Rome grew out the union of a number of villages located on seven hills. The earliest evidence of habitation was found on the Palatine hill and dates to the end of the 9th or 8th century BC. Excavations have revealed traces of small huts made of wattle and daub.
Soon Rome started to expand and the city entered a more urban phase after 575 BC. The marsh at the foot of the Palatine hill was drained and the first buildings were erected on the Capitoline hill.
For a long time it was thought that a huge wall which formed a circuit around Rome, 6 miles (10 km) long, dates to this time. It was called the Servian Wall after King Servius Tullius who ruled during the 6th century BC.
New evidence, however, suggests that the wall was made of a type of stone which was not brought to Rome until the 4th century BC. The wall, therefore, was probably built immediately after the Gaulish attack in 386 BC.
