Museo Civico Archeologico - Castello dei Paleologi

The first two rooms are dedicated to prehistory and to protohistory, with artifacts in chipped flint (Palaeolithic and Mesolithic: 120000-8000 years ago), polished green stone axes (Neolithic: 5750-3500 B.C.), ceramic finds and metal tools of the Bronze Age (2200-900 B.C.) and of the second Iron Age (475-173 B.C.); the latter illustrate the indigenous culture of the Liguri Statielli and the process of Romanization of the territory. The section related to the Roman period constitutes the most important part of the museum and illustrates the multiple aspects of the life of the ancient Aquae Statiellae (1st century B.C. - 3rd century A.D.). The rooms exhibit grave goods found along the road of the ancient via Aemilia Scauri: stone funerary steles and gravestones, like that of Caius Mettius, in which the deceased young man is portrayed with his parents; architectural decorations (capitals, antefixes, frames), mosaics, sculptures and frescoes from public buildings and private homes, as well as a selection of the scores of amphorae found in via Gramsci, which bear witness to the intensity of trade in the city. At the centre of the room dedicated to urban planning and architecture there is the reconstruction of the great fountain of Bollente, constructed in blocks of white marble, which was unearthed in the late 19th century. The late-antique and medieval period is illustrated by the funerary epigraph of a Christian magistrate (early 5th century A.D.), from the funeral kits from the Longobard period and from a selection of ceramics (13th century - 14th century) from the excavations recently conducted in the historic centre of Acqui Terme.