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2008 TRENCH PC 35
Field Supervisor: Aksel Casson
Field Supervisor Aksel Casson
writing in his field notebook
Opening
Report:
Trench assignments
were made official last week and I was truly fortunate to be
assigned the following students: Jayme Clemente, Michael Guarino,
Leigh Ivey, Kyle Jazwa, and Anna Weerasinghe. Andrea Summers,
the Assistant Trench Supervisor completes our wonderful team.
We are excavating in the southwestern portion of the arx, or
acropolis, and hope to aid in the definition of site use and
chronology during the Etruscan periods of occupation.
The students have learned
how to excavate by natural stratigraphy, clean and read a scarp,
determine the provenience of artifacts and features, and document
their finds. These essential archaeological skills have been
well applied in our first weeks together as the students have
correctly identified and excavated multiple archaeological deposits,
located and mapped the foundation stones for (at least) two Etruscan
walls, and recovered (in context, or in situ) dozens of highly
informative artifacts, including bronze coins, a glass bead,
and pieces of lead. These finds, and the hundreds upon hundreds
of ceramic sherds excavated and catalogued by PC-35 are only
the beginning of what promises to be a very productive summer
in the heat of Tuscany.
View from
the north of PC 35 during Week 2
Midseason
Report
Aksel Casson taking a level
A sandstone cube. About
¾ of a meter squared. Nothing special to look at. Except
for its location - its "context."
View from the southeast of PC 35. Sandstone cube near center.
Yes, in a season of excavation
marked by an endless series of excavated wonders, including exquisitely
crafted ceramics, glass beads, bronze coins, metal pieces and
votive objects, a simple sandstone block has stolen the show.
You see, this block forms a corner that merges two walls and
may prove to redefine how we view spatial and temporal relationships
on the site - a question that one of the students of PC 35, Leigh
Ivey, is studying as part of her field school project. One of
the lessons that the students have learned this summer is that
it is not just the innate qualities of an object - aesthetics,
value, etc. - but its relationship to other artifacts and features
on a site, known as "context," that determine archaeological
value and allow researchers to interpret data and recreate past
behaviors. So, yes, we are all very excited about our sandstone
block.
Leigh Ivey and Anna Weerasinghe discuss a find from PC 35
View from the south of Trench PC 35 during Week 4
Leigh is not the only
student pursuing an interesting project, as each of the students
of PC 35 is developing novel research in concert with senior
staff. Jayme Clemente is looking at our rapidly growing collection
of bronze coins with an interest in their relationship to Roman
coins. Michael Guarino and Kyle Jazwa are each studying black
glazed fineware pottery. Mike is looking at the distribution
of a specific decorative style, called "rouletting,"
present at various frequencies through the site. Kyle is focusing
on the frequency and occurrence of black glaze in specific rooms
across the site at one time period, with an eye toward understanding
how certain parts of the arx were utilized. Anna Weerasinghe
is conducting a much more technical research project. Anna is
looking at the physical properties of a specific courseware pottery
type, what we have taken to calling "whiteware." Anna's
project - the first to look at this particular kind of pottery
- represents an important step in our understanding of utilitarian
wares.
Meanwhile our work continues.
We have but a few days of excavation remaining to clarify these
and other important questions. Now that the students are all
experienced I expect to make significant progress.
Trench PC 35 Team: Crystal, Aksel, Mike, Kyle, Anna, and Jamie
Assistant Field Supervisor Andrea Summers
View from the northwest of PC 35 during Week 4
Anna Weerasinghe in Trench PC 35
Jayme Clemente in Trench PC 35
Michael Guarino works on his field notebook for PC 35
PC 35 team during Week 4
Leigh Ivey and Anna Weerasinghe working in PC 35
Aksel Casson and
Andrea Summers
Final
Report
Aksel Casson (top right in yellow) supervising his trench crew
The last week of a project
is always busy and often chaotic. Archaeologists are forced to
balance excavation goals (10 more centimeters!) with the blunt
realities of documentation and storage of artifacts and tools.
Our last week here certainly has proven to be busy, though we
seem to have avoided the concomitant chaos.
Monday marked our last
day of actual excavation and we learned that our walls are the
oldest part of our trench thus far excavated, as a third level,
or course, of stones emerged at the base of our wall. This is
important information that tells us that the cultural materials
excavated from the deposits around the walls all postdate, i.e.
are younger than, the walls themselves. On Tuesday we completed
final documentation of our trench. This consisted of taking final
photographs, measuring final elevations of excavated surfaces,
and of drawing final profiles (the cross-sections of our exposed
stratigraphic layers) and final plans (the birds-eye view of
our trench).
Wednesday was a day of
closure and sadness, as we ended our excavation season and backfilled
trench PC 35. Backfilling is a process in which the sifted sediments
from a trench are re-deposited to protect and stabilize the trench,
burying our walls and exposed stratigraphy. But our team is optimistic
that what we learned this year in our little 5x5 meter world
will prompt the project's directors to re-open the trench for
further excavations. This thought makes us all very happy.
Meanwhile, the remainder
of our time here will be devoted to cataloguing artifacts and
securing their storage, writing our final reports, making an
inventory of our tools and supplies, and - perhaps most importantly
- to reminiscing about the highs and lows of the season and remarking
on just how far we've all come since the day in late June where
a bunch of relative strangers first began working as a team.
As for the denizens of
PC 35, I'm very proud to report that Jayme, Leigh, Mike, Kyle,
and Anna are all now quite capable and experienced archaeologists
- each with a wonderful future in the field of archaeology. They've
all expressed a real interest in either gaining more excavation
experience or getting more deeply involved in the conservation
of archaeology material. I hope our paths cross in the future.
Above
and below: Trench PC 35 team at work during Week 5
View from the east of Trench PC 35 at the end of the 2008 field
season
Profile of the large corner block in PC 35, viewed from the south
Three of the many faces of Field Supervisor Aksel Casson
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