2004 DIRECTORS' DIARIES P. Gregory Warden Michael Thomas Week 5: Michael Thomas, Brad Schneider, Robert Vander Poppen, and Ivo van der Graaff during Week 5 trench tours on Poggio Colla. Interpretation of archaeological evidence is one of the real challenges of excavation. How do we explain what we find? At times it seems we are being teased by just enough evidence to allow us to speculate, but not enough to know exactly what we have found. One example is our struggle with the appearance of our monumental building. For the first several years we saw rectangular foundations, so we naturally assumed that we had a large rectangular building. We have since moved away from that theory for several reasons, one of which is the fact that we have never any evidence an interior support for a roof large enough to span the foundations. Thus, because of evidence of rooms on the outside of this large rectangle, we have speculated that we instead have some type of courtyard building. Yet even that theory has its problems. Namely, that although we have evidence of such rooms outside the courtyard during the Phase III, we have absolutely no evidence of any other structures in the second phase. So what did the second phase building look like? According to what we have excavated, we would have to speculate that the Phase II building may not have been a building, but just a large rectangle platform with an altar in the middle (if the blocks in PC 23 are indeed an altar). Phase I is another matter entirely. 2003 Poggio Colla Site Plan Up to now, Phase I has eluded us except for a line of massive quarried blocks in PC 8. This week PC 20 has given us another glimpse into this early phase of our site. We discovered that what we have always assumed was a Phase I block actually sits on another similar block. This lower block has a clear foundation trench into the bedrock. This now suggests that the Phase I building was terraced out to the north with multiple courses where the building extended over a slope. Yet this brings up another question: where is the other side of this building? We have found no evidence yet of any Phase I blocks in the center of the hill. Large blocks in foundation trench. We have similar challenges of interpretation in the Podere Funghi, even though this site is much less complicated than the top of the hill. For example, where is the north wall of the structure? The answer is there is not one, and it seems unlikely that there ever was. Although it is tempting to suggest that the northern wall was simply washed down the hill, even if that had been the case we would have found evidence of some of it. Also, we would have likely lost evidence of the northern parts of the eastern and western foundation. At this point the most likely explanation is that the northern part of the building was an open workshop. But even that is open to interpretation. The low stone feature associated with the building in the Podere Funghi ends at the edge of PF 17, as shown from the north. Also problematic is the western foundation at the point where the two kilns are sited. We had originally speculated that the wall was built later, since the flue of the kilns seemed to go under the wall. Yet our recent excavation of the second kiln suggests that its flue was on the same as the wall. The area of the flues also coincides with what may be as break in the wall. This set up seems strange, kilns facing into a break in a wall. Hopefully, as we follow the kiln floor toward the wall we will come up with some answers. Virginia Lewis, Krishawna Brown, and Robert Belanger excavating Kiln 2 in foregound. Giuseppina Marras, Brad Schneider, and Ludo Zywczak excavating Trench PF 17 in background. Robert Belanger explains his Podere Funghi trenches during trench tours--Kilns 1 and 2 at right. Finally, this week we discovered that the southern foundation wall of building continues to the east, and runs through the eastern scarp of PF 15. Does this mean that another room stood to the east? It certainly seems to be a possibility. We will nonetheless have to reopen PF 15 next year and excavate to the east. Caitlin Vacanti, Martha Reichert, and Robert Vander Poppen work in their Poggio Colla trenches (view from the east) while students take a cookie break.   Estelle Reddeck Thomas and Jess Galloway during trench tours. Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6 Week 7 - Final Report Special Page 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. 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