MVAP Poggio Colla Field School

THE 2001 FIELD SCHOOL AT POGGIO COLLA

June 16 - August 3, 2001

Last summer about forty staff members and students worked at Poggio Colla for a six-week season that ran from about the middle of June to the beginning of August. Students from twelve American universities and the University of Amsterdam (NL) participated along with the Gruppo Archeologico di Vicchio, Italian students, and volunteers. A normal day on the excavation involves working on the site in the morning and early afternoon. There are four or five trenches and after the first week students are assigned to an individual trench where they work as a team with their trench supervisor. The trench supervisor is normally a graduate student with several years of excavation experience. Depending on what is going on in each individual trench, students excavate until around two or three PM and then return to the main excavation house or to the storerooms/lab areas to process finds. This processing includes everything from sorting, cleaning, and joining, to labeling finds and helping the trench supervisor with forms and reports. In the evening there is often a lecture before dinner (dinner is late, at 8 PM, Italian style). The lectures range from topics of Etruscan archaeology to the nitty-gritty of archaeological methodology.

Students and staff are housed in excavation houses (as many as five or six) near Vicchio in the little hamlet of Vespignano, overlooking the Mugello, one of the most beautiful areas of Tuscany. Despite its proximity to Florence, the countryside of the Mugello and Val di Sieve has remained relatively unspoiled. The main excavation house is a beautifully restored farmhouse, "La Vigna," that sleeps eighteen persons. This farmhouse has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a huge kitchen, dining and sitting room, and a large room that serves as the lecture hall. Another farmhouse about a ten-minute walk from Vigna, sleeps nine persons, and houses the excavation library and computer center. This house, the "Casa del Guardia," is rented by us year-round, and houses both students and staff. Two more nearby houses ("Selve" I and II), and another house in the area are used for staff and guests.

Our work areas are in the three places. Rough sorting and washing of pottery is done in an outdoor shed at the main excavation house, Vigna. Cataloguing, conservation, and photography take place in a four-room suite on the second floor of the Casa di Giotto, in Vespignano, the painter's place of birth. The Casa di Giotto is now a museum whose ground floor is given over to study space, a place where finds can be stored and studied by excavation staff and visiting scholars. Part of this space will probably also be given over to a didactic display on the site and its excavation.

Although the Poggio Colla project is sponsored by two American institutions, our aim is to create an international project. We work closely with scholars from the University of Florence's geology department and with Dr. Dario Monna, of the National Research Council of Italy, who supervises the geophysical prospection (radar, resistivity, and magnetometer prospection). Dr. Mark Corney, University of Bristol (UK) supervises the archaeo-topographic survey of the area. We also work closely with the Gruppo Archeologico di Vicchio and its director, Andrea Santoni. We encourage Italian students who are interested in Etruscan archaeology to volunteer to work with us. The project director, Dr. Warden, is a native Italian who grew up in the Mugello valley. The excavation project does not work in isolation, and we are grateful to our Italian friends and colleagues for their support.

Academics

Field School participants receive training in Etruscan archaeology as well as in the theoretical and practical aspects of fieldwork from a professional staff that includes archaeologists, an architect, an illustrator, a surveyor, and a conservator. Lectures by the staff as well as by visiting scholars supplement the on-site learning. (Click here for a tentative schedule of lecture topics.) The site's proximity to Florence allows for weekend visits to major museums and archaeological sites.

Participants in the Field School enroll in 6 credit hours from Southern Methodist University. Students are expected to complete a research project on their return to the United States and to submit that paper no later than September 1, 2001. The project topic will be arranged in consultation with the program director (Dr. Warden) and the Field School's professional staff. Normally, the project consists of writing a catalogue of finds from one of the trenches (the one in which the student worked), illustrating those finds (there are workshops on archaeological illustration), and explicating the finds in the more general context of the site. The aim is to produce a paper that replicates the methodologies of archaeological documentation and explication found in the publication of archaeological finds, a kind of small "mock" publication.

The excavation staff includes professional archaeologists, geologists, survey experts, an architect, a conservator, ceramics and materials specialists, illustrator, and a web master/information technologist. All participate in student training.

Since 1995, the Poggio Colla Field School has included students from Bates College, Beloit College, Boston University, Bryn Mawr College, the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Dallas, East Carolina University, Franklin College, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Kalamazoo College, the University of Maryland at Baltimore, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Michigan, the University of New Mexico, Oberlin College, Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Puget Sound, the University of Richmond, Rutgers University, Savannah College of Art, Skidmore College, Southern Methodist University, Smith College, the University of St. Thomas, the University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, Vassar College, and Washington University, and Whittier College.

Application and Fees

Space is limited and only 16 students are accepted. We encourage you to submit your application by March 1, 2001 but applications will be considered as long as there is room. Applications should be submitted to The International Office, 3108 Fondren Dr., Dallas TX 75275-0391. For application forms and more information write to the above address, or to mblewis@mail.smu.edu, or call (214) 768-2338, or write the program Director, Dr. Gregory Warden gwarden@mail.smu.edu.

The program will run for approximately seven weeks, from June 16 to August 3, 2001. The program fee of $4000 includes 6 hours of credit through Southern Methodist University. Participants who do not wish to enroll for credit will still be expected to participate in all program activities and pay the full program cost. The program fee includes room and most meals (three meals Monday-Friday, and breakfast on Saturday). Students are responsible for transportation, health insurance, and weekend meals.

2000 Field Season

Dig Daily Life

SMU Master of Liberal Arts Program page with photos and student diary.

Director, P. Gregory Warden gwarden@mail.smu.edu
or during the excavation season: mvap@dada.it

While the team is in Italy during the summer field season, send e-mail to: mvap@dada.it
To email an individual on the team, put that person's name in the subject heading.
Excavation house phone: 055-844-9834, or, when calling from the US: 011-39-55-844-9834.