RESEARCH PROJECTS Director of Research, Prof. Ann Steiner, Franklin & Marshall College The research design of the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project and Poggio Colla Field School combines excavation, land survey, and archaeometry as part of an interdisciplinary regional landscape analysis of the Etruscan site of Poggio Colla and the surrounding area. The project seeks to contribute significantly to our understanding of Etruscan culture and to educate through a broad and innovative curriculum a new generation of archaeologists in the practice and theory of settlement archaeology. Through timely publication and a broad program of education and outreach the project will explicate and increase awareness of the ethical management of an endangered cultural heritage. Lauren Jackson, Gretchen Meyers, and students study roof tiles in the museum magazzino   Dr. Jenifer Neils working on Poggio Colla bucchero taxonomy Report by Jack Carlson: Professor Jennifer Neils (Case Western) and Jack Carlson (Georgetown) are developing a primer for cataloguing bucchero pottery at Poggio Colla. Unlike, for example, Attic red figure pottery, Etruscan bucchero pottery has no standard vocabulary associated with it and no set methodology for describing it. The principal texts on and typologies of bucchero pottery vary widely in vocabulary and methodology. Reconciling these differences into a cataloguing procedure that makes sense for Poggio Colla, that is as clear and precise as possible, that maximizes searchability, and that takes into account the wide range of vessel shapes, motives, and decorative techniques is the major challenge of this project. A further challenge rises from the fact that Poggio Colla seems to have vessel types that do not appear in the typologies published thus far. The goal is to use this primer both to recatalogue the site's bucchero and to catalogue bucchero in the future; the primer may eventually find use at other Etruscan sites and help to standardize the way bucchero is catalogued and described across Etruria.   Below are links to pages on professional and student research projects Student Research Projects: All students in the Poggio Colla Field School participate in research projects under the direction of one of the professors on our staff. For information on these projects, find links on the Student Research Projects page. Architecture: A report by Ingrid Edlund-Berry, in consultation with Lucy T. Shoe Meritt: "The Architectural Mouldings of Poggio Colla" can be found on the Architecture page of this website. Roof Tiles: An analysis of roof tiles from excavations in the Podere Funghi and on Poggio Colla, directed by Professor Gretchen Meyers of Franklin and Marshall College and architect Jess Galloway. See 2008 Roof Tiles. Surveys: Both the general site survey and AutoCAD mapping project, directed by Jess Galloway, and the archaeo-topographical survey, directed by Mark Corney, are introduced on the Surveys page of this website. The Coring Survey Project, supervised by Thijs Nales and Robert Vander Poppen, explores the context of our Etruscan settlement in its larger landscape. This project is covered on the Coring Survey page of this website. Shovel Test Pit Project Through a systematic grid of Shovel Test Pits, this project samples the plow zone on the Podere Funghi in order to determine patterns of artifact distribution across the site. The project is directed by Sara Bon-Harper from the Monticello Department of Archaeology. See 2007 Shovel Test Pit Project and 2008 Investigating Etruscan Ceramic Production at the Podere Funghi. Geophysics: A geophysical survey of the Podere Funghi is directed by Professor Robert Sternberg of Franklin and Marshall College. See Sternberg for information. Resistivity Prospection: This project is directed by Dr. Dario Monna, from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Rome. Photographs of Dr. Monna and his assistant Ivo Bruner are included on Resistivity Prospection page. A report on the resistivity project will follow. Ground-Penetrating Radar: A research project directed by Dr. Frank Vento of Clarion University is presented on the Frank Vento Project page. Paleoethnobotanical Research: The purpose of the paleoethnobotany project, directed by Lynn Makowsky of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, is to uncover important information about the human-plant relationship at Poggio Colla. See Paleobotanical Research. Soils Research: Professor Neil Tabor of Southern Methodist University has begun a soil analysis project in conjunction with the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project. See information on that project here: MVAP Soils. Bibliography: A list of references on the Mugello Valley area: Bibliography.