Newly discovered ship-landing site serving the Etruscan coastal temple in Punta Della Vipera, Santa Marinella, Rome (Italy)

In a recent shallow-water archaeological survey conducted along the coast north of Rome, near Santa Marinella, at a mean depth of 1.5 m and 90 m from the shoreline, two significant assemblage of bioclas- tic calcarenite ashlar blocks were identified. The ashlars of the shore parallel feature are arranged in a double parallel row extending approximately 5 m in a NW-SE orientation. The arrangement of the ash- lars encloses an internal space in places filled with boulders and small stones, forming a structure that resemble of a mole. A narrow canal formed by a double row of ashlars provided a connection between the internal space and the open water, facilitating water circulation and possibly mitigating the silting of the port basin. The shore-parallel mole continues northwest, including additional blocks and natural rocks, and then turns 90 °forming a possible shore-normal mole forming a l -shaped configuration en- compassing a 3,0 0 0m2 basin. The area is located in close proximity (130 m) to the Etruscan temple at Punta della Vipera, funded in the sixth-century BCE and deeply re-built in the late fourth century BCE. Assuming the probable function of two structures (conglomerate A and ashlar U), as the ancient walking surface of the mole, the fact that they are currently submerged at a depth of 0.50–0.60 m, let us suppose an ancient sea level at least 1.20–1.40 metres lower than the present one; this observation, along with archaeological considerations point out for the construction of the structure around the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd century BCE. If confirmed, the findings represent the earliest known evidence of a landing site associated with an Etruscan temple.