2004 STUDENT DIARIES Week 5 - Krishawna Brown: Krishawna Brown with the drilled sherd she found in Trench PF 5. Hey everyone! The weeks have flown by so quickly. I cannot believe we are already on our fifth week here. This has been such an amazing and unforgettable experience. Not only for the opportunity to be part of an archaeological dig, but also because of the new and lasting friendships I will be taking home with me. I am so lucky to be here with all these wonderful individuals; they have made my experience all the more memorable. Italy has more than lived up to my expectations. My weekend travels are always filled with amazing sites, good company and great food. If I am not on a packed train headed for some beautiful city I am relaxing at the local Vicchio pool with friends. Krishawna Brown and Robert Belanger excavating Kiln 2 in the Podere Funghi. Daily life in the Podere Funghi is very hot and always dirty. I have learned to love the dirt! Which for those of you who know me best is no small feat. We are constantly discovering new things everyday, whether they are artifacts or ideas for lingering questions. Everyday is an adventure. Which makes the FOD the place to be. Ciao, Krishawna Brown TSN Love and miss you all at home! Week 5 - Andrew McClellan: Andrew McClellan working in Katy Blanchard's trench in the Podere Funghi. Ah yes, another week on the FOD. Where most archaeologists would wilt under the blazing heat of the sun, with temperatures seemingly rising into the thousands, we "fodders" thrive, much like plankton. In PF 5, and PF 15, we have continued trench-long passes in the hope to uncover a "ground level," or at least an area of high activity around the walls of the Podere Funghi. The workday is long and hard, but the information we gain with every trowel-full of dirt and every shard of pottery provides endless amounts of information essential to our study. The finds themselves are especially interesting or, some may say, "suggestive," with the additions of a number of "water pipes," the continuation of a fragmentary "terracing wall," and various heat related anomalies. Although we hope to understand the intricacies of these individual finds, now is an exciting speculative time. Andrew McClellan working in the Podere Funghi. Outside the actual trenches, life in and out of Vicchio has been very exciting. We have continued the trend of "theme day;" with this Wednesday marking a very successful 80's day, complete with side-pony tails, and crop-tops galore (there are talks of a super-hero day next week!). A few of us are also planning a trip to Venice for this upcoming weekend, after a quiet stay at home last weekend; I'm very excited. Shout out to Bruno and Beppina, my grandpa, and my beloved mother Love, Andrew McClellan Week 5 - Jeff Edwards: Jeff Edwards working at the base of the wall in the central area of PC 20. Hello, everyone. We have just finished our fourth and begun our fifth week of excavation here at Poggio Colla. The dig is proceeding quite nicely as we are making progress in all the trenches. In the area I am working (PC 20), we have completed Locus 3 by reaching the bedrock level. This trench was characterized by an incredible amount of bucchero, an early Etruscan pottery, that was present in the destruction layer of Locus 3. We have also learned that the Etruscans cut into the bedrock to lay the large stone foundations for the terracing walls that were used on the hillside. Jeff Edwards and Lindsey Lindley in PC 20. To give you an idea of the area I am working in imagine a trench that is five meters wide by five meters in length and approximately 5 meters deep. When you realize that all of the dirt removed from the trench using hand picks and trowels, then sifted through a ¼ inch screen, one can see the effort and time involved in an archaeological project. Poggio Colla is an ongoing excavation in its tenth season, with plans to proceed for another ten years. We visited another site, Murlo (Civitate), during our third week here, which is in its 40th year of excavation. When you consider that part of archaeology is publication, it is easy to understand why archaeological projects take so long to complete. Next year is planned to be a study year in the Podere Funghi, the pottery production area here at Poggio Colla. Archaeologists, pottery specialists, and others will study the whole area of the Podere Funghi with the hope of explaining exactly what went on here. This will include dating and explaining how and why their pottery workshop went out of use. This is, after all, why we are digging. We want to answer questions about the material culture of the Etruscans and the Mugello Valley in particular. Publication is a very important part of archaeological research and the culmination of all our endeavors. This is another aspect of the field school at Poggio Colla. We are learning to excavate and write about what our findings mean in the broader context of the site. Today we had a lecture about our written assignment that we are to complete after leaving Italy. This assignment is to be written as if I am the archaeologist supervising the trench in which I worked. We have to publish a report summarizing the research design, how work proceeded, what we found out, and how we would plan for future excavation in the area. We will also put our findings into the general context of the site, stating whether the result of our excavation changes or clarifies our view of the history and culture of habitation at Poggio Colla. I believe this to be a critical element of the field school and a determining factor in why I chose Poggio Colla as the project on which to work. This will without a doubt be a very exciting week in PC 20 as we are about to excavate through Stratum 5 (the destruction layer) in Locus 4. Late in the day today, I began work in this stratum. After five minutes, I had an amazing find, a very large bucchero plate fragment. This was an important find that was photographed during and after excavation. Pictures will go on the website and will also be used by Dr. Warden in a slide presentation. When finding an artifact like this it makes you feel somewhat special in that you have contributed to the history of this excavation. I am sure that each one of us has had moments such as the one I had today, and I hope that if you are an archaeological student or someone interested in the field, my story will light your enthusiasm for this mysterious and magical tradition we call archaeology. Jeff Edwards and Lindsey Lindley.   Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7   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