Summary

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CA42 - Well

in the course of the last year excavation in CA42 a well was uncovered in meters N4-5 W13-14.  this year the work focused on excavating the feature.  A 2x2m trench was established immediatelty west and tangential to the well in order to excavate it without jeopardizing its structural integrity.  Due to hardness of galestra and constricted space the final depth reached this year was 260cm b.d.  Bottom of the well was not reached.  When final depth was reached east baulk was cut back on either side of the well wall and about 40% of structure's cylinder was exposed.  this part of the well was sectioned by dismantling it layer by layer in order to expose the aperture and material that fell into it.

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As the inside of the well was being uncovered, it became visible that top part of the aperture was filled with rocks (possibly from the upper layers of the well itself) while the bottom half of the exposed shaft was full of tile.  When the stones were removed from the top part of the aperture several large tile fragments were exposed indicating that most likely complete tiles were intentionally thrown into the aperture.  All tile fragments were removed and brought into the magazzino.  There appeared to be fragments of at least one ridge pole tile, one cover tile and 6-7 pan tiles.

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When the inside section was created after stone and tile removal, the structure of the well became more clear.  the well is about 120cm in diameter, the walls measuring 35 cm and aperture uniformely about 50cm in diameter.  The stones were layed in flat radial coarses spiraling up.  More stones were added vertically to fill the spaces between radial stones and foundation trench walls.  Besides the stones, terracotta fragments were used on the outer perimeter of the structure (see drawing on p. 142 and find #3 p. 151 and find #2 p. 163 ).  the soil filling the gaps between the stones appeared to be galestra in color and consistency, probably soil from the foundation trench.  Unlike the vergine soil around the well the soil from the well wall had no natural stratigraphy common to galestra.

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Also several small carbon pieces were found within wall soil indicating even more clearly secondary nature of its deposition (see p. 104 for photo of soils).

Soil within well aperture was very moist and had appearance and consistency of clay but did not differ in color from galestra.

Continuing locus system started in 1997 for this trench (see LSI ) 3 loci were designated: 21- vergine galestra around the well, 22- soil within stone wall of the structure, and 23- soil between fallen rocks and tile fragments in the aperture.  Loci 22 and 23 produced scanty archeological material (22: 4 bone fragments, including 1 sheep/goat tooth; 6 impasto and 3 orange ware fragments, including 3 rims and 1 base; 23: 5 bones, 20 grayware, 3 creamware, 2 bucchero, including 1 base, 2 orangeware, including 1 base, 6 coarseware and 10 impasto fragments).

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However, no material was found that would permit dating of the well, both its construction and destructino.  Appearance of tile fragments recovered from the aperture and frieze plack found last year (see LSI ) on top of the well suggest that destruction of the well possibly coincides with the destruction of Archaic complex on Piano del Tesoro.  As far as the construction date for the well is concerned the evidence is even more inconclusive especially since the well has not been excavated to its bottom.

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