Laura Motta | University of Michigan (original) (raw)

Articles by Laura Motta

Antiquity, 2024

*OA* One century after its initial excavation, this article presents the first absolute chronolog... more *OA* One century after its initial excavation, this article presents the first absolute chronology for the settlement of Karanis in Egypt. Radiocarbon dates from crops retrieved from settlement structures suggest that the site was inhabited beyond the middle of the fifth century AD, the time at which it was previously believed to have been abandoned. These dates add to the complex picture of population fluctuations and the remodelling and reuse of structures at Karanis. Two dates reach into the middle of the seventh century, placing the abandonment of the site in a period of political and environmental transition that changed the physical and social landscape of the Fayum region and beyond.

A Cemetery and a Quarry from Imperial Gabii, 2021

In this chapter, we present the results of the carpological analysis of charred remains retrieved... more In this chapter, we present the results of the carpological analysis of charred remains retrieved from the stratigraphic sequence of Area A. The burial ground in Area B is not part of this study: during the excavation, it was decided that no significant or interpretable evidence could be obtained from its massive accumulation layers and disturbed fills, and no samples were taken. Wood charcoals are currently under study and are also not included.

A Companion to Ancient Agriculture. Edited by David Hollander and Timoty Howe, 2021

Journal of Roman Studies, 2021

*OPEN ACCESS* A geoarchaeological coring survey of the Forum Boarium has shed considerable light... more *OPEN ACCESS* A geoarchaeological coring survey of the Forum Boarium has shed considerable light on Rome’s archaic landscape. We present the first empirical evidence that substantiates ancient and modern assumptions about the existence of a river harbour and ford in early Rome. Prior to the growth of the city, the riverbank—reconstructed as a high ledge at the base of the Capitoline Hill and a low-lying shore north of the Aventine—was particularly advantageous for river-related activities. However, the river valley changed significantly in the sixth century B.C.E., as a result of complex fluvial processes that were arguably spurred by urbanization. Around the beginning of the Republic, Rome’s original harbour silted up, and a high, wide riverbank emerged in its place. The siltation continued until the Forum Boarium was urbanized in the mid-Republic. In order to build their city and maintain river harbour operations, the Romans therefore had to adapt to dynamic ecological conditions.

Elite burial practices and processes of urbanization at Gabii, M. Mogetta ed., 2020

International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2021

Geomorphological investigations in Rome's river valley are revealing the dynamism of the prehisto... more Geomorphological investigations in Rome's river valley are revealing the dynamism of the prehistoric landscape. It is becoming increasingly apparent that paleogeographic conditions that defined Rome in the historical era are the product of changes since the Bronze Age, which may be the result of local fault activity in addition to fluvial dynamism. Through a dedicated borehole chronostratigraphic study, integrated by 14 C and archaeological dates, and paleomagnetic investigations, we offer here new evidence for fault displacement since ca. 4500 years/BP. We present the failure of the sedimentary fabric of a clay horizon caused by liquefaction processes commonly linked with seismic shaking, interpreting an (ca. 4 m) offset to signify the existence of a fault line located at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. In addition, we show evidence for another (ca. 1 m) offset affecting a stratigraphic horizon in the river channel, occurring along another hypothesized fault line crossing through the Tiber Valley. Movement along this fault may have contributed to a documented phase of fast overflooding dated to the sixth century BCE which eventually led to the birth of the Tiber Island. The most plausible scenario implies progressive deformation, with an average tectonic rate of 2 mm/year, along these inferred fault lines. This process was likely punctuated with moderate earthquakes, but no large event necessarily occurred. Together, the available evidence suggests that during the early centuries of sedentary habitation at the site of Rome, active fault lines contributed to significant changes to the Tiber River valley, capable of challenging lowland activities.

