![]() ![]() phase was decorated with painted plaques of architectural terracotta, clearly indicating both elite function and investment. The Regia served as a ceremonial home for the king-later passing into the ownership of the pontifex maximus (principal state-level priesthood) once the kings had been expelled-and consisted of an irregularly planned suite of rooms surrounding a courtyard. Both of these sacred buildings are quite ancient and had many building phases, making it difficult to refine the chronology of the earliest phases. These are the Regia or "king’s house" and the Temple of Vesta, both located on the downward slope of the Palatine Hill near the point where it reaches the edge of the Forum Romanum proper. Temple of VestaTwo other early, sacred buildings are important to note. Twentieth century excavators, including Giacomo Boni and Einar Gjerstad, revealed important remains of Iron Age burials that pre-dated the establishment of the forum valley as a civic space in particular the necropolis in the area known as the Sepulcretum along the Sacra Via ("Sacred Way," the main sacred processional road of the city) has been extensively studied and published. The investigations of the burials themselves, and the patterns they followed, have allowed archaeologists to understand not only funeral customs but also social dynamics during Rome’s proto-urban phases. Ammerman have shown, a deliberate landfill project deposited fill in the forum valley in order to create usable, dry levels during the sixth century B.C.E. Since the Tiber river tended to leave its banks regularly, the valley was prone to significant flooding, as a low saddle of land known as the Velabrum connects the forum valley to the riverine zone. View of the Forum Romanum toward the Palatine HillAddressing the problems of seasonal rains and flooding proved more challenging-the valley required a landfill project as well as the construction of a drainage canal to manage standing water. ![]()
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