News

Second day at the cistern! Today we continued to clean the cistern. Now the limits are all visible, except for the western part, where there are trees which probably caused part of the collapse of the structure. We also entered inside the cistern.
From the inside, we saw that the walls are made of square stone blocks, while the roof of the cistern is made up of a very thick layer of cocciopesto.
Our goal is to finish cleaning the structure and understand how it was built.

A new publication, detailing the results of the 2021 archaeological season at Castellaraccio di Monteverdi is now available for free at this link:

http://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2022-526.pdf

Congratulations to Michelle and Alessandro!

Today we started to dig the filling of cut 71, under wall 83. Removing layer 72 it becomes clear that there are two different cuts in line: for that reason we gave another number to the filling and to the cut located on the west part of northern side of wall 84. The soil is full of charred seeds that seems different to the others collected in the other part of the room.
In the meantime we removed the remain of context 33 from the N-W corner of area 200 and realize the connection from the black layers below (context 49). We documented the layer and found inside a big charred beam that goes in correspondence to USM 18, the west wall. So we understood that it wasn’t a fireplace but a charred beam.
In area 3000 Ryan founds the bedrock with a cut (context 124) filled from context 123.

Today marked the beginning of the last week of excavation for Castellaraccio and Cannicci. After a deep cleaning for recording the situation after the removal of the dark context 55, we started to remove a series of layers representing a series of activities that happened after context 55 was formed.

We excavated the fireplace in the northwestern corner of the room. This layer looks more like a charred beam, but we will need further work. We excavated one of the yellowish-gray pits in the northern area of the room. We hoped to find a seed deposit, but the pit was almost empty. Ryan exposed a new layer under the brick collapse with large stones. We will need to understand whether it is another wall or another structural element.

This morning, the Podere Cannicci team again took diverse paths: while some stayed home to wash and to organize pottery and others undertook the investigation of a Roman cistern, the rest of the team set out to finish the removal of Context 60’s packed tiles, ceramics, and stones in Area 1.

With Context 60 having been levelled by the day’s end, the team made several exciting discoveries. Not only were Context 73’s collapse and a new, suspected forge revealed, cleaned, and documented, as well as more secondary evidence of ceramic and metallurgical production brought to light, but bright red and ashy grey patches of soil as well as a large stone deeper in the earth were likewise exposed. These last two contexts must be investigated further in the coming days, and the team plans to do this in conjunction with the removal of Context 73. It seems that we have truly begun to reveal the phases of life at the site!

Today part of the Cannicci group (Marta, Thuraya, and Adina) moved to a new area! In this place, there is a Roman cistern, already identified by a field survey in the 1990s, but never investigated.
The cistern was hardly visible, partly underground and covered by overgrown vegetation. Thanks to the hard work of the team, at the end of this day, the cistern is almost back to light and in the next days we will be able to document and record its structure.

A new piece of the intricated puzzle of Podere Cannicci is now getting solved!

To finish the day, the team reached Grosseto to attend the opening of the archaeological exhibition on the late Etruscan necropolis of Casenovole, organized by our very good friends of the Associazione Archeologica Odysseus. What a blast!

Today, the research team of the Impero Project went to visit Murlo and its museum. Here is a picture of Michael, celebrating his birthday, by illustrating the site of Poggio Civitate!

Happy birthday to you Michael, from all of us! And thank you Besty for the beautiful picture!

Even today, the Cannicci team split in two groups: part of the team joined Michael to wash and organize the findings from this three weeks of excavations. The rest of the team continued the fieldwork by removing part of Context 60. The layer is by far the most amazing and interesting of all the layer excavated in Area 1. Inside it, the team has found hundreds of shards of pottery, bricks and slag. Nevertheless, singular findings like a couple of clay seals for bellows (possibly related to kilns for smelting iron) and wasters from a nearby pottery kiln were stillfound.
In the morning professor Gregory Warden and his research team visited the site and the team in Cannicci. They were given a tour by Betsy and Marta through the many wonders of the Cannicci site. The students had the occasion to meet and quickly share experiences, enriching themselves and the whole project. Soon, the two teams will meet again on the Etruscan site of Potentino, where Professor Warden is now working.
The week ends with the hope to start digging the new phase that is starting to appear in the Cannicci site.

Today, we had the pleasure to host a visit from the research team working at the Potentino Castle. The team and the students guided by Prof. Gregory Warden enjoyed their time at Monteverdi and Podere Cannicci, learning from our discoveries and exchanging ideas.

Looking forward to paying a visit to them as soon as possible!