The palaeobotanical project at Lake Nemi is part of a larger multi-disciplinary excavation and research project at a Roman villa and at the Sanctuary of Diana on the shores of Lake Nemi, in the Alban Hills south of Rome. In 2001 and 2002, with an invitation from the Nordic Institutes in Rome and the Soprintendenza Archeologica per il Lazio, Dr.
The palaeobotanical project at Lake Nemi is part of a larger multi-disciplinary excavation and research project at a Roman villa and at the Sanctuary of Diana on the shores of Lake Nemi, in the Alban Hills south of Rome. In 2001 and 2002, with an invitation from the Nordic Institutes in Rome and the Soprintendenza Archeologica per il Lazio, Dr. Irene Bald Romano, Research Associate of the Mediterranean Section of the Museum, organized a team of archaeologists specializing in the excavation of ancient gardens, as well as soil scientists, remote sensing specialists, and palaeobotanists to excavate and study the garden areas of a large Roman villa. The villa, built in the 1st c. BCE and destroyed in the 2nd c. CE, is probably that which is described in ancient sources as a country home of Julius Caesar, later inherited by the imperial family. The team was able to identify some of the garden areas of the villa, pinpoint garden features, and identify aspects of the wider botanical landscape, as well as individual cultivated species in the villa area such as grapes, wheats, barley, legumes, and olives. In addition, the team was invited to explore an area of the nearby Sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis in which there is evidence for a grove. In the coming year the team will return to the sanctuary to excavate and study a series of planting pits. Dr. Romano has also initiated a collaborative palynology (study of pollen) project with the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands to analyze sediment cores taken from Lake Nemi. The goal is to augment the information from the land excavation and provide a diachronic picture of the palaeobotanical environment in the area around Lake Nemi.