The settlement of Crustumerium is located on a volcanic hill plateau along the ancient Via Salaria in the east Tiber Valley, about 15km north of Rome (central Italy). The ancient site has been abandoned in antiquity and, despite its frequent occurrence in historical sources, it was lost for centuries. Its location was re-established by archaeological field surveys in the 1970's (Quilici, Quilici-Gigli 1980). Since then, the site and its surroundings have been the subject of many research initiatives under supervision of Dr. Francesco di Gennaro of the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (SSBAR). The settlement plateau and part of its surroundings have even been turned into an archaeological park by the Italian state. As a result the area has escaped the devastating effects of urbanization, making Crustumerium a unique site for archaeological study. The Groningen team started working at Crustumerium in July 2006 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Peter Attema and Dr. Albert Nijboer. The objective was to examine the burial grounds and create a learning environment for students of the GIA by participating in the SSBAR excavations of the Monte del Bufalo burial ground. In 2008 Sarah Willemsen MA was appointed to a PhD position to prepare a dissertation based on the results of the GIA excavations at Monte Del Bufalo. In 2010 Prof. Attema and Dr. Nijboer initiated the research project "The People and the State" to intensify the studies of the burial grounds, settlement and territory of Crustumerium. To this end Dr. Barbara Belelli Marchesini was appointed as a post-Doc researcher, enabling her to write a synthesis on the burial grounds. Jorn Seubers MA obtained a PhD position that focusses on the actual settlement and its territory. This website aims at presenting information on the archaeology of Crustumerium and the on-going research of the GIA at this site.

* Videos *

A video impression of archaeological work at Crustumerium

The video links to more videos of the University of Groningen with explanations about different aspects of the work done at the site every year.

Crustumerium in 3D

Check out the 3D stereo reconstruction of a chamber tomb, made by the Donald Smits Centre (HPC/V) in close collaboration with the GIA.

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