2004 TRENCHES PF 5, 6, 9, & 14 Robert Belanger, Field Supervisor Brad Schneider, Assistant Field Supervisor Week 7: Field Students: Krishawna Brown Virginia Lewis Ludo Zywczak Vounteer: Giuseppina Marras   Robert Belanger and Krishawna Brown lifting pan tile from PF 6. Excavation in the Podere Funghi moved quickly over this final week, and now that all these units have been filled back in, the year has drawn to a close. At the offset of this final report, I must immediately thank my excavation crew-- Krishawna Brown, Virginia Lewis, Giuseppina Marras, and Ludo Zywczak --for their hard work and enthusiasm over the past two months. None of the achievements in Trenches PF 5, 6, 9, 11, and 14 would have been possible without them. Additionally, I must acknowledge the superb work of my assistant, Brad Schneider, whose excavation and administrative assistance has been absolutely integral to the success of this season. Now, a few final notes and observations on the 2004 excavation year. Assistant Field Supervisor Brad Schneider. Several important architectural, featural, and materials finds were made this season which have influenced thinking on the construction phases of the hillcrest structure of the Podere del Funghi. Based upon the evidence available at the close of excavation, the interior dimensions of the building appear to remain at 7 x 4 meters at two phases, the most recent datable to the Hellenistic period. The widespread use of terracing throughout the site modified this interior space by utilizing a high predominance of excess stone and tile floor packing fill to raise the ground level of the southern half of the structure up to that of the preserved Hellenistic hearth. Depositional evidence and the lack of interior post pads points to a single chambered structure with a distinct upper and lower area provided through terracing of the structure's interior with tile in the lower northern half and tile and stone in the elevated southern half. These assertions were confirmed upon the discovery of the foundation trench for the southern foundation wall, which now provides an understanding of the method in which the interior space in the southern half of the building was constructed. The original ground level of the Podere del Funghi appears to have been leveled out, then dug into from the interior to set the solid stones of the southern foundation wall. After this wall was constructed the remaining trench seems to have been refilled and the entire area packed first with tile and stone, then capped with larger pan tile fragments (from an earlier building or phase perhaps) to provide a solid packing layer for a dirt floor. Finally, the northern edge was demarcated by a solid stone and rubble terracing buttress spanning the width of the structure. In such a way this portion of the interior space was raised above the space below, which appears to have been constructed only with the large fragmented tile layer directly atop an intentionally sloped earthen channel with stones lining it. Final photo of Trenches PF 5, 6, 9, and 14 as seen from the south.   View of Trenches PF 6 (foreground) and 5 from the west (hearth at right).   Foundation trench at base of wall in Trench PF 5. These discrepancies in construction methods also highlight a seemingly intentional separation of northern and southern space in the structure during Antiquity. The high predominance of bone, thick coarseware sherds, and fineware strainers in the upper hearth area points towards a definitive use of the area in a domestic capacity rather than production. The extremely low amount of bone and higher concentration of fineware sherds in the lower areas to the northern interior of the building both point towards a more industrial use for this area. The latter is additionally supported by this year's excavation of the northeasterly running lower stone feature. Set almost perfectly in the center of the building and presumed to be a drainage channel based on the evidence outlined in previous reports, a ceramics area is a prime candidate for a natural runoff channel to divert excess water usage from creation processes. The natural angling of the sub-floor-packing earth in this area to the center towards a northeasterly running line of graying Stratum 2A soil, which both matches the dimensions of the Trench PF 9 and 14 stone anomaly and intersects it, is an excellent indicator that this is more than feasible. Regardless, the materials finds alone allow for a designation between the domestic and industrial zoning of the structure's terraced interior levels, although this is not discounting the mixing of the two with each other. For the southern profile of Trench PF 6 is highly suggestive that the channel may have reached into the raised southern space of the structure's interior levels. Further excavation in this area may reveal the answer to this question for certain. View from the north of lower stone feature in Trenches 6, 9, and 14.   