Excavating The Forum Of Augustus: Under Via Alessandrina

We're back in the Forum of Augustus to look at the ongoing excavation of the Via Alessandrina, revealing a new portion of the Forum of Augustus. Let's check out the progress and the new discoveries. Hey, this is Darius. Thanks for watching. Today, we are going to be looking at the ongoing excavation of the Via Alessandrina. Look at how much progress they've made. So what you're doing in the elimination of this historic road is to reveal more the piazza in front of the Forum of Augustus. The Forum of Augustus is now much more legible, and the view of the Temple of Mars Ultor right there is more spectacular than ever. Let's take a look at the progress. Let's take a look at what's becoming a series for me on showing you excavation in continuum. Here is the next video on the removal of the Via Alessandrina along the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Here we can see quite clearly, since we last looked, the Cipollino marble columns have been cleaned. They're on new bases. This is going to be subject to anastolosis. We're going to re-erect those column fragments because we have portions of the column shafts and the capitals and the bases, and pretty soon we'll get a better idea of this, maybe shrine, some sort of important building that's going to be guiding you into the Forum of Trajan, which is just beyond. We can see the Column of Trajan in the distance and the columns of the Basilica Ulpia, but essentially this space is carved out from the exedra wall of the Forum of Augustus. So when discovered a couple of decades ago, it was a surprise, but now it's going to be more legible to the public when we have that anastolosis taking place. So we'll have to stay tuned for the progress on this particular space. One of the surprise features that popped out in the last video is this particular wall. Unexpected. So it's joining right up with the exedra wall of the Forum of Augustus. We can see it's later. It's faced in brick. We even have a doorway that's going to be filled in in late Antiquity of the Middle Ages. We see a staircase, which is then blocked. So there's a lot going on here with this particular wall feature and probably this base right here. It's going to be exciting when we see more of it revealed right now. It's not clear what's going on here, but we can see that it's built right on top of the pavement here for that Trajanic structure where we see an archaeologist going by. We can even see a newly revealed. How exciting. Some pavement. Looks like Cipollino marble in part with the pavement. So this was something quite extraordinary. It's just fantastic. I'm here with you seeing it for the first time like this legible in the sun. They're going to be doing a great study on this. They'll do a presentation of the work, but right now it's raw. It's unfiltered. And this is, you know, what I like about archaeology. That's what I like about living in the city of Rome. Literally so many projects are taking place right now. This is part of a larger project that I've shown with you, shared with you on a previous video of the Passeggiata Archeologica. This archaeological path that's going to go through and around here. Over around the Colosseum, around the Palatine Hill and so forth. So it's pretty exciting times. And not to worry when we see these earth movers and so forth. There are archaeologists present to monitor and the results of this work. And the results of dismantling the later, late antique, post-antique walls. Is visible right here. So we can see the portions of worked marble and statuary that was then found within those late antique walls. So it's a job site. They're working hard. And in the end, this path is allowing them to eliminate the dirt and debris. But make no mistake, that path is going up. And that height of the Via Sendrina is going to be removed as well. So that we'll have a larger space of the form of Augustus that's revealed to us. Already it's revealed to us. But it's going to continue off to the right. And it's going to be quite spectacular when it's all said and done. I believe maybe even this portion where I'm standing could be slated for removal. I'm not sure on the final extent. But rest assured the Via Sendrina is going to be history. It's fun to see this here with you on a sunny morning in April. Look at the previous videos and you'll see just how much progress has been made. Just want to show you close up the kind of machinery that's involved. And of course, besides the workmen with the machinery, we have a seated figure that's the archaeologist. So you always have a person guiding that work. We get a close-up view of the archaeologists that are next to the people with the machinery. So all this work is guided. This isn't a mindless work with heavy machinery. Rather, you're using that technology, using that machinery to remove a certain amount of fill that's consistent. And it's easy to remove a lot of volume. But on site, always observing, always with the trowel is the archaeologist. We want to put in perspective then the work that's being conducted and the scale of the movement of the material. A lot of work that's been done. There's a lot of progress that's been made. Take a look at my previous videos on this excavation site. It's pretty extraordinary. What we see here then very closely is the archaeological material, the fragments of the marble veneer of different components of marble that have been extracted from the dismantled medieval wall sections. We can see architectural features. We can see portions of pieces of the marble decoration in the form of Augustus on display to be documented and catalogued. All right, so I'm back where it all started. This portion in front of the Marcus the Trajan is the first segment during COVID that you had the excavation of the Via Alessandrina. It has continued. And look at this. That pavement right there behind me is also revealed in the recent excavation. So just to orient us, where are we? I'm underneath the loggia of the House of the Knights of St. John's. And that wall right there is still the wall of the exedra of the Forum of Augustus. But what we have right here is the pavement from the Forum of Trajan. So we've got incredible history being revealed, not just with the Forum of Augustus, but also right here in the Forum of Trajan. Pretty spectacular. Hey guys, thanks for watching. Thanks for subscribing. Thanks for tuning in to history as it's happening. This is an excavation that's live. I like taking you on site. I like taking you throughout the Mediterranean. More to come.