Rome emerged in the central Italian region of Latium some time during the late second millennium BCE to early first millennium BCE. Initially a cluster of hilltop settlements along the Tiber river, it gradually developed into a fortified community with social and political structures. While literary sources often link its founding to mythic figures and heroic narratives, archaeological evidence provides insight into material culture, settlement patterns, and societal organization that preceded the historical city. The city's early identity was shaped by interactions with neighboring Latin, Sabine, and Etruscan groups, blending indigenous Italic traditions with external influences.

circa 753 BCE

Most common Roman tradition traces the city’s foundation to 753 BCE, attributed to the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. According to legend, the twins were descendants of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who fled the fall of Troy and settled in Latium. Abandoned as infants and suckled by a she-wolf (Lupa Capitolina), the brothers survived and later attempted to establish a city. A dispute over the location and leadership led Romulus to kill Remus, naming the city after himself. Other accounts suggest earlier settlements by Latin or Sabine peoples, with kings and religious figures establishing cult sites and social structures. Festivals such as the Parilia, associated with pastoral rites, are described as part of the city’s foundational traditions, while the augural practices reflect early Roman concerns with divine sanction and territorial legitimacy.

circa 753 BCE

Archaeological investigations on the Palatine, Capitoline, and surrounding hills demonstrate that the area that would become Rome experienced continuous human occupation from the mid-second millennium BCE, corresponding to the Late Bronze Age in central Italy. Excavations on the Palatine Hill have uncovered hut foundations, such as those discovered by Salvatore Maria Puglisi in 1948, which were partially cut into the soft tufa bedrock. These premitive hut structures, along with associated post-holes, suggest early agrarian communities gradually coalescing into a more organized settlement. Defensive ditches and embankments, dating to the early Iron Age, have been identified on the Capitoline Hill, indicating an emerging concern with territorial defense and inter-community rivalry. Pottery assemblages, including impasto wares from the Palatine and bucchero fragments found near the Forum Boarium, alongside bronze tools and fibulae, reflect domestic, artisanal, and metalworking activity, highlighting a society transitioning from Bronze Age material culture toward the early Iron Age. By the Archaic Period (circa 8th–6th centuries BCE), settlements had developed more complex social and religious structures, with evidence from the Area Sacra di Sant’Omobono showing permanent ritual spaces and organized community planning. Early ritual deposits, such as votive terracotta figurines and miniature weapons found in the Palatine and Capitoline shrines, point to structured religious practices that reinforced social hierarchy and communal cohesion.

The social context inferred from these material remains suggests small kin-based groups gradually forming larger, nucleated communities with emerging elite families who may have exercised control over resources and ritual spaces. Cemeteries, like Esquiline Necropolis discovered on the Esquilino and archaic burial ground in the Forum Romanum, often accompanied by goods and symbolic objects, reveal a concern with ancestry, status, and ritualized burial practices, further illuminating the societal values of early Rome. Strategically placed settlement patterns demonstrate a growing awareness of security, while evidence of trade connections—through imported ceramics and metalwork—situates early Rome within a wider network of Latium and Italic communities. Together, these findings provide a tangible framework for understanding the historical reality behind the literary myths of Romulus and Remus, grounding legendary narratives in the material culture and social organization of the Late Bronze Age, early Iron Age, and Archaic Period.