Spoliatori di mestiere in una città “a macchie di leopardo”. Le ultime fasi di vita dell’area del cortile del Caseggiato a Botteghe a Ostia (IV, VI, 1) attraverso lo studio dei rivestimenti pavimentali e parietali

This paper offers preliminary reflections on organised spoliation of buildings in late antique Ostia through analysis of floor and wall decorations. The case study in question is the Caseggiato a Botteghe (IV, VI, 1), which has been excavated since 2019 by the universities of Louvain and Namur as part of the Ostia ReLOADed project. Excavations in the rear courtyard of the building (CBQ) revealed a room (CBR) that was redecorated in the 2nd–3rd century AD with a black-and-white mosaic floor made of semis of square crustae. The walls of CBR were adorned with slabs of crustae and painted plaster. The same techniques (incrustatio and painted plaster) were employed simultaneously in CBQ. In a later phase, probably in the final quarter of the 4th century, the mosaic floor and most of the parietal crustae were systematically and thoroughly removed. Excavation data suggest that this was not the result of disorderly activity, but rather a carefully planned operation carried out by professionals. These activities took place within a city increasingly characterised by uneven occupation, where construction efforts were concentrated in specific blocks within a patchworked urban landscape.