Antiquity, 2021

The ancient city of Gabii-an Italian polity of the first millennium BC and a peer to early Rome-h... more The ancient city of Gabii-an Italian polity of the first millennium BC and a peer to early Rome-has often been presented as an example of urban decline, a counterpoint to Rome's rise from a collection of hilltop huts to a Mediterranean hegemon. Here the authors draw on the results from recent excavations at Gabii that challenge such simplistic models of urban history. Diachronic evidence documenting activity at the site over the course of 1400 years highlights shifting values and rhythms materialised in the maintenance, transformation and abandonment of different urban components. This complex picture of adaptation and resilience provides a model of ancient urbanism that calls into question outdated narratives of urban success and failure.

by J. Troy Samuels, Parrish E Wright, Alexandra Creola, Matt Harder, Laura Banducci, Mattia D'Acri, Darcy Tuttle, Shannon Ness, Katherine Beydler, Sheira Cohen, Vicki Moses, and Laura Motta

Journal of Field Archaeology, 2021

Excavations carried out at the Latin city of Gabii between 2012 and 2018 have contributed new dat... more Excavations carried out at the Latin city of Gabii between 2012 and 2018 have contributed new data to a number of debates around the emergence, lived experience, maintenance, decline, and resilience of cities. Gabii’s urban trajectories demonstrate both seemingly familiar forms of urbanism and, on closer study, many locally circumscribed elements. Specifically, the Gabii Project excavations have uncovered an early Iron Age (8th–5th centuries b.c.) hut complex that has provided evidence for architecture, funerary rites, and quotidian activities during the initial polynuclear settlement at urbanizing Gabii. A unique monumental complex constructed in the 3rd century b.c. has been identified and is interpreted as a public structure potentially used for ritual activities; the study of this complex raises questions about the creation and reception of markers of civic identity. Excavation data has further characterized the reorganizations that took place during the first centuries a.d., when Gabii’s settled area contracted. Rather than unidirectional decline, evidence for industrial activities increases, and elite investments in the city persist, especially in the mixed-use elite domestic and agricultural complex. These results provide detailed evidence for how ancient cities developed and transformed in the face of shifting local and regional conditions, especially smaller urban centers (Gabii) at the periphery of mega-urban centers (Rome).

Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 2020

This paper examines the patterns of Etruscan urbanism by the innovative use of newly available ru... more This paper examines the patterns of Etruscan urbanism by the innovative use of newly available rural data, employing rank size, and indices of centralization. The detailed case study looks at the development of urbanism of pre-Roman Etruria where both robust and delicate urbanism were present alongside one another. To achieve this end, the paper will draw on the complementary features of two recent articles-Redhouse and Stoddart (2011) and Palmisano et al. (2018)-to provide a synthesis that both examines the large places and the supporting rural settlement. The territorial boundaries of the major urban places were predicted by the XTENT model in the first article. The cumulative numbers of rural settlement (and other proxies of population) over time were examined in the second article. This paper will look at the regional variation in landscape organization within the predicted territorial boundaries of the major robust centres and the more delicate transitory centres, as well as the buffer zones in between. At least three phases of boundary development can be examined, equivalent broadly to the Iron Age, Orientalizing/Archaic and Post Archaic periods, seeking to match these with the correspondingly dated rural settlement. The results will be critically examined in terms of broader knowledge of the economic and political development from current fieldwork in Etruria. The ethnographic analysis of Kopytoff (1989) will also be applied to assess the application of the internal African frontier to the central Italian context. In this way, the quantitative will be matched with the qualitative to provide a deeper understanding of urban development in an under-assessed example within the Mediterranean world.

Original manuscript for "A mid Republican House from Gabii", R. Opitz, M. Mogetta, N. Terrenato e... more Original manuscript for "A mid Republican House from Gabii", R. Opitz, M. Mogetta, N. Terrenato eds., Ann Arbor 2016.
Please use this manuscript as the published text has been edited and modified without my consent.

The Tiber valley is a prominent feature in the landscape of ancient Rome and an important element... more The Tiber valley is a prominent feature in the landscape of ancient Rome and an important element for understanding its urban development. However, little is known about the city's original setting. Our research provides new data on the Holocene sedimentary history and human-environment interactions in the Forum Boarium, the location of the earliest harbor of the city. Since the Last Glacial Maximum, when the fluvial valley was incised to a depth of tens of meters below the present sea level, 14 C and ceramic ages coupled with paleo-magnetic analysis show the occurrence of three distinct aggradational phases until the establishment of a relatively stable alluvial plain at 6–8 m a.s.l. during the late 3 rd century BCE. Moreover, we report evidence of a sudden and anomalous increase in sedimentation rate around 2600 yr BP, leading to the deposition of a 4-6m thick package of alluvial deposits in approximately one century. We discuss this datum in the light of possible tectonic activity along a morpho-structural lineament, revealed by the digital elevation model of this area, crossing the Forum Boarium and aligned with the Tiber Island. We formulate the hypothesis that fault displacement along this structural lineament may be responsible for the sudden collapse of the investigated area, which provided new space for the observed unusually large accumulation of sediments. We also posit that, as a consequence of the diversion of the Tiber course and the loss in capacity of transport by the river, this faulting activity triggered the origin of the Tiber Island.

