2004 TRENCHES PC 24 & 26 Josh Moran, Field Supervisor Aaron Bartels, Assistant Field Supervisor Week 5: Field Students: Marie Hall Kamissa Mort Kelley Satarino PC 24 and PC 26 are still moving right along. Each day seems to turn up more interesting artifacts and information. Much of this information still seems to create more questions than it answers. Kelley Satarino exposing elements of the rubble in the northwest locus of Trench PC 26. In the northwestern portion of PC 26, we have uncovered a lot of rubble in the trench. It is rather deep and composed of a mixture of sandstone, mudbrick and tile. Kelley has spent a few days removing the dirt from around these various pieces so that we can get a good idea of their overall appearance. From the looks of things, this rubble may be something that fell off of the wall foundation that is in the trench directly to the north of us. This is a bit problematic though, because up to this point we had assumed that we were already deeper than the material that was associated with the final destruction of the building. Assistant Field Supervisor Aaron Bartels excavating coarseware fragments. In the southwestern quarter of PC 26, Aaron is uncovering a large amount of coarseware vessel fragments. Most of these fragments all appear to be parts of one large vessel. Additionally, some pieces of antler have been found mixed in with these pieces. The way the vessel pieces are spread out looks very much like they have been crushed by something. Coincidentally, there are some very large pieces of burnt wood that are being found on top of and in between these fragments. It seems possible that a large burning timber or roof beam could have collapsed and crushed these vessels. We haven't yet exposed all of these fragments, so the picture may change as we get to see more of these. Marie Hall defining Feature 4 in Trench PC 26. Marie is continuing work on Feature #4 in the northeastern part of the trench. She took a soil sample which can later be used by specialists for testing. These specialists can identify things such as seeds and pollen from ancient plants to help us identify what crops Etruscans may have grown, as well as what native plants grew naturally in this area 2200 years ago. From what was visible, the sample included some larger pieces of burnt wood, some bone and some small fragments of corroded metal. Analysis of all of this material can help us interpret what purpose our feature served. Large coarseware vessel handle fragment from Trench PC 26. Back in the northwestern quarter, Kamissa uncovered a very large coarseware handle fragment. The fabric of this type of ceramic is very white with a lot of small grainy inclusions in it. Usually when we see ceramic of this type, it comes out very poorly preserved. However, in this case the fragment was very nicely preserved and included a fair amount of the body portion to which the handle was attached. Fragments like these are useful when we are trying to determine both the date of the stratum in which it was found and the function of that particular area of the building. Left to right: Marie Hall, Kamissa Mort, and Kelley Satarino in Trench PC 26.     View of Trench PC 26 during Week 5.   Josh Moran with a ceramic find.   Left: Kelley Satarino digging. Right: Kamissa Mort makes a find tag for the base fragment she found in PC 26.     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