This Wednesday, we had an exciting day at Castellaraccio. After two weeks of picking away at wall collapse, we were finally able to begin exposing our new context layer of roof collapse. This layer is characterized by dense, dark soil with few rocks and many tiles. Minutes into the day, we decided to take out the metal detector and try our luck. It quickly directed us to a patch in the left corner of the palace (area 1000), and sure enough, we found another beautiful silver coin! This invigorated our spirits and fueled us with the energy we needed to face another long day of work. Additionally, we were lucky enough to be joined by three eager children- Alessandro, Paolo Alberto, and Carolina. While Lilli, Grant, Megan, and big Alessandro dutifully worked away at exposing our new context layer, Madeline supervised the children and involved them in numerous activities. The children learned to use the metal detector, sift through spoil, shovel, trowel, and expose walls. They were enthusiastic, optimistic, and quick learners. By the end of the day, they expertly uncovered a large portion of wall at the house (area 2000). Amidst the energy of our newest archeologists, Marc remained cool and steady in his trash midden (area 3000) just outside of the house, where he uncovered a new context layer and found more bone and pottery fragments. The team back at the palace continued to expose the layer of roof collapse throughout the day in addition to using the total station to take depth measurements of the new context layer. While no more silver coins were found, we did found several bone and pottery fragments.
All in all, we had another wonderful day at Castellaraccio, and we hope our little archeologist friends will be back soon!
Interconnected Mobility of People and Economy along the River Ombrone 