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

State Formation in Italy and Greece: Questioning the Neoevulotinist Paradigm, 2011

The paper reviews the recent debate on state formation in Iron Age Central Italy and in Rome in p... more The paper reviews the recent debate on state formation in Iron Age Central Italy and in Rome in particular. While most works have strived for a better chronological definition of the process, less attention has been paid to the nature of the process. New perspectives include a greater attention to the actual agents and their motivations, to underlying power structures and to long-term outcomes. This resonates interestingly with some of the more recent models in state formation studies, such as heterarchy, which was originally developed with reference to societies in Late Iron Age France. It will be argued that clan power structures were a key element in early Roman society, and that they did not completely disappear at any point in the entire parable of Rome. Instead, they influenced the entire process of the conquest, providing a framework for the complex web of alliances and clienteles between elites that was essential to the success of the empire. A perspective of this kind can substantially change our understanding of the encounter between Rome and the Late Iron Age communities of continental Europe, too often seen in terms of a straightforward antithetic opposition. It also makes better sense of certain RÉSUMÉ Cet exposé est un tour d'horizon des récents débats sur la formation de l'État à l'âge du Fer dans le centre de l'Italie et particulièrement à Rome. La plupart des ouvrages ont voulu offrir une meilleure définition chronologique du processus et on s'est moins intéressé à la nature même de ce processus. On commence maintenant à prêter plus attention aux agents mêmes du processus et à leur motivation, aux structures sous-jacentes du pouvoir et aux résultats à long terme. Fait intéressant, cela fait écho à certains des modèles plus récents de la formation des États, comme celui de l'hétérarchie qui a été établi initialement à propos des sociétés de la fin de l'âge du Fer en France. On peut faire valoir que les structures de pouvoir du clan étaient un élément clé de la société romaine antique et qu'elles n'ont jamais complètement disparu tout au long de l'histoire de Rome. En fait, elles ont pesé sur l'ensemble du processus de la Conquête, en offrant une trame pour le jeu complexe d'alliances et de clientèles entre les élites, qui a été essen-tiel au succès de l'empire romain. Ce genre de perspective peut modifier substantiellement notre compréhension de la rencontre entre Rome et les communautés de la fin de l'âge

Studi di Protostoria in onore di Renato Peroni, 2006

Archeologia Medioevale, 1997

Pecica " Şanţul Mare " is one of the most important Bronze Age sites in the eastern Carpathian Ba... more Pecica " Şanţul Mare " is one of the most important Bronze Age sites in the eastern Carpathian Basin. During the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1850–1700 cal. BC), Pecicawas thedominant Mureş settlement, serving as a center for both bronze metallurgy and horse rearing. However, little is known about how the site achieved regional prominence. This paper describes new research from the 2013–2014 excavations, which focused on the earliestBronze Age occupation phases to document the settlement's initial founding and factors that led to its florescence. A revised site chronology and ceramic sequence is presented, along with an overview of substantive changes within the subsistence economy, craft manufacture, and trade networks.

Antiquity, 2024

*OA* One century after its initial excavation, this article presents the first absolute chronolog... more *OA* One century after its initial excavation, this article presents the first absolute chronology for the settlement of Karanis in Egypt. Radiocarbon dates from crops retrieved from settlement structures suggest that the site was inhabited beyond the middle of the fifth century AD, the time at which it was previously believed to have been abandoned. These dates add to the complex picture of population fluctuations and the remodelling and reuse of structures at Karanis. Two dates reach into the middle of the seventh century, placing the abandonment of the site in a period of political and environmental transition that changed the physical and social landscape of the Fayum region and beyond.

