Conclusion

T90 was re-opened in 2018 for the following reasons:

• To search for greater evidence of occupation in the area of EPOC4 predating EPOC4’s construction.
• To determine if EPOC4’s siting was influenced by earlier activities in this area.
• To clarify the chronology and phasing of EPOC4. Specifically, to determine whether the second, lower beaten earth surface is associated with EPOC4 or is contemporary with the Orientalizing occupational phase of the mid 7^th
• If the second beaten earth surface postdates EPOC4’s construction, then another goal of T90 2018 is to locate an even lower, earlier beaten earth surface that would have served as EPOC4’s floor.
• To clarify whether the processing of metallic ores occurred within EPOC4’s front porch or predates the construction of EPOC4.

T90 was somewhat successful in meeting the goals of the 2018 season. Excavations in 2018 focused on the second, lower beaten earth surface and its relationship with EPOC4’s foundation walls. The sections excavated in 2016 and 2017 were expanded both to the north and the south, in order reveal the interior profiles of EPOC4’s northern and southern walls and the positioning of the plaster-rich floor relative to the walls. Excavations show that the plaster-rich floor surface, termed Beaten Earth Surface 2, is at a lower elevation than the upper surface of EPOC4’s foundation walls, but also is positioned higher than the lowest coursing of stones. This indicates two things: first, that Beaten Earth Surface 2 is the floor surface of EPOC4, and second, that EPOC4’s floor was countersunk. Architecturally, the countersunk floor recalls the architectural form of modest huts and early houses carved into tufa or bedrock, like those at San Giovenale and the Palatine in Rome.

Additionally, work this summer focused on elements of EPOC4’s subflooring. In deposits underlying EPOC4’s beaten earth surface, we uncovered a dense packing of fist-sized stones, into which plaster, tile, and pottery had been compressed. Many of these fragments were quite large, measuring approximately 25cm in maximum dimension. The inclusion of a stone packing with architectural and ceramic debris likely was intended to facilitate drainage of EPOC4’s beaten earth floor; soil deposits at Poggio Civitate are naturally claylike and dense, and debris was laid to break up the density of the floor and enable water to drain away from the floor surface.

EPOC4’s architectural footprint resembles modest countersunk huts and houses of the late 8^th and early 7^th centuries, but evidence uncovered in 2018 suggests that EPOC4 was covered by a terracotta-tiled roof. Numerous examples of plaster fragments preserve both reed impressions, indicative of wattle and daub walls, and profiles with curves and angles that align with terracotta roofing tiles; two fragments may even preserve profiles that indicate the pitch of EPOC4’s roof (Finds #23, 36).

Significant evidence for metallurgy was found on and in EPOC4’s floor and in deposits underlying EPOC4’s floor surface. The high quantities of ferric slag, crucible fragments, and tile with adhered slag recovered from EPOC4’S floor indicate that the processing and refining of metallic ores occurred within EPOC4’s front porch. Furthermore, even though excavations in deposits underlying EPOC4’s floor and subfloor were limited in scope, these strata also yielded high quantities of slag and crucible fragments. In fact, the deposit underlying EPOC4’s subfloor was characterized by high quantities of charcoal, indicating that activities involving high heat occurred in the area of EPOC4’s porch preceding the building’s construction. However, we have not yet found any architecture underlying EPOC4 itself.

Further excavation is needed to more fully reveal EPOC4’s floor and to explore deposits underlying EPOC4. While there is evidence of activity, specifically metallurgy, predating the construction of EPOC4, we have not yet found traces or architecture or other materials that indicate whether this area was inhabited before EPOC4’s construction or whether this location held specific significance for the inhabitants and builders of EPOC4.