2004 TRENCH PC 20 Ivo van der Graaff, Field Supervisor Sarah Titus, Assistant Field Supervisor Week 2: Left: Field Supervisor Ivo van der Graaff helps survey finds in PC 20. Right: Assistant Field Supervisor Sarah Titus in PC 20. The trench itself immediately posed some intriguing questions and looks like it will be one of our most promising projects of this season. In fact the trench shows some very interesting stratigraphy ranging from the earliest to the latest phases of occupation on Poggio Colla. The southernmost corners present themselves with a black layer, which is related to the destruction of the first phase of occupation on the site (seventh century BC). It seems that as the site was cleared, the debris resulting from that destruction was thrown into the area surrounding our trench. This circumstance leads me to believe that we are facing a season rich in finds coming out of our trench. As excavation of this area has now entered full swing already we are making some important finds confirming our expectations at this early stage of our campaign. Layer of black soil in the southern corner of PC 20. The central and northern portions of our trench also show some interesting insights to the development of our site. In fact, some time after the deposition of our black layer, probably in the Classical era, a terrace wall was built in order to expand the living space available on top of our site. Seemingly, in the ensuing Hellenistic era, this construction was not enough to accommodate the needs of our site as presumably it expanded further. The result was that a new terrace wall was built just further north of its predecessor, to supply the hilltop with more living space. Shortly thereafter a series of buttress walls were built perpendicular to our northernmost terrace wall, presumably to shore it up in case of a collapse or to offer more support as part of a reinforced fortification complex surrounding our site. The exact function and sequence of events surrounding the site and my trench are still largely clouded by doubts. In order to answer these questions the aim of our season will be to fully excavate the easternmost portion of my trench down to bedrock first so that we can get a clear view of the stratigraphy composing our area. The next step will be to follow up the work done by opening the western side of the trench to excavation. The students so far have been very enthusiastic in their approach, which makes me confident that we are looking forward to a very productive digging season. Michael Thomas and Ivo van der Graaff survey in Trench PC 20.     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