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Introduction

In 2014, ten trenches were opened in the southwestern corner of the Piano del Tesoro, approximately 20 meters to the west of the Archaic defensive walls (T57 AJC VI, T58 FGT III, T59 KRK VII, T60 MLL II, T61 EMO VI, T62 AEG VIII, T63 BLE/JSD I, T64 KD/ND I, T65 JWH/KRC I, and T69 EMO VII). These trenches were opened to discover if the non-elite, late 7 ^th century village found in 2012 and 2013 (Tuck, Kreindler, and Huntsman 2013) extended to the east and to search for more evidence of non-elite habitations. No further evidence for non-elite habitation was discovered, but in T57, T58, T59, T60, T65, T66, and T69, we found the remains of robust, parallel foundation walls, running roughly east-west. Excavations in 2015 (T70 MVS I, T74 ASM I, T75 KRC I, T76 KD III, T77 PAM II, T78 KRK IX, T79 MLL III, T80 AJC VIII, and T81 AJC IX) demonstrated that these walls are the foundations for a hitherto undiscovered building.

The plan of this structure is similar to Etruscan chamber tombs of the early 7^th century, like the Tomba della Capanna at Cerveteri, and to contemporary houses, like those at San Giovenale in the Acropolis and Borgo areas. The building is fronted on its eastern end by a deep, open porch, while the rear half of the structure consists of a single room with a cobbling, likely the foundation for a bench, running alon

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the southern wall. Materials recovered from within the building and from beneath its floor also indicate that it dates to the first quarter of the 7 ^th century. For this reason, the building has been named Early Phase Orientalizing Complex 4, or EPOC4 (Tuck, Glennie, Kreindler, and O’Donoghue 2016).

EPOC4 is the earliest of the monumental structures found at Poggio Civitate to date. Its architectural form, recalling contemporary Etruscan houses and chamber tombs, coupled with an assortment of tablewares and weaving equipment found within the structure, indicate that EPOC4 was a domestic space. Given its size and form, we believe EPOC4 to be an elite residence. Some materials found in the interior are contemporary with those found in the Orientalizing Complex buildings, so it is likely that EPOC4 was standing while OC1, OC2, and OC3 were constructed or occupied. However, as no materials found within EPOC4 postdate the second half of the 7 ^th century, EPOC4 likely was abandoned shortly after construction of the Orientalizing Complex of buildings was completed. After EPOC4’s abandonment, a small, rectilinear hut was built in the space of the front porch by the end of the 7th century.

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The building’s dimensions are approximately 21x8 meters, making this new building comparable in scale with OC1/Residence. The length of the building would perfectly accommodate 38 columns of poggio Civitate’s pan tiles, suggesting that this building bore a tiled roof. Furthermore, its foundation walls are robust, measuring 110cm in width - wider than necessary for light-frame architecture but capable of supporting a tiled roof.

Excavations in 2019 revealed that the northern foundation wall consists of just one course of stones, while the southern wall consists of multiple coursings, likely to counteract the natural north-south downward slope of the area and to create a more level floor surface. Moreover, EPOC4’S plaster-rich floor stratigraphically lies below the lowest coursing of foundation walls, indicating that the floor was laid first, then the foundation walls placed atop the plaster-rich floor surface; the foundation walls were not countersunk.

In 2016, 2017, and 2018, excavators conducted soundings through the beaten-earth floors of EPOC4 and of a small, rectilinear hut built atop EPOC4’s porch in the late 7th century (T66 KD IV, T90 KRK XII, T90 KRK XIII). In T90 2018 (KRK XIII), soundings through EPOC4’s plaster-rich floor revealed a cobbling of small stones (maximum dimension of 20cm) intermixed with tile, pottery, bone, and plaster. This is EPOC4’s subflooring, probably laid both to create a more level floor

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surface and to facilitate drainage of the plaster-rich floor. The subflooring overlays a dark gray, charcoal-rich deposit containing high quantities of slag, crucible fragments, and tiles with adhered slag, suggesting earlier occupation and metallurgy in this area prior to EPOC4’s construction.

This dark gray deposit infills a depression in the area’s bedrock. Excavations into this dark-gray deposit in the last few days of the 2019 excavation season revealed the presence of a slightly curving line of small stones pressed up against a bedrock outcropping. While only an approximate 1 meter-long stretch of this curving line of stones was revealed, its width and gentle curve are suggestive of a curvilinear wall, perhaps belonging to a hut, that underlies EPOC4’s subflooring. T90 will be re-opened in 2022 in part to determine whether EPOC4 was constructed atop of earlier architecture, and to determine the nature and function of that structure.

Due to its stratigraphic position, this dark-gray deposit predates the construction of EPOC4. However, thus far, no datable artifacts have been recovered from this deposit. This season, we will excavate this deposit, in order to recover chronologically distinctive materials that could provide a date for the potential underlying structure and also a terminus post quem for EPOC4’s construction.

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T90 will be re-opened in 2022 for the following reasons:

● To clarify EPOC4’s chronology. Specifically, to recover chronologically diagnostic materials from deposits predating EPOC4’s construction, which would provide a terminus post quem.

● To determine if a structure underlies EPOC4. If evidence for such a structure is found, then to determine its approximate form, size, chronology, and function.

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