Summary (English)
The object of this campaign was to extend the excavation area to the south-west. This involved the demolition of two limestone boulders.
The grid was set up in the new area and an extensive survey of the exposed surface carried out. The area slopes east-west and is characterised by stony outcrops. Leaves and humus, patched with sediment from excavation and sieving activities from the Borzatti excavations, were cleared. The surface cleaning exposed an erosion surface (11a) across almost the entire extension, which covered a layer of brown soil (US 11). Two further contexts were identified on the surface of US 11, identified as US 8 and 9. Layers US 10 and 8 were then excavated. Layer US 8 was a residual patch of yellowish-brown soil with a find sandy matrix lying sub-horizontally up against the rock face. The context was excavated in four spits and contained numerous fragments of impasto pottery from one vessel, and a substantial concentration of marine malacofauna (mussels, patellidae). The finds give an approximate Iron
Age date for US 8.In the south-western zone, US 11 was covered by a pocket of reddish sand, of recent and natural origin, US 10 (Tab. 1 of 4). This contained a few lithics, pottery fragments and a human phalange.
Two of the three large boulders shown on the general plan were removed. They rested directly on US 11 and a well-preserved tortoise shell was found beneath the south-westernmost one.
Given the importance of this faunal element for the reconstruction of the paleo-environment in post-Palaeolithic periods, it was decided to include a 3D survey of this area of the excavation in the site documentation.The extension opened this season revealed a stratigraphic sequence that provided a substantial amount of information about the dynamics of the territory’s formation and transformation in the post-Palaeolithic phases. The radiometric dating planned for this year will be able to insert this new data into a more detailed overall chronology.
- Filomena Ranaldo- Unità di Ricerca Preistoria e Antropologia - Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente - Università degli Studi di Siena 
Director
Team
- Stefano Ricci- Unità di Ricerca Preistoria e Antropologia - Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente - Università degli Studi di Siena
- Ivan Martini—Università di Siena
- Valentina Borgia - McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research - University of Cambridge, UK.
- Jacopo Crezzini - Unità di Ricerca di Preistoria e Antropologia - Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente – Università dei Siena.
- Dario Massafra - Silvia Strafella - Vito Prillo - Francesco Giove - Francesco Colopi - Vincenzo Spagnolo - Francesco Ciaglia.
Research Body
- Unità di Ricerca Preistoria e Antropologia - Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente - Università degli Studi di Siena.
Funding Body
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