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Conclusion CB56

The original aims of the excavation of the CB56 area were to investigate this centrally located space and explore its relationships with other areas of the hill of Poggio Civitate, while seeking to clarify the ancient use of the Civitate B area and search for light frame architecture in this area. During the process of excavation, while these goals were not fully met, significant progress was made. The position of CB 56, at the bottom of a small slope, resulted unsurprisingly in a layer of erosional wash, defined as Locus 2. This locus provided a mixture of objects, with medieval pottery and a medieval bronze coin ( PC20120044 ) alongside a cavetto fragment ( PC20120004 ) and curved iron fragment ( PC20120084 ). However, this overlaid what appears to have been the ancient surface floor level, Locus 3, which produced a significant amount of terracotta, pottery and slag associated with the Etruscan inhabitation of the site.

In the western area of the trench, an area of soft soil forming a circular shape approximately 40cm in diameter was excavated into the western central area of Locus 3. It quickly became apparent that this was an area of redeposited soil, and that this area had been excavated during previous occupation in the past. Loci 4 and 5 explored the depths of this feature, while Locus 6 defined a rock packing which ringed the pit feature at the bottom. This pit feature measured 66cm in depth, and could be suggested to have been a post hole associated with light frame architecture. The presence of a cavetto fragment ( PC 20120082 ) towards the bottom of the pit demonstrates the contiguous nature of this feature with the destruction of the archaic period context, suggesting that the hole was open for material to enter within it at this point in time. A piece of Ionic pottery ( PC20120062 ) found higher up in Locus 5 further confirmed the ancient nature of this feature.

Further evidence for the use of the feature in CB56 was found in the neighbouring trench CB57, where a very similar hole feature was found and excavated at a similar depth. The two features are approximately 2.7 metres apart, a distance of separation commonly associated with architectural practice at Poggio Civitate. While the nature of these two features is as yet still unclear, it may be suggested that the two are connected and may have formed part of a structure in the Civitate B area. As such, it seems that the aims of the 2012 season have to a large extent been met: the potential discovery of a structure illuminates the purpose of the Civitate B area and may demonstrate the presence of non-elite architecture in this space. However, further excavation and exploration are necessary in order to determine the function and nature of the CB56 feature and see it in full context. Unfortunately, the excavator (LHS) left a week before excavations were concluded. At the time of CB 56's closure, work was still ongoing in CB 55, CB 58 and CB 59 to ascertain whether more of these post hole features are present in the Civitate B area.