A Cemetery and a Quarry from Imperial Gabii, 2021

In this chapter, we present the results of the carpological analysis of charred remains retrieved... more In this chapter, we present the results of the carpological analysis of charred remains retrieved from the stratigraphic sequence of Area A. The burial ground in Area B is not part of this study: during the excavation, it was decided that no significant or interpretable evidence could be obtained from its massive accumulation layers and disturbed fills, and no samples were taken. Wood charcoals are currently under study and are also not included.

A Companion to Ancient Agriculture. Edited by David Hollander and Timoty Howe, 2021

Journal of Roman Studies, 2021

*OPEN ACCESS* A geoarchaeological coring survey of the Forum Boarium has shed considerable light... more *OPEN ACCESS* A geoarchaeological coring survey of the Forum Boarium has shed considerable light on Rome’s archaic landscape. We present the first empirical evidence that substantiates ancient and modern assumptions about the existence of a river harbour and ford in early Rome. Prior to the growth of the city, the riverbank—reconstructed as a high ledge at the base of the Capitoline Hill and a low-lying shore north of the Aventine—was particularly advantageous for river-related activities. However, the river valley changed significantly in the sixth century B.C.E., as a result of complex fluvial processes that were arguably spurred by urbanization. Around the beginning of the Republic, Rome’s original harbour silted up, and a high, wide riverbank emerged in its place. The siltation continued until the Forum Boarium was urbanized in the mid-Republic. In order to build their city and maintain river harbour operations, the Romans therefore had to adapt to dynamic ecological conditions.

Elite burial practices and processes of urbanization at Gabii, M. Mogetta ed., 2020

International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2021

Geomorphological investigations in Rome's river valley are revealing the dynamism of the prehisto... more Geomorphological investigations in Rome's river valley are revealing the dynamism of the prehistoric landscape. It is becoming increasingly apparent that paleogeographic conditions that defined Rome in the historical era are the product of changes since the Bronze Age, which may be the result of local fault activity in addition to fluvial dynamism. Through a dedicated borehole chronostratigraphic study, integrated by 14 C and archaeological dates, and paleomagnetic investigations, we offer here new evidence for fault displacement since ca. 4500 years/BP. We present the failure of the sedimentary fabric of a clay horizon caused by liquefaction processes commonly linked with seismic shaking, interpreting an (ca. 4 m) offset to signify the existence of a fault line located at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. In addition, we show evidence for another (ca. 1 m) offset affecting a stratigraphic horizon in the river channel, occurring along another hypothesized fault line crossing through the Tiber Valley. Movement along this fault may have contributed to a documented phase of fast overflooding dated to the sixth century BCE which eventually led to the birth of the Tiber Island. The most plausible scenario implies progressive deformation, with an average tectonic rate of 2 mm/year, along these inferred fault lines. This process was likely punctuated with moderate earthquakes, but no large event necessarily occurred. Together, the available evidence suggests that during the early centuries of sedentary habitation at the site of Rome, active fault lines contributed to significant changes to the Tiber River valley, capable of challenging lowland activities.

Antiquity, 2021

The ancient city of Gabii-an Italian polity of the first millennium BC and a peer to early Rome-h... more The ancient city of Gabii-an Italian polity of the first millennium BC and a peer to early Rome-has often been presented as an example of urban decline, a counterpoint to Rome's rise from a collection of hilltop huts to a Mediterranean hegemon. Here the authors draw on the results from recent excavations at Gabii that challenge such simplistic models of urban history. Diachronic evidence documenting activity at the site over the course of 1400 years highlights shifting values and rhythms materialised in the maintenance, transformation and abandonment of different urban components. This complex picture of adaptation and resilience provides a model of ancient urbanism that calls into question outdated narratives of urban success and failure.

by J. Troy Samuels, Parrish E Wright, Alexandra Creola, Matt Harder, Laura Banducci, Mattia D'Acri, Darcy Tuttle, Shannon Ness, Katherine Beydler, Sheira Cohen, Vicki Moses, and Laura Motta

