Field Reports from the end of the 1998 Field Season UNIT PC 12 Sarah Kupperberg, Field Supervisor Week 5 Report 1998 Field Supervisor Sarah Kupperberg's field notebook. The final week of excavations has been an eventful one for Unit 12. By opening our extension, we have learned even more about the architecture on the north-western edge of the poggio. Our southern wall foundation continues into the extension and appears to curve at its intersection with the contemporary north-south wall. Since our trench is located at the north-western corner of the hill, this curvature seems suggestive of the intentional conformation of a terrace or fortification wall to the natural curvature of the hilltop. The intersecting wall may have been constructed as a buttress to our southern foundation. It may also represent the location of a tower or similar architectural feature exterior to the east-west wall. Left: View of Unit 12 from the north. Right: View of Unit 12 from the south. In our extension, on the eastern side of the large sandstone blocks which formerly comprised Feature #3, a rectilinear formation of stone rubble and roof tile packing extends the feature and almost certainly forms yet another wall foundation. The rubbly nature of this eastward extension is puzzling and contrasts distinctly with the size and quality of the larger sandstone blocks. We can only say with certainty that the wall foundation which juts to the north was built through Feature #3 and should therefore represent a later phase of construction. The semicircular rubble feature for which we opened our extension remains something of a mystery. It no longer appears to form a complete circle, and is most likely not the column base foundation we surmised it might be, but may still represent an architectural feature of some import. We have not yet completed excavations in Unit 12, so we will certainly find out more about this feature in future seasons of excavation. Finds from the past week include a piece of metal which may be an iron nail and a very interesting fragment of pan tile. The flange of the pan tile curves and enlarges at the edge as an eaves tile might. The eaves tile would have had a small hole at its edge where a nail would connect to the wooden entablature of the building. I am looking forward to next season's excavations in Unit 12. The past six weeks have been rewarding, and I can only foresee more excitement in the future. Unit PC 12 from the south at the end of the 1998 season.   Field Reports from the end of the 1998 Field Season Director's Diary Units PC 1 & 13 Unit PC 6 Unit PC 8 Units PC 10 & 11 Unit PF 1 Conservator's Report See the 1998 Annual Report for the season summary by Professor Gregory Warden.