Two recent discoveries on the east bank of the Tiber are of major significance to the study of early Rome: the discovery that the sixth-century BC riverbank was in a different position to the modern bank, and the finding of a Late Bronze Age site deeply buried adjacent to Sant'Omobono church, the latter reported by Brock and Terrenato (2016). This article reconsiders the Sant'Ombono data in an environmental context, questioning both the previous interpretation of site usage and the provenience of the dating evidence. This reappraisal is placed within a recently developed research theme, namely the transformation of the landscape of early Rome into a cityscape, which involved large-scale encroachment on the east bank.