Deposizioni rituali nei processi trasformativi di un santuario: nuovi dati dal Foro Triangolare a Pompei

In 2015 the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and Naples' University Federico II started new excavations in the sanctuary of Athena at Pompeii, known as the Triangular Forum. These recent investigations uncovered previously unknown structures and several intact votive deposits. The following paper discusses the material traces of a complex ceremony which regarded the so-called Central Building, a previously unknown edifice from the Late Hellenistic period. The layout of the completely demolished structure can only be reconstructed on the basis of robber trenches. Two ritual pits from Neronian or Flavian times inside the building indicate that its abandonment has been sanctioned by an animal sacrifice and the deposition of sets of ritual pottery and other gifts. By combining archaeological context analysis with zooarchaeological investigations as well as biochemical analysis of the organic residue in some of the vases, the paper seeks to comprehensively reconstruct the expiation ceremony.