This PhD project is focussing on the chronological phases of the area TFR2 (Taberna Forum Rooms) mainly through analysis of the stratigraphy and the (ceramic) finds from the area, while the sequence of the structures themselves are taken into account, as well.
Before the Hadrianic building programme transformed the entire appearance of the forum and the area around it, the TFR area belonged to a so far undiscovered sanctuary. The contexts in the area TFR2 vary from construction pits to levelling layers to various kinds of depositions (i. e. building sacrifices and obliteration deposits, containing mainly pottery, building material and animal bones). While the deposits and the related rituals will be analysed by Trine Bak Pedersen (Theme 4), this thesis will focus on the development of the sanctuary and the area in general.
Needless to say, the earliest and the latest phases of the area are of great interest to us: When was the sanctuary founded? Has the area east of the forum always been used as a sanctuary? In which period were the earliest structures built? And when exactly where the sacred structures given up and the area reused as a taberna complex?
