Nowadays, the study of ports in Hispania has a firmly established line of research highlighting the port configuration of numerous Atlantic and Mediterranean cities. Within this context, along the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula -as well as in the course of the main rivers-the port settlements that mark the water from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea have a series of structures or environments whose architectural elements seem to follow standard patterns in their structural systems and location that are perpetuated throughout their evolution. The common need to solve the various problems caused by maritime traffic and port activity linked to the commercial networks of an increasingly complex provincialized imperial economy seems to lie in their endowment.

The archaeological site of Portus (Ostia Antica), is a most important ports of the ancient world. Since 2017, the University of Huelva, in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica, has been developing a research project on one of its interior piers, the so-called lantern. Said east–west structure or pier is the best example of its category in the port complex. With a length of about 150 m. the latest research has provided numerous and interesting data on its architecture and diachrony, highlighting significant phases in its evolution from its construction to its final abandonment in the beginnings of the Middle Ages. Therefore, the results presented here represent a significant novelty in the general knowledge of Portus and in that of its docks in particular.