Detail of lower stone feature shown above. The excavation of PF Kilns 1 and 2 has provided requisite evidence that these dug-out features were post-depositionally filled with the same floor packing material used in the interior space of the Hellenistic floor level, stratigraphically placing them at the same phase as an architectural element with the western foundation wall. The discovery and joining of the smoke hole pan tile portions discovered partially in each kiln asserts that the two kilns are directly related and contemporaneous at least in their fill in date. Observations on the depth of PF Kiln 3 in Trench PF 7 places the kiln contemporaneous with the western wall foundation and the western wall spur, the burning of the western edge of the latter suggesting that the wall spur's role was as a heat shield for the interior of the structure in front of the threshold. Although the kiln was later built over for a later wall spur outside of that, the terracing of the structure as a whole suggests that this later post depositional alteration of PF Kiln 3 was in response to new problems to the threshold which have yet to be discovered. In either case, the digging out of the subterranean kilns and their subsequent reuse as architectural elements is an additional factor in determining that multiple phases of the site do in fact exist. Podere Funghi Kilns 1 and 2 from the west. The discovery of the black glaze wares over the past two years inside of Kiln 1 and the greater predominance of them in all levels, including earlier geometric and later imported Volterran wares, are of particular importance to the function of the site outside of its domestic capacity. The kilns themselves are of the type used to fire fineware ceramics in Antiquity, and the discarded midden trench wares indicate that a wide variety of types were being intentionally produced. Of particular importance are the bichrome fineware vessels found in both the midden, kiln, and structural depositions of the site of Podere del Funghi as a whole. Until this past season, contemporaneous discoveries of bichrome sherds on the main arx of Poggio Colla to the northwest had pointed towards export of the wares to other sites in an undecorated form. However, the discovery of the black glaze kylix in Kiln 1, whose interior fabric was in fact visible through the missing glaze sections as bichrome, has called into question whether the wares emerging from the Podere del Funghi during the phase in which the kilns were actively being used were intended to be glazed wares. The greater predominance of black glaze wares at lower levels of the structure, buffered by subsequent bucchero discoveries, suggest that site production may not have solely been limited to simple domestic wares. The solid wall foundations and earlier imported extravagant ceramic wares point towards a more refined element driving the site's production capacity, indicated by contemporaneous discoveries of site-specific wares within the rich arx of Poggio Colla in the hilltop above the site. Podere Funghi Kiln 1 from the west.   Podere Funghi Kiln 2 from the north. Overall, this season has been highly informative and very rewarding, both in that it has raised engaging and provocative new questions and answered longstanding ones about the form and function of the hillcrest structure in the Podere del Funghi. Based on the plethora of materials finds and the valuable contextual diagnostics from all five trenches, the research opportunities presented this season promise to yield a great deal more of the understanding of the satellite communities ringing Etruscan hilltop arxes throughout northern Etruria. With that goal in mind, the expanse information garnered from the Podere del Funghi, even moreso as the excavation scope widens with each passing year, will continue to provide a better sense locally of its role in the Etruscan community in the Mugello Valley, as well as Etruria as a whole. View of Trenches PF 6 (foreground) and 5 from the north.   West wall of Podere Funghi building with kilns to left.   Shelf supports in Podere Funghi Kiln 1.   Podere Funghi Kiln 1 from the northeast.   Robert Belanger surveying points in Kiln 2 and presenting his trench in final tours.   Robert Belanger (in trench) explains his trench during final tours in the Podere Funghi.     Krishawna Brown and Robert Belanger on the last day of Podere Funghi excavation.     Backfilling trenches in the Podere Funghi at the end of the 2004 season.   Survey plan of all Podere Funghi trenches (prior to addition of hand drawn details) showing building, kilns, and hearth.   For photographs of key finds from trenches in the recent season, see Finds.     Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 - Final Report Director, Gregory Warden gwarden@mail.smu.edu Director, Michael Thomas michael.thomas@tufts.edu While the team is in Italy during the summer field season, send e-mail to: mvap3@dada.it To email an individual on the team, enter the person's last name in the subject heading. Excavation house phone: 055-844-9834, or, when calling from the US: 011-39-55-844-9834. Introduction | 2004 Field Season | Poggio Colla Field School | What’s New | Staff | Students Site History | Directors' Diaries | Student Diaries | Excavation Friends | Facilities | Conservation | Surveys Robert Belanger | Katherine Blanchard | Josh Moran | Caitlin Vacanti | Ivo van der Graaff | Robert Vander Poppen QuickTime VR | Site Set-Up | Dig Daily Life | Excavation Process | Field Manual | Lectures | Season's End Archives | Finds | Research Projects | Publications | Bibliography | Mugello Area | Home