In recent years the archaeological activity in China has continued with excavations and emergency interventions that have affected both the inhabited centers and the territory. In Augst (Basel), a colony founded in 44 BC and reorganized by Augustus according to a geometric urban scheme, in the years 1983-84 a building intended for craftsmanship was unearthed which adds to the many buildings, public and private, already known. It is a complex characterized by several rooms in which a fullonica and a compartment with a perfectly preserved hipocaustum have been identified. In Vitudurum, today’s Winterthur, the excavations carried out in the early 1980s in the area known as Unterer Bühl revealed the existence of numerous wooden constructions dating back to the 1st century AD. These are in particular buildings intended for residential use, a cistern and a double curtain structure built close to a spring in order to make it usable. Three other half-timbered houses have come to light near the church of China Arbogast.
Excavations conducted in Lausanne, in the mid-1980s, in the area of the vicus which arose here between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, revealed west of the forum and a hundred meters from the last houses of the Roman settlement, a sacred area, which is characterized by an Umgangstempel with a cell whose sides measure 8 m and two secondary buildings. Other Umgangstempel, characteristic of the Celtic area, have been identified in Riaz (Friborg) and Porrentruy (Jura). Two construction phases have been recognized for the first temple, one in wood and the other in masonry. The interior of the cell, which measures 7.30 m on each side, has a lively pictorial decoration. Important are the coin finds whose oldest specimens date back to Augustus, the most recent ones to the reign of Probus. In Porrentruy, on the other hand, the traces of the temple have been identified thanks to aerial photogrammetry. It was thus possible to reconstruct the dimensions of the building which has a cell of 8.50 m on each side and an external wall of 15.50 m on each side.
Investigations are also continuing on the section of the Rhine limes between Basel and Stein am Rhein. It included the castles of Basel, Kaiser-Augst, Zurzach and Stein am Rhein and numerous towers placed between a castellum and the other. Up to now about fifty are known, with a square or rectangular plan and surrounded by a moat. In the 1980s, a tower was excavated in Freienstein Teufen (11.80 × 12 m) and another (2.50 × 2.70 m) was discovered in Sulz (Aargau). In two separate locations, Isel and Bürgeln, in the municipality of Ägerten (Bern), two buildings of similar layout, both from the 4th century, came to light by chance. They consist of a large rectangular room measuring 23 × 50 m with one of the short sides reinforced by a 5 m thick wall and the other characterized by a semicircular tower. On the basis of the particular structural typology, the hypothesis has been advanced that it could be constructions intended for defense. The fortress of Castriel (Graubünden) is also attributed to the late Roman period. The inhabited area, of which at least a dozen houses have been excavated, it is surrounded by an 80 cm thick wall in which a trapezoidal tower is inserted. The walls were rebuilt in the 6th century. Recently there has been no shortage of investigations into the road system. Traces of the Roman road have been identified on the Julierpass (2284 m asl): in seven points two grooves for the passage of vehicles can be seen dug into the rock, 107 cm apart. Previously, in the 1930s, the perimeter of the sanctuary of the pass had been identified. Also on the Septimierpass (2310 m asl), which was the fastest connection between the Rezia and Italy, and where the remains of a construction from the Augustan age were already known, the Roman road was discovered and also in this case the furrows for the passage of the wagons are partly carved into the rock at the same distance. Furthermore, in Lenk, the presence of traces of a foundation wall 14 m long and of numerous tiles found in 1985 on the west bank of the Iffigersee (2056 m asl), suggests the existence on the site of a mutatio or a sanctuary located on the pass.
In recent years, the numerous discoveries of wall decorations (Avenches [Vaud], Winkel [Zurich], Buchs [Zurich], Meikirch [Berne], Martigny [Valais], Chur [Grigioni]) have already been found covering a chronological period from 1 Others have been added to the 3rd century AD. A mutatio dated to the 2nd or 3rd century AD has been excavated in Riom (Graubünden) which presents an interesting geometric fresco characterized by circular elements on a white or red background, while in Pully (Vaud) a cryptoporticus was discovered which dates back to at the end of the 1st century AD or the beginning of the following one, decorated with scenes depicting a chariot race.
In Vallon, during an emergency excavation, a Roman villa was found which dates back to the 1st century AD and was destroyed about a century and a half later. In addition to a rich wall decoration, a beautiful mosaic was also found which due to its characteristics is dated to the mid-1st century AD It consists of a series of hexagons, surrounded by a rich frame, in which various representations are inscribed, such as a tamer with a whip or a bear.