Introduction

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I. INTRODUCTION

Excavators established a master grid system for the entire site of Poggio Civitate in 1991. A baseline was set up and ran east-west through the Piano del Tesoro and into the Civitate A & B areas. While the baseline was shot several semi-elliptical rock formations were revealed in Civitate B. To better understand their nature and their relationship to other known architectural features some of these rock features were excavated in 1991, 1992, 1996, & 2005. The material recovered was scarce, but the features were clearly intentional. Most of them appear to be small tombs due to their size and shape and the small tombs due to their size and shape and the small amounts of pottery found inside. They are dateable to the 6 ^th century B. C. E. (cf. TT-I in 1991, EN-IV in 1992, JAL in 1996 for features that appear to have been Archaic pit tombs & excavations done in 2005 by JPB-IV & ARN-IV were not conclusive.)

The landowners cleared much of the vegetation from

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Civitate B which allowed for broader excavations over an area that has produced sporadic surface finds but that is topographically higher than the Piano del Tesoro, making it impossible that the surface finds recovered from this part of Civitate B could have eroded there from the Piano del Tesoro. Instead, the ancient material must be the result of primary deposition, indicating that this part of the site experienced activity contemporaneously with Piano del Tesoro.

Some of the trenches did not contain any sign of occupation (see CB-36 ARR-I, CB-37 DWM-III or CB-43 AEG-III). Several have revealed interesting but confusing primary deposits such as the lenses of archaic material (mostly architectural terracottas) in CB 35 & 39. (KRK-V & ARR-II). CB 38 also revealed a deposit of dark clay-like soil rich in organic material surrounded by the typically sterile yellow soil so typical of Civitate B which is often called by its local designation \x91galestra.' (cf. FGT-I) In 2011, CB 50 & 42 further

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defined the edges of the deposit in CB 38 (cf. JKW-I & CO-VI) but the overall horizontal extent of the deposit is still not fully understood. CB 44 also revealed a large deposit with many fragments of architectural terracottas, but the entire horizontal & vertical extents were not fully defined by the end of the 2011 season (AJC-II).

In 1969, S. Wright & N. Winter excavated in the Civitate C area, while this work revealed evidence of possible occupation, nothing was found in context (cf. SW/NW-I 1969). Other trenches dropped in 2007 also failed to find evidence of occupation in Civitate C (CC-8 & CC-9). In the same year another CC trench, CC-7, was excavated a few meters north of Wright's trench (cf. KGM-I). An oval concentration of carbon-rich soil capped with small rocks, ca. 8-10 cm in size, was found. The horizontal extent was revealed in 2007 (KGM-I & JAH/JLL-II). The fill of the deposit was excavated in 2008 & 2009 (cf. AJC/ARR-I & II). Large fragments of ceramic vessels, bones, weaving implements,

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and a concentration of Murex shells were recovered from the fill, and at the end of the 2009 season it was interpreted that the feature was an intentionally excavated, filled, & capped midden contemporaneous with the early phase of the Orientalizing workshop.

Since Civitate B exhibits evidence of ancient activity from CB 35, 38, 39, 42, 44, & 50 and of habitation of Civitate C by CC 7, the 2012 season will focus on the area between CC7 & the CB trenches, and is south of the medieval road and ca. 50 meters from the Archaic courtyard building. 7 trenches have been opened and 2 so far have revealed 2 deposits ca. 2.7 m apart in CB 56 & CB 57 (cf. LHS-I & EMO-III). It is still unclear what these deposits are; their regularity and their absence in trenches north (CB 53 ARR-III & CB 54 AJC-III) suggest that they may extend south. CB 59 will be placed south of CB 56 & CB 60 will be placed south of CB 57.

The goals for CB 59 are:

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\xb7 To search for similar deposits as those in CB 56 & 57.

\xb7 To search for more evidence of non-elite habitation such as that found in CC-7.

\xb7 To search for new architectural, stratigraphic, & topographic information for an area of the hill that has had little previous excavation.

\xb7 To recover dateable materials from a secure context to better understand the occupation of Civitate B.