I spent my summer working at an Etruscan Sanctuary site in Tuscany called Poggio Colla.  Last y

I spent my summer working at an Etruscan Sanctuary site in Tuscany called Poggio Colla.  Last year I was a field school student and this year I was the assistant trench supervisor.  The site of Poggio Colla dates from the 7th c BCE to the 2nd c BCE (when the Romans rolled in and did their Roman thing) and includes an ‘arx’ or acropolis, probable burial areas, quarry, and kiln area, but the focus of the excavation has been on the arx.  Three trenches were opened this year on the arx and one on the NW slope.  Nothing really sexy was found… lots of pithoi, seeds, tile, bronze lumps, and stamped/decorated bucchero…. oh and lots of walls.

What I did all summer was this: dig really fast with the maddock when the supervisors needed to move fast (I did this a lot and have the shoulders to prove it), run the total station (I started the summer being its bitch and now it is mine), organizing on site photos (for finds and stuff), helping the students and making sure they don’t dig holes or puncture scarps, and helping the supervisors with all sorts of things.

All in all, it was another damn good summer and I hope I’ll be able to go back again next year.