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2008 CORING SURVEY
PROJECT
Assistant Survey Director: Ivo
van der Graaff, The University of Texas
Supervisors:
Thijs Nales, Bekker & de Graaf (NL)
Jon van Tol, Environmental
Consulting Agency (NL)
Ivo
van der Graaff and Thijs Nales recording data from the coring
survey
Opening
Report - Ivo van der Graaff:
This year we are
back to continue our second season of the coring survey. The
main aim of our labor is to trace the full extension of the defensible
site around the arx of Poggio Colla. Last year our research concentrated
on setting out cores in the immediate vicinity of the hilltop.
This season we started expanding our campaign to include the
areas southeast and west of the main site toward the neighboring
hilltop of Montesassi.
Our methodology involves
driving 3-7 centimeter cores into the ground at regular grid
intervals around the site. Once out of the ground we carefully
record the present soil matrices and project the results into
computer programs. Here we process the data to map out the extent
of the Etruscan settlement at Poggio Colla. Further databases
containing our archaeological finds enable us to trace the diachronic
development of the hilltop from its first occupation up to the
modern era. This not only helps us understand the site better,
but also influences our future excavation policy.
Although erosion heavily
afflicts the hill, we are still getting some very promising results
from our survey. I am confident that as the season progresses,
our hard work will provide us with a much broader picture of
the archaeological site of Poggio Colla.
 
 
Above: Thijs Nales takes core samples and records data
 
Above: Ivo van der Graaff teaches Jennifer Whinney and JoAnna
Walton
to take core samples, identify contents and sift for finds
Field Director Robert Vander Poppen and Survey Consultant Jon
van Tol
Final
Report
Coring
Survey team at work in the Poggio Colla woods
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