2001 TRENCH PC 18 Kate Topper, Field Supervisor Week 7: Trench PC 18 Team: Joshua Moran, Kate Topper, Marlene Estabrooks, Lindsey Fine, and Ashley Bennett. Missing in this photo are Paige Russell and Amy Leach. As expected, our final few days of excavation did not yield any solid answers about what we are excavating in PC 18. We found several more pieces of coarseware and bucchero and another bead, as well as a few pieces of tile and mudbrick that allude to the presence of one or more buildings nearby, but nothing that sheds any real light on the history of the precise area of the north slope we are excavating. We have, however, learned that the deposition of stratum 5, our late Orientalizing layer, is more complicated than we initially believed it to be. While we have reached the top of stratum 6 or bedrock everywhere else in the trench, we still have not found the bottom of stratum 5 in parts of Locus 5 (the area bordered by a curved line of stones on the north and east and by a projection of bedrock on the west, in the extreme southwest corner of the trench), even though we have taken some areas of Locus 5 a full forty five centimeters below the level at which we reached stratum 6 in the south end of Locus 4. What we initially believed to be bedrock in Locus 5 actually turned out to be a number of large stones with stratum 5 soil beneath them, so Locus 5 currently seems to be a large hole or pit (approximately two meters wide in some areas) cut into the bedrock and filled with both rubble and larger rocks. At this point, we have no way of knowing how deep the hole is or what purpose it served; these will have to be questions for next season. Overview of Trench PC 18 from the south, with worked bedrock at lower left. At present, a few points are clear. The eastern face of the protruding bedrock, which shows signs of being worked all the way down into stratum 5, indicates that this area was used as a quarry before or during the late Orientalizing period. The quantities of broken coarseware and bucchero we have found suggest either that this area itself was used as a dumping ground for a nearby settlement, or that it received the runoff from a dumping ground slightly further up the hill, since the slight slope of stratum 5 could have allowed for a limited degree of erosion. Less clear is the precise age of the quarry, as well as the relationship of this entire area to the building or settlement in which the pottery, tile, mudbrick, and other material we have found in PC 18 originated. These questions will be answered only by further excavation on the north slope of the hill, specifically to the south and west of the current trench. Overview of Trench PC 18 from the southeast. Despite the numerous questions that remain unanswered, I believe that we have accomplished a good deal this season. After two seasons of grappling with the stratigraphy of PC 18, we have finally established a more solid understanding of the stratigraphy of this part of the hill; this knowledge will, I hope, allow future excavation of this area to proceed more efficiently. We have also, I believe, placed stratum 5 more firmly in the late Orientalizing period, since none of our pottery from this stratum appears to date to a period any later than the late seventh century. Finally, although we did not actually find the building or settlement I had originally hoped to find, the tile and mudbrick in stratum 5 indicate that we cannot be far from one or more buildings. View of Trench PC 18 from the north. At this point, I wish to thank those who have helped excavate PC 18 this season, beginning with my permanent trench crew of Marlene Estabrooks, Lindsey Fine, Amy Leach, and Josh Moran. We were also helped by volunteer Cat Hinds and Masters of Liberal Arts student Paige Russell, and by field supervisors Rob Vander Poppen and Rob Belanger, who excavated with us at the end of last week after finishing their own trenches in the Podere Funghi. Finally, I wish to extend special thanks to my assistant, Ashley Bennett, whose patience, knowledge, and constant hard work this season have been an immense help both to me and the trench as a whole. Kate Topper excavating in a pose that echoes the terrain in her trench. Ashley Bennett and Joshua Moran making final drawing of PC 18 scarps. Kate Topper explains PC 18 during trench tours. Dramatic dip in stratigraphy of Trench PC 18.   Notable finds from Trench PC 18: Orientalizing 7th century B.C. glass paste bead from Trench PC 18.   Bucchero openwork chalice from Trench PC 18.   Stamped bucchero vessel base from Trench PC 18.   Spindle whorl from Trench PC 18.   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. 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