, being smashed into smaller fragments to be burnt in a limekiln; being re-worked into building blocks of different shape/size). Although the seemingly well-preserved aditus maximi [G] must have provided the main passageways to/from the processing area, some of these activities might have required improved access: in fact, the same cut we identified into the scaenae frons [H] in 2015 appears to have extended all the way across the pulpitum, the proscaenium wall, the orchestra and the lower cavea itself, thus defining a possible — if surprisingly deep — pathway across the building.

Fig. 1. Plan of the excavation at the end of the 2016 season.

The excavation was also further extended in order to uncover most of the remaining plan of the theatre building: in these other areas, only the plough-soil was removed in order to bring to light the upper profile of the walls. This decision was taken for two reasons: (a) to further verify the accuracy of the relevant GPR images from 2015 (Fig. 2); and (b) to initiate a process of conservation of the structures as part of the Comune’s long-standing commitment towards making the excavation accessible to the general public. The GPR images turned out to be extremely accurate, although — as expected — the antenna array failed to pick up any anomaly deeper than 1.5 m below the surface (hence missing any feature belonging to the lower cavea, orchestra and pulpitum). A survey of the visible structures (corresponding to about 90% of the entire plan of the building) reinforces our original hypothesis that the theatre originally had been roofed (Ballantyne et al., Reference Ballantyne, Bellini, Hales, Launaro, Leone, Millett, Verdonck and Vermeulen2016): both the scaenae frons and the opposite long wall feature a series of aligned buttresses (originally eight per side) that could have provided suitable support for a cantilever system supporting a roof. (For a thorough discussion of the architecture of roofed theatres, see: Izenour, 1992; also: Sear, Reference Sear2006: 39–43.) The wall with semi-columns (known since 2013) extends all the way along the southeastern side and — judging from the GPR images — defines a corridor [I] that surrounded the theatre on three sides (all but the southwestern one). A large stone threshold (about 3 m wide), aligned with the lateral basilica [J] rather than the aditus, provided access from the forum into the corridor. The corridor itself was roofed as well, with rainwater being collected in and funnelled away through a stone gutter running along its outer perimeter.

Fig. 2. GPR image of the theatre (at an estimated depth of 71 to 75 cm from the surface) from the 2015 survey. (White dotted line: extent of the excavation in 2016; dotted area: areas not surveyed.)

In terms of finds, levels of residuality remained extremely high among the excavated contexts, with the exception of those located at foundation level. The chronology of these same contexts, combined with a preliminary analysis of the architecture of the scaena, in fact might suggest the presence of a second building phase, provisionally dated to the early Imperial period (whereas the first phase dates probably to the second half of the first century bc). To one of these building phases might belong the fragment of a large inscription reporting (part of) the name of a wealthy freedman (Anoptes), which is currently being studied.

As far as the GPR survey is concerned, in 2016 another 10.7 hectares were covered, bringing the total surveyed area to about 18 hectares. The GPR images are still being analysed and interpreted, but they are producing an impressively detailed plan of the town, featuring a dense settlement pattern and a hitherto underestimated monumental character, significantly enhancing and expanding on the earlier magnetometry from 2012–13.