The team working on the area excavated previously in 2018 worked in two groups today. Half of the team was continued to remove Context 56, finding many sherds of pottery and a few bones in the process. After Context 56 was removed, the team cleaned, took pictures, and took points with the Total Station of Context 70, a yellow clay with sandy patches. Then, they got to work removing this newly uncovered soil around one of the most narrow drains on site, and in addition to pottery, also found a bronze coin with the help of director Professor Sebastiani, who came to work with the students in the afternoon. The other half of the team was very excited to find what is believed to be the floor level beneath Context 55. Today, they focused on clearing the context above the floor level and found bone fragments, pottery sherds, and even a loom weight in the process.
Area 1000, on the other hand, had the pleasure of working with Charlotte, Michelle’s daughter, who flew into Italy a mere 24 hours before she was on the field–a true champion. In the morning, Thuraya drew a map of Context 7, which is a context of disintegrated brick near one of two pillars found within the north extension. Together, the team gave context numbers to the two pillars and the charcoal line which runs between them so that they could take points with the total station. Thuraya collected some big, beautiful samples of the charcoal (Context 16) and then troweled it to perfection. Charlotte and Tina began to take away Context 7 to expose the context beneath it, which proved to be more difficult than they had hoped. With teamwork and cold watermelon, they began to expose a context packed with pebbles, which they believe to be a floor. Let us all cross our fingers for them tomorrow as they embark on exposing this contest in totality. Three cheers for Monday!
Interconnected Mobility of People and Economy along the River Ombrone 