2002 TRENCH PC 23 Robert Vander Poppen, Field Supervisor Josh Moran, Assistant Supervisor Week 2: Crew of Trench PC 23, left to right: Tamee Bollinger, Elizabeth Wallace, Michael Glover, and Sarah Titus. This week has been a good one for PC 23. Last week we began excavation in earnest, and the students began to develop both their hands and minds in the practice of archaeology. All of the students this year picked up the skills of excavation with amazing speed, and I had the opportunity to work with all of them as we continued to rotate trenches for a few more days. However, on Monday, the much awaited trench assignments were announced. For the remainder of the season the PC 23 crew will consist of Tamee, Mike, Sarah, and Liz. Early on I discovered that Tamee and Sarah are wonderful scarpers (individuals who can create a beautiful vertical profile at the edge of the trench), that Liz has an amazing ability to define rocks and mud bricks, and that Mike can move some serious dirt in the trench. My crew, coupled with my assistant Josh who is all around a great excavator, is a diverse group who are well ahead of the usual curve in terms of excavation skills. Field Supervisor Robert Vander Poppen directing his crew in PC 23. Now that we have permanent crews the work has picked up, as everyone is now invested in the excavation of their trench. In PC 23, we have begun to take the three northern loci (arbitrarily divided units of the trench) down to the top of Stratum 3. Stratum 3 represents a destruction event for the main building on the hill of Poggio Colla, and we hope to be able to determine the relationship of this stratum to the surrounding architecture in hopes of ascertaining a date for the destruction of one or more of the three phases of architecture in the monumental building. Work has progressed well under the eager hands of the students and already the finds abound. Mike discovered a piece of lead slag and Sarah a fineware base and the rim of a coarseware serving bowl. Equally important to the interpretation of the destruction layer is the excavation of the soil which surrounds the pit a group of antiquities thieves dug two winters ago. Sarah, Tamee and Liz began taking down the soil around the pit today. Last year's excavations revealed that the pit may have actually been a disturbance of an ancient pit. Our hope is to confirm or refute this theory through this year's excavation. So far all is proceeding well, and it promises to be a great season for the students and staff of PC 23. Above and below: the crew of Trench PC 23 at work during week 2.   Assistant Field Supervisor Joshua Moran excavating in PC 23.   A new team member, high school student Nat Kerr sweeping in Trench PC 23.   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