SITE HISTORY

The Mugello Valley Archaeological Project is an Etruscan excavation project in Tuscany, Italy, directed by Professor P. Gregory Warden, a Classical archaeologist and Associate Dean of the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. The project is sponsored by Southern Methodist University and by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

View of the Mugello Valley, northeast of Florence in Tuscany, Italy.

This long-term project centers on Poggio Colla, a site in the Mugello region of Tuscany, near the modern town of Vicchio, about twenty miles northeast of Florence. Poggio Colla was first excavated from 1968 to 1972 by Dr. Francesco Nicosia, the former Superintendent for the Archaeology of Tuscany. With Dr. Nicosia's permission and encouragement, the excavations have continued to reveal a site whose excavation promises to contribute tremendously to our knowledge of Etruscan Italy.

Map of the environs of Vicchio di Mugello.

Poggio Colla was left untouched between 1972 and 1995, when the SMU excavations (Mugello Valley Archaeological Project) began. The initial season of the MVAP was conducted during July 1995. The second season took place during June and July of 1996, the third season during July and August of 1997, and the fourth season in June and July of 1998. This is our fifth season of field work, and we'll be on site during June and July of 1999.

View of Vicchio in the Mugello Valley from the southwest.

Poggio Colla is important because it has undisturbed habitation layers that span much of Etruscan history. The site seems to have been inhabited by the Etruscans at least as early as the seventh century and was abandoned or destroyed in the late third century BCE. Excavations to date have revealed well-defined fortification walls, an extensive necropolis area, and the rare remains of an archaic monumental building, probably a temple. Poggio Colla was inhabited at least as early at the seventh century BCE, and had monumental architecture on its north-eastern flank, probably a temple, by the early sixth century. The site suffered a violent destruction and was then rebuilt during the Hellenistic period. Remains of the Hellenistic fortifications can still be seen on the three sides of the Poggio today.

Fortification walls at Poggio Colla.

Excavation of Etruscan habitation sites has been rare, although in the past few decades some important habitation sites (for instance Murlo and Acquarossa) have increased our knowledge of Etruscan life substantially. Still, the Etruscans are known primarily from funerary remains, and much of our knowledge of Etruscans comes from the wealthy southern centers, Veii, Caere, and Tarquinia. One of the problems is that the Etruscans chose their sites so well that the major centers were repeatedly built upon in the Medieval and later periods. We know where the Etruscans had their major cities, places like Volterra, Orvieto, Cortona, and Fiesole, but the sites are covered over with modern towns or cities and are therefore almost impossible to excavate. Poggio Colla thus offers us an exceptional opportunity, to excavate and study an important Etruscan settlement, and to do so with up-to-date methods and technologies. The site of Poggio Colla should prove singularly important for the information it will provide about Etruscan urbanization, architecture, and daily life.

View to the north from the plateau of Poggio Colla.

Of further importance is the archaeological topography of the Mugello basin, a region at the edge of the Apennines at the north-eastern periphery of Etruscan territory. This area is little-known archaeologically but could provide important information about Etruscan connections and trade routes with their Italic neighbors to the north and along the Adriatic coast to the east. Poggio Colla is located at a strategic location at the point where the broad Mugello basin narrows into the Sieve River Valley (Val di Sieve) that forms a natural communication route to the Arno, and hence to the region around Florence (Agro Fiorentino, as it was dubbed by Nicosia). The site is actually made up of two plateaus with a saddle of land in between. The northernmost plateau, Monte Sassi, has a dominant position over modern Vicchio and the Mugello. Poggio Colla, on the other hand, dominates the Val di Sieve and affords a more protected location.

Podere di Funghi.

For current information on the 2000 Field Season, see weekly updates by the Director, Field Director, Field Supervisors, Conservators, the Student Diary writer, and others listed under the heading of the 2000 Field Season.

For longer, year-end summaries by Director Greg Warden, see the following annual reports:

1996 Annual Report

1997 Annual Report

1998 Annual Report

For other scholarly reports and information, see the following:

Architecture

Bibliography

Publications

Introduction | 2000 Field Season | Poggio Colla Field School | What’s New | Staff | Students
Site History | Director’s Diary | Field Director's Diary | Student Diaries | Excavation Friends | Facilities
Conservation | Surveys | Trench PF 5 | Trench PC 18 | Trench PC 19 | Trench PC 20 | Trench PC 21
Annual Reports | 1999 Field Season | 1998 Field Season | Research Projects | Publications | Bibliography