Introduction

Evidence of ancient occupation in Vescovado di Murlo has been well established; tombs with materials dating from 6th to the 3rd century BCE have been previously reported from the Tinoni area of the town. Furthermore, in the 1970s, during the construction of the SP 34 roadway, traces of ancient industrial activity were uncovered and excavated in a rescue operation in the Colombaio area. This revealed the architectural remains of two furnaces along with a fragment of a wall immediately south of the apertures of the larger of the two furnaces. Pottery recovered here suggests a date between the late-4th to the early-3rd century BCE.

More recently it was at this site in 2006 that an exploratory excavation took place, led by the Poggio Civitate Excavation Project. The investigations explored the previously identified areas of 4th and 3rd century BCE industrial activity (see VT1) and uncovered traces of an earlier furnace, as well as traces of a possible domestic space whose pottery potentially dates from the 6th century BCE and appears to be contemporaneous and comparable to fabrics recovered from the monumental complex on Poggio Civitate.

Notably the 2006 investigations revealed another forno (see VT6) directly south of the structures uncovered in the 1970s. Moreover, an Attic red-figure sherd, dating to c. 500 BCE, along with some bucchero and buccheroid wares from the 6th century BCE were discovered in a lower stratum of VT4. Alongside this a possible floor surface and retaining wall were uncovered in VT2 and VT3, directly to the south of the original 1970s excavations.

In 2015 further excavations took place 5 meters to the west of this site, in the south-western half of what was a tennis court constructed in the 1980s. This area is c. 5 meters higher than the areas previously investigated. From the information available it appears that the area where the tennis court was constructed was scraped and a fill of stones, clay, sand, and other materials was used as the foundation for the court. Four trenches were excavated in 2015 (VT 7, 8, 9, 10).

In VT7 a wall with multiple courses, running roughly east-west, and seemingly a continuum of the one to the east revealed in the 1970s operations. To the south of the wall a floor surface was revealed which had numerous upturned and largely intact vessels. Above this floor surface a large tile packing was uncovered also. In VT8, c. 1.5m south of the east-west wall a large (c. 1m diameter) circle of stones in coursing were revealed. This feature has been initially interpreted as a column base. Finally, in VT10, a rip-rap/gully feature was revealed which abutted the east-west wall to the north, and was lined with tile and other materials.

In the 2016 season four trenches (VT11, VT12, VT13, VT14) revealed an ancient cut into the natural topography of the slope of the hill in the locale of Colombaio. It appears that a ditch was cut some 5m wide at its maximum width and slopes downwards in a truncated shape to a maximum width of 3.2m. It was in this ditch that the linear stone feature was revealed. Architecturally it varies with five to seven different courses of stones, averaging a surviving height of 1.25m. In VT11 and VT13, the western extent of the linear stone feature was revealed to extend a total of c 7.70m running roughly East-West from the South-Eastern section wall of VT11 for 5m, and then runs west for another c. 2.7m into VT13. It then turns at a nearly right angle to the north in VT13, and runs roughly north-south extending 2m and terminates into a white-yellow chalky soil, that is highly suggestive of a virgin soil type known in the locality.

The linear stone feature likely served as a wall, perhaps a boundary wall for the community living in Vescovado, or a habitation area immediately upwards to the north-west, while the cut into the ditch south of this wall may have acted as a path around this boundary. The wall is robust and in all likelihood the wall was probably higher in antiquity as the uppermost course is comprised of small and often loose stones that were presumably capped by at least one course of larger and solidifying stones. The wall may, therefore, have served as a defensive feature of some form, or simply as a manifestation of the limits of the urban community.

Consequently, it appears that the ‘floor’ uncovered in VT7 was not an ancient surface. The goal for the 2017 excavations on the tennis courts focus on reinvestigating the relationship of the wall and circular stone feature, as well as their relationship to the fossa found in 2016.  A secondary goal is to explore the so far unexcavated extent of the rip-rap/gully feature initially uncovered in VT-10.

The aims of excavations are:

1.  To consolidate our understanding of the stratigraphy of this area of Vescovado di Murlo. This should clarify the dating of the structures previously discovered.
2. To clarify our understanding of the natural topography of this part of Vescovado and the effect it has on the construction and use of built structures in the area.
3. To clarify the function(s) of the previously discovered structure(s).
4. To determine the extent of previously discovered structures.

5. To investigate the relationship between Vescovado di Murlo during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, and the inhabitants of the monumental structures on Poggio Civitate.
6. To better understand ancient activity in Vescovado di Murlo following the destruction and abandonment of the settlement on Poggio Civitate.