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2002 TRENCH PF 11
Ashley Bennett, Field Supervisor
Reports from the end of the field season

Field Supervisor of Trench PF
11, Ashley Bennett.
Week 3:
After several weeks of hard work put
into PF 11 in the FOD, I am sad to say that this is the last
report you will read for this trench. In the beginning, one of
the hardest things to live with as a student of archaeology is
the fact that, "It is not what you find, but what you find
out." This quote certainly applies to the excavation of
PF 11, as we have so quickly excavated down to Stratum 3 and
bedrock over the entirety of the trench. Let us backtrack a bit
though, and look at what has developed in PF 11 since last week.
As of last Thursday, we had already excavated a portion of a
kiln in Locus 2, which helps to complete the kiln found in PF
6 2001 extending in this direction, and additionally we had found
two areas in the southern portion of Locus 3 where we did have
Stratum 2. It was highly included and had visible artifacts within
it. This was promising, as Stratum 2 represents our archaeological
level and possibly interior space of the building in the FOD.
It was disconcerting, though, that we were not finding it below
Stratum 1 in other areas of the trench, but rather we were excavating
out Stratum 1 only to find the sterile soil and bedrock beneath.
While this may sound like a disappointment, we actually found
several very prominent and important features within this lower
stratum. The plow mark we called Feature 2 last week was actually
only the first sign of what would prove to be large and highly
intrusive plow marks that run the length of our trench in a northerly
direction. There are five of these plow marks, and they make
an already known fact very obvious. The deep tines of the plow
have raked this entire area, and even our archaeological levels
have been disturbed by this action. This fact must remain in
our forethought as further excavation of the Podere Funghi is
carried out.

Plow marks
in bedrock mark the completion of excavation in Trench PF 11
at the end of Week 3.
So, while PF 11 is coming to a close
as we take final elevations and drawings, we are already in the
midst of opening yet another trench, which we will excavate for
the remainder of this season. Located on the top of Poggio Colla
on the south side of the monumental building, will be PC 24.
The students spent the majority of today clearing this area and
preparing it for excavation, which will commence tomorrow.
Week 7:

View of
Trench PF 11 from the south at the end of the 2002 season.

View of
Trench PF 11 from the north at the end of the 2002 season.
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