RICERCHE ARCHEOLOGICHE DELL’UNIVERSITÀ DI PALERMO AD HALAESA ARCONIDEA. RISULTATI DELLE CAMPAGNE DI SCAVI 2021-2023 NEL SETTORE NORD-EST DELLE FORTIFICAZIONI

This paper highlights the results of the excavation campaigns carried out by the University of Palermo at the eastern fortifications of Halaesa Arconidea. The excavation in this sector, already partially investigated in the 1950s by G.F. Carettoni, has allowed us to expand the knowledge on the military building of the city, providing a new framework on the life phases of the fortifications, in particular in the section between a city gate and towers B and C, which dates from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD, when the abandonment of this sector of the city seems to occur. The research programme also included the investigation of the area within the city closest to the fortifications, where the remains of a large vaulted room with swimming pool and mosaic floor has been discovered. This room communicated to the South with an open space probably situated along an urban axis. Even this sector, according to the archaeological data, was abandoned during the 1st century AD.