Journal of Field Archaeology, 2021

Excavations carried out at the Latin city of Gabii between 2012 and 2018 have contributed new dat... more Excavations carried out at the Latin city of Gabii between 2012 and 2018 have contributed new data to a number of debates around the emergence, lived experience, maintenance, decline, and resilience of cities. Gabii’s urban trajectories demonstrate both seemingly familiar forms of urbanism and, on closer study, many locally circumscribed elements. Specifically, the Gabii Project excavations have uncovered an early Iron Age (8th–5th centuries b.c.) hut complex that has provided evidence for architecture, funerary rites, and quotidian activities during the initial polynuclear settlement at urbanizing Gabii. A unique monumental complex constructed in the 3rd century b.c. has been identified and is interpreted as a public structure potentially used for ritual activities; the study of this complex raises questions about the creation and reception of markers of civic identity. Excavation data has further characterized the reorganizations that took place during the first centuries a.d., when Gabii’s settled area contracted. Rather than unidirectional decline, evidence for industrial activities increases, and elite investments in the city persist, especially in the mixed-use elite domestic and agricultural complex. These results provide detailed evidence for how ancient cities developed and transformed in the face of shifting local and regional conditions, especially smaller urban centers (Gabii) at the periphery of mega-urban centers (Rome).

Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 2020

This paper examines the patterns of Etruscan urbanism by the innovative use of newly available ru... more This paper examines the patterns of Etruscan urbanism by the innovative use of newly available rural data, employing rank size, and indices of centralization. The detailed case study looks at the development of urbanism of pre-Roman Etruria where both robust and delicate urbanism were present alongside one another. To achieve this end, the paper will draw on the complementary features of two recent articles-Redhouse and Stoddart (2011) and Palmisano et al. (2018)-to provide a synthesis that both examines the large places and the supporting rural settlement. The territorial boundaries of the major urban places were predicted by the XTENT model in the first article. The cumulative numbers of rural settlement (and other proxies of population) over time were examined in the second article. This paper will look at the regional variation in landscape organization within the predicted territorial boundaries of the major robust centres and the more delicate transitory centres, as well as the buffer zones in between. At least three phases of boundary development can be examined, equivalent broadly to the Iron Age, Orientalizing/Archaic and Post Archaic periods, seeking to match these with the correspondingly dated rural settlement. The results will be critically examined in terms of broader knowledge of the economic and political development from current fieldwork in Etruria. The ethnographic analysis of Kopytoff (1989) will also be applied to assess the application of the internal African frontier to the central Italian context. In this way, the quantitative will be matched with the qualitative to provide a deeper understanding of urban development in an under-assessed example within the Mediterranean world.

Original manuscript for "A mid Republican House from Gabii", R. Opitz, M. Mogetta, N. Terrenato e... more Original manuscript for "A mid Republican House from Gabii", R. Opitz, M. Mogetta, N. Terrenato eds., Ann Arbor 2016.
Please use this manuscript as the published text has been edited and modified without my consent.

The Tiber valley is a prominent feature in the landscape of ancient Rome and an important element... more The Tiber valley is a prominent feature in the landscape of ancient Rome and an important element for understanding its urban development. However, little is known about the city's original setting. Our research provides new data on the Holocene sedimentary history and human-environment interactions in the Forum Boarium, the location of the earliest harbor of the city. Since the Last Glacial Maximum, when the fluvial valley was incised to a depth of tens of meters below the present sea level, 14 C and ceramic ages coupled with paleo-magnetic analysis show the occurrence of three distinct aggradational phases until the establishment of a relatively stable alluvial plain at 6–8 m a.s.l. during the late 3 rd century BCE. Moreover, we report evidence of a sudden and anomalous increase in sedimentation rate around 2600 yr BP, leading to the deposition of a 4-6m thick package of alluvial deposits in approximately one century. We discuss this datum in the light of possible tectonic activity along a morpho-structural lineament, revealed by the digital elevation model of this area, crossing the Forum Boarium and aligned with the Tiber Island. We formulate the hypothesis that fault displacement along this structural lineament may be responsible for the sudden collapse of the investigated area, which provided new space for the observed unusually large accumulation of sediments. We also posit that, as a consequence of the diversion of the Tiber course and the loss in capacity of transport by the river, this faulting activity triggered the origin of the Tiber Island.

