Preliminary Report of the 2016 Excavation of La Villa Romana di Poggio Gramigano at Lugnano in Teverina (Umbria), Italy

In 2016 a new excavation of the Roman villa and the infant cemetery of Poggio Gramignano (Lugnano in Teverina, Italy) began. This contribution is a preliminary report of the first excavation season. In 2016, between June and July, new excavations at la Villa Romana di Poggio Gramignano (VRPG) began. This was the first season in a multi-year research project - a partnership between the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Umbria, the University of Arizona, Yale University, Stanford University, and the Commune di Lugnano in Teverina. This project aims to better understand the villa and its surrounding area, with particular focus on the late Roman infant cemetery discovered within the villa’s storage magazines. The project continues work begun over three decades ago. Initial excavations of the villa were conducted by Daniela Monacchi of the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Umbria, from 1982 to 1984. David Soren (University of Arizona) directed subsequent excavations, from 1987 to 1994, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Umbria (Soren and Soren 1999).