Introduction

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Excavation at Poggio Civitate in recent years between the property zones of Civitate A and Piano del Tesoro has been quite fruitful. During the 2012 season, test trenches dropped in Civitate A came down on linear rock features ( AAF II , CGL I ) and were therefore extended and augmented in 2013 to explore the features further ( AAF II , AEG VII , AJC V , ARR V , CLP I , EC X , EMO IV , EMO V , KRK VI , LHS II , MLL I , RDC I ), revealing a more robust linear feature. These features have been interpreted as modest structures of light frame architecture, perhaps indicative of non-elite habitation, dating to the Orientalizing period.

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In 2014, western Piano del Tesoro was excavated ( AJC VI , FGT III , KRK VII , AEG VIII ), in an attempt to further clarify an area of the hill previously only documented with respect to exploratory trenches ( BH II , BB V , and EN I ) which uncovered a large amount of decorative terra cotta associated with the destruction of the Archaic Period Complex intentionally dumped into a lens. These excavations revealed more linear features, which were in turn further investigated in 2015 ( AJC VII , AJC VIII , AJC IX , ASM I , FGT III , KD II , KD III , KRC I , KRK VIII , KRK IX , MLL III , MVS I , PAM I , PAM II ). These features have been interpreted as a more robust building of the early Orientalizing period, probably elite in nature, and predating the three monumental Orientalizing buildings further east on Piano del Tesoro.

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To the south of this structure, a well was excavated, also in both 2014 and 2015 ( AEG VIII , AEG IX ). The well was heavily infilled with decorative architectural terra cotta roofing fragments of the Archaic period as well as a molded stone altar fragment; all evidence of the well's construction and destruction suggest a short period of usage near the end of Poggio Civitate's Archaic phase.

Despite the wealth of knowledge garnered in the excavations undertaken between 2012 and 2015, little is known about the area which bridges Civitate A and Piano del Tesoro. To that end, at the start of the 2016 season, three trenches, T-82 ( AJC X ), T-83 ( EC XI ), and T-87, were dropped in this presumable border zone.

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The goals of T-87 in the 2016 season are:

1. To explore the area between Civitate A and western Piano del Tesoro in order to understand the interaction between non-elite habitation of Civitate A and elite habitation of Piano del Tesoro
2. To recover dateable material from a secure context which might elucidate the reason for the chronological gap between the early Orientalizing and late Archaic activity in this area
3. To reveal new architectural features, stratigraphy, and topographic information

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