2004 TRENCHES PC 23 & 25 Robert Vander Poppen, Field Supervisor Martha Reichert, Assistant Field Supervisor Week 3: Field Students: Victoria Mead Sarah McCrory Jonathan Mort Olivia Spradlin Olivia Spradlin excavating in Trench PC 23. This week has been highly eventful in PC 23. At the beginning of the week our permanent trench teams were announced and the students listed above will now become permanent PC 23 inhabitants. It has also been an exciting week since, after three previous seasons of excavation in PC 23, we were able to begin digging early layers of archaeology almost from the first day after backfill was removed. Victoria Mead taking a pass in Trench PC 23. Trench PC 23 consists completely of the interior space associated with our second and third phase foundations. The current hypothesis is that the structure represents an open courtyard with some type of sacred function throughout the second and third phases of the site (ca. 500's B.C. to 180 B.C.). We are currently working on the deeper layers of the interior space, those associated with the phase II structure and earlier. We have concentrated our efforts especially in the Western end of the trench where we began the season digging very earl material, perhaps as old as the 8th or 7th century B.C. Here, the artifacts are sparse, but their age makes them all the more precious. Even more importance is attributed to this area since it borders a natural formation of the living rock of the mountain where a votive deposit had been carefully sealed after the destruction of the first phase building on the site. In this area John and Olivia pulled out a number of pieces of bucchero (a shiny black Etruscan pottery) and very old pieces of coarseware ceramics. In the same area Tori discovered a piece of degraded bronze sheet. Fissure in Trench PC 23. At the other end of the trench we have been concentrating on working through the remains of a large pit filled with burned and melted pieces of metal working byproducts. Slightly to the east of this area we have been excavating through a thick layer of very dense dirt packed with pieces of sandstone. This soil was placed within the monumental foundations in order to create a level floor surface for the Phase II building. Once we had removed this layer of dirt it became apparent that there was a line of stones oriented to the cardinal directions (rather than the hilltop, as in later phases). As we dig deeper here, I hope to clarify the nature of these stones. That is, to determine if their placement is natural, or if they represent a wall associated with some early structure or terrace wall. The next week should see the most progress so far in the trench and should begin to help us to answer the questions about the interior of the building. It will also be characterized by our team beginning to work together and form a bond over their little hunk of Poggio Colla real estate. View of Trench PC 23.   Jonathan Mort and Olivia Spradlin in Vander Poppen's trench.   Field Supervisor Robert Vander Poppen.   Robert Vander Poppen and Jess Galloway (at left) discuss progress in the trench.   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