2004 TRENCH PC 20 Ivo van der Graaff, Field Supervisor Sarah Titus, Assistant Field Supervisor Week 4: Field Students: Nicole (CoCo) Berastequi Jeff Edwards Lindsey Lindley Volunteer: Fiametta Calosi Ivo van der Graaff excavating bucchero find in Trench PC 20. Even though this last week has witnessed the long weekend break it has been characterized by many finds coming up from our trench. In fact most of our efforts have concentrated on excavating the black fill soil from the southern edge of our trench. The amounts of pottery and especially bucchero we have been collecting from this area has at times nearly overwhelmed us. However in an amazing show of solidarity and teamwork everybody, including staff and students from other trenches, pulled together for the greater good of the dig and helped us deal with the work that needed to be done. Today we reached bedrock throughout the area, which effectively signaled that we are approaching the end of our work here, thereby reducing our expectation of finds for the next couple of days considerably. Jeff Edwards, Sarah Titus, and Ivo van der Graaff in the southern end of PC 20. To counter this reductive trend in such a relatively rich season, we have opened the adjacent locus to excavation albeit tentatively. In fact since the stratigraphy is somewhat complicated we have been moving in this area with great caution so we can fully understand the context it encloses. However I do expect to find a continuation of the black layer in this part of our trench, thereby enhancing the prospects of more finds being discovered in the remainder of the season. North end of Trench PC 20 as seen from southeast. Other efforts in our section have focused on the northeastern section of our trench. In this area we took another pass to see what exactly was happening with the buttress walls heading north and the continuation of the fortification complex. The new pass revealed a stone fill in one of the spaces between the architectural features and what seems to be an earth fill in the other. This discovery fully fits our pattern of expectations even though the stone fill did seem a little curious at first, as we were not expecting such a determined effort to strengthen the defenses in this area. Naturally the meaning of such an extensive reinforcement of the arx in the closing years of its existence further validates the idea that we are dealing with an important site for the region, not only of a high economic and social value, but also of great strategic military importance. As the season progresses I am sure that the growing confidence of the students in their own abilities will only increase the prospects of fulfilling the goals we have set for the season, especially when I consider the speed at which we have been completing our work lately. View from the north of the northern end of Trench PC 20.   Nicole "CoCo" Berastequi working in the northern end of PC 20.   Nicole Berastequi and Lindsey Lindley in the northwest locus of PC 20.   Circular feature in the southern end of Trench PC 20.   Area in which a bucchero chalice fragment was found in PC 20.   Field Supervisor Ivo van der Graaff and Assistant Field Supervisor Sarah Titus working in PC 20.   Lindsey Lindley, Ivo van der Graaff, and Nicole Berastequi discuss PC 20 finds.   Ivo van der Graaff, Field Supervisor of 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