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

State Formation in Italy and Greece: Questioning the Neoevulotinist Paradigm, 2011

The paper reviews the recent debate on state formation in Iron Age Central Italy and in Rome in p... more The paper reviews the recent debate on state formation in Iron Age Central Italy and in Rome in particular. While most works have strived for a better chronological definition of the process, less attention has been paid to the nature of the process. New perspectives include a greater attention to the actual agents and their motivations, to underlying power structures and to long-term outcomes. This resonates interestingly with some of the more recent models in state formation studies, such as heterarchy, which was originally developed with reference to societies in Late Iron Age France. It will be argued that clan power structures were a key element in early Roman society, and that they did not completely disappear at any point in the entire parable of Rome. Instead, they influenced the entire process of the conquest, providing a framework for the complex web of alliances and clienteles between elites that was essential to the success of the empire. A perspective of this kind can substantially change our understanding of the encounter between Rome and the Late Iron Age communities of continental Europe, too often seen in terms of a straightforward antithetic opposition. It also makes better sense of certain RÉSUMÉ Cet exposé est un tour d'horizon des récents débats sur la formation de l'État à l'âge du Fer dans le centre de l'Italie et particulièrement à Rome. La plupart des ouvrages ont voulu offrir une meilleure définition chronologique du processus et on s'est moins intéressé à la nature même de ce processus. On commence maintenant à prêter plus attention aux agents mêmes du processus et à leur motivation, aux structures sous-jacentes du pouvoir et aux résultats à long terme. Fait intéressant, cela fait écho à certains des modèles plus récents de la formation des États, comme celui de l'hétérarchie qui a été établi initialement à propos des sociétés de la fin de l'âge du Fer en France. On peut faire valoir que les structures de pouvoir du clan étaient un élément clé de la société romaine antique et qu'elles n'ont jamais complètement disparu tout au long de l'histoire de Rome. En fait, elles ont pesé sur l'ensemble du processus de la Conquête, en offrant une trame pour le jeu complexe d'alliances et de clientèles entre les élites, qui a été essen-tiel au succès de l'empire romain. Ce genre de perspective peut modifier substantiellement notre compréhension de la rencontre entre Rome et les communautés de la fin de l'âge

Studi di Protostoria in onore di Renato Peroni, 2006

Archeologia Medioevale, 1997

Pecica " Şanţul Mare " is one of the most important Bronze Age sites in the eastern Carpathian Ba... more Pecica " Şanţul Mare " is one of the most important Bronze Age sites in the eastern Carpathian Basin. During the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1850–1700 cal. BC), Pecicawas thedominant Mureş settlement, serving as a center for both bronze metallurgy and horse rearing. However, little is known about how the site achieved regional prominence. This paper describes new research from the 2013–2014 excavations, which focused on the earliestBronze Age occupation phases to document the settlement's initial founding and factors that led to its florescence. A revised site chronology and ceramic sequence is presented, along with an overview of substantive changes within the subsistence economy, craft manufacture, and trade networks.

Environmental Archaeology

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2002

Antiquity, 2021

The ancient city of Gabii—an Italian polity of the first millennium BC and a peer to early Rome—h... more The ancient city of Gabii—an Italian polity of the first millennium BC and a peer to early Rome—has often been presented as an example of urban decline, a counterpoint to Rome's rise from a collection of hilltop huts to a Mediterranean hegemon. Here the authors draw on the results from recent excavations at Gabii that challenge such simplistic models of urban history. Diachronic evidence documenting activity at the site over the course of 1400 years highlights shifting values and rhythms materialised in the maintenance, transformation and abandonment of different urban components. This complex picture of adaptation and resilience provides a model of ancient urbanism that calls into question outdated narratives of urban success and failure.

International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2021

Geomorphological investigations in Rome’s river valley are revealing the dynamism of the prehisto... more Geomorphological investigations in Rome’s river valley are revealing the dynamism of the prehistoric landscape. It is becoming increasingly apparent that paleogeographic conditions that defined Rome in the historical era are the product of changes since the Bronze Age, which may be the result of local fault activity in addition to fluvial dynamism. Through a dedicated borehole chronostratigraphic study, integrated by 14C and archaeological dates, and paleomagnetic investigations, we offer here new evidence for fault displacement since ca. 4500 years/BP. We present the failure of the sedimentary fabric of a clay horizon caused by liquefaction processes commonly linked with seismic shaking, interpreting an (ca. 4 m) offset to signify the existence of a fault line located at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. In addition, we show evidence for another (ca. 1 m) offset affecting a stratigraphic horizon in the river channel, occurring along another hypothesized fault line crossing through t...