Studies in the Social and Economic History of Ostia: Part I
Serious excavation of the archaeological remains of Ostia really began only in the early years of the present century. Spasmodic work upon the site was, it is true, undertaken during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but the earliest excavators, De Norogna, Volpato, La Piccola, Hamilton and Fagan, were little more than treasure-hunters, more intent upon gaining possession of some artistic masterpiece than upon elucidating the problems of the past. Even the distinguished archaeologists of the nineteenth century, Visconti, Lanciani and Gatti, worked at Ostia only spasmodically, and often failed to publish adequate accounts of their discoveries. Nor were serious attempts made to protect from the ravages ofrainand frost the buildings unearthed.