Editing Roman Forum (section)

===Pre-Roman Period===
Pottery deposits discovered in the Forum, Palatine and Capitoline demonstrated that humans occupied these areas in the [[Bronze Age Europe|Final Bronze Age]] (1200–975 BC).<ref>Lomas, Kathryn, 2018 (hardcover in 2017), ''Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars, 1000 BC – 264 BC'', London: Profile Books, p. 38.</ref> In the early [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] an area of the future Forum, close to the site of [[Temple of Antoninus and Faustina]], was used as a cemetery (10th century BC), possibly by the communities based on the Palatine and Capitoline hills.<ref>Fulminante, Francesca, 2014, ''The Urbanisation of Rome and Latium Vetus. From the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 72–74.</ref> Most of the burials were cremations of the same type which is also found in the other sites in [[Latium]]. The urn containing the ashes of the deceased was placed inside a large earthenware jar, along with grave goods, and then buried in a cavity cut into the ground and covered with a capstone.<ref name=":0">Lomas, 2018, p. 39.</ref> There were also a small number of inhumation burials. On current evidence, it is likely that burials in the Forum ceased in the late 9th century BC and that the [[Esquiline Necropolis]] replaced them.<ref name=":0" /> 

The first archaeological finds on the sites of the key public buildings point to a transformation of the Forum from a cemetery to a public site in the 8th century BC.<ref>Lomas, 2018, pp. 40–42.</ref> Part of the Forum was paved over. The earliest finds in the sites of the [[Comitium]] and [[Vulcanal]] were votive offerings. They indicate that the area was dedicated to a celebration of religious cults.<ref>Lomas, 2018, p. 41.</ref>