Conclsion - 2013 Sounding

Conclusion – 2013 Sounding

The CA 70 – 2013 Sounding was opened late in the 2013 season. It was opened in the south west of the existing CA 70 trench which was excavated during the 2012 season. The CA area is located to the south west of the Orientalizing and Archaic era buildings on the Plano del Tesoro. The purpose of excavating CA 70 – 2013 was to:

1) To explore and define the extent of the packing of small flat rocks in CA 83

2) To greater understand the function of the CA 83 small rock packing

3) To clarify the chronological sequence of the CA area

4) To clarify the function of the structural features in CA (2012 and 2013)

416

417

These goals were met in part during the 2013 excavation season. The small rock packing that seemed to extend from CA 83 into CA 70 ended abruptly as soon as it extended into CA 70 – 2013 Sounding. The entirety of CA 70 – 2013 sounding was excavated as one locus down to the elevation of CA 83. At this point when nothing conclusive was uncovered, it was decided to excavate the northern half of the trench down to an elevation with CA 70 – 2012 Sounding to explore how far the potential rock feature from CA 83 extended and to explore whether or not the floor surface hypothesized in the CA 70 – 2012 Sounding exists or not. Two loci ( 2 and 3 ) were declared and Locus 3 to the north was excavated down to the level of the CA 70 – 2012 Sounding with no evidence of a floor surface. At this point Locus 2 in the south was similarly excavated

318

319

down with again no additional evidence for a floor surface.

Materials excavated from the CA 70 – 2013 Sounding do not conclusively add any chronological data for the CA area and gives very little information about the habitation of the site. Only one find was cataloged, a crucible fragment ( 20130218 20130218 ), and this in context with the bronze, slag, and vitrified terracotta summaries and analyses do not give us and substantial additional information about metal working at the site. In conjunction with this, no evidence helped to prove the existence of a floor surface at the bottom of the 2012 CA 70 sounding

The 2013 sounding in context with the 2012 excavation of CA 70 does give us some evidence of non-elite habitation during the immediate habitation of

420

421

Plano del Tesoro. However, the domestic and production function of the area has been further explored during the 2013 season and further evidence relative to the chronology and function of the site has been discovered. The extent of the architectural features is larger than originally thought and additional datable artifacts have been discovered. Even with this the area remains obscured until further investigation.

The theory and the general stratigraphy of the area could be better explore by continued excavation of the area of Civitate A. Work will have to continue in Civitate A to further understand the chronology, stratigraphy, and function of the area.