Rained Out: Montereggie and Pietramarina

The second day, and the first day of digging dawned bright....and soggy. Montelupo was wracked with severe storms through the night that flooded much of the site so the plans for the day were amended to include a morning hiking to and seeing the most influential sites around Montelupo, both Etruscan civilizations featured in the archeological museum and worked on by members of ICHNOS.

As mentioned before, Etruscans like hills. It gives them agricultural space while being entirely defensible. It's one of the ways we differentiate sites between the Etruscans and the Romans who preferred sprawling residences on flat ground. This reality made the morning a study in physical exertion as we marched up hills to reach these sites. Downside? Sweat. Bright side? Incredible views.

 The first site we went to was Montereggie, located on a hill just north of town, overlooking Montelupo and her sister city Empoli. Our ICHNOS director worked on the site for a few seasons, and it is still being excavated. It has a fascinating array of walls, but more importantly, it has three wells and a cistern where a human skeleton was discovered. You already know why wells and cisterns are important so let's jump right to the elephant in the room. A human body.

It has since been removed so we were unable to view it but some work on the bones reveals that it was a young male who was presumably bound hand and foot and tossed into the well. His body was crouched like he had been huddling but severe damage to his cranium has led done to believe he was either killed and then tossed or tossed in alive and consequently hurt his head. There is plenty of proof for both interpretations but more than anything, Etruscan life is still clouded with Mystery and we know too little about them to make reasonable conclusions about some of our findings.

The next site was fortezza etrusca di Pietramarina. If Montereggie was a hike, this was a trek. Completely worth the burning thighs however, because the site offered views of the sea, the Tuscan valley, and the Apennine mountains depending on which way you look.

The site itself in extremely fascinating as well, and has led to some very conclusive ground work on Etruscan building habits and motivations.

With several imposing walls, the most entrancing aspect of Pietramarina was the ruins of a wall that once surrounded the entirety of the civilization and hill top, making it approximately 6 miles long of hand laid stone wall with stones hiked up from the bottom. Having walked the hill with just a water bottle to weigh me down, the reality of such a feat was a little jarring to say the least.

The morning was warm and allowed to site to dry out enough for us to begin work so, after lunch, we packed-up and headed out to the Villa Romana to begin working.

Unlike romantic notions of archeology, the first day involved rakes and brooms rather than shovels, trawled, pick axes, and dirt. The first step of any seasons start is cleaning the site up for pictures and for various important visitors who will come by to witness the excavations first hand.

Our first step was cleaning the ruins that had already been uncovered, carefully removing the hay, dirt, and grass that had accumulated over the last ten years for fresh photos.

It took most of the day. After clearing the previously dug sections of the site, we moved on to the locations we would be digging for the next five weeks which started from the very beginning which means marking out and recording the initial site in out computing and mapping program, GIS. Then cleaning the site for initial photos involved scraping the surface soil about two centimeters deep so that all of the features can be clearly seen. First, we put neon line around the perimeter of our trench. Then we raked and swept, cleaning out the majority of the debris that was accumulated on the surface of the sites. After that, we dug.

At 3, we closed-up shop a little early in order to attend a special tour of Montelupo's Archeological Museum by the Museum's director, and the big name in Montelupo Archeology. 

Since he didn't speak any English at all, our friends at ICHNOS kindly translated his explanations of the museum's cases and our questions as we moved through it. 

The museum is of particular interest because it is alone among its fellows for consisting almost exclusively of finds from archeological digs rather than from the donations from private collections. It means that the displays aren't nearly as pretty but infinitely more fascinating. More can be extrapolated from these because mistakes, accidents, and ruined pieces that were prematurely disposed of tells much more about the process and the lives of the potters than a piece that is successfully completed and goes on to be purchased without comment. 

The museum is arrayed temporally with the earliest pieces seen first and the progression clearly articulated through the progression of rooms. Most interesting is the notable development of skills and quality of productions. As you move through, finer clays and developed, and the painting is increasingly intricate. Additionally, color glazes are added as potters discover new colors and styles develop as the artists are inspired by the patterns they begin to receive through trade.

Almost 60% of the collection actually comes from one source, a well in Montelupo, about 30 yards from the front door of the Villa we are staying at. It is 80 meters deep and has worked as the cities trash can for centuries (now you understand why we archeologists like them so much). It was initially the water source for the castle and the Captain's residence but fell into disuse and became a convenient hole on the way up the hill. finds from the well span late Roman conquest into the beginning of the Renaissance, some 800 years of ceramic production protected in a small, innocuous well of the street. The entry room to the museum features a replica of the well and it's story to share with visitors. It serves as a reminder of just how ancient Italy is, and how the present is really a blend of the past with so many ancient qualities lurking in the innocuous everyday habits of the Italians and reminds us not to take such a special relationship with the past for granted. 

 The gem of the museum is a completed bowl found in Cuba from one of the most famous Montelupan ceramists. Incredibly decadent, it represents the height of production and distribution with intricate, freehand, hard painted decoration and the full array of glaze colors. It is one of the few pieces taken from a private collection but works as a wonderful example of the sort of truly magnificent work that was being produced here.

After the museum, we walked back to Ivana's, exhausted from our first full day in the Dirt.

Day One: The Archeological Museum of Montelupo and the Site

Day one started slowly, easing into five weeks of hot sun and hard work by visiting Montelupo's local archaeology museum to gain a sense of what the area was like and what had been found in the area already. For whatever reason, scientific archaeology started in Montelupo much earlier than most of the surrounding neighbors with the founding of a group of local amateurs dedicated to discovering and preserving the history of their town (the Gruppo Archeologico di Montelupo). One of the earliest groups to conduct excavations in any fashion similar to what we do today, the archeologico groupo is still thriving and boasts our hosts as members. This interest in exploration and discovery led to an unusually high museum and site ratio per capita, with five museums in a 20 km area, and an uncharacteristically broad understanding of life in the area through several of the past centuries.

We were met by our dig directors at the villa and led through town towards the Archaeology Museum. One of the first points of interest was the Ancient Roman Road, which was rediscovered by ICHNOS and is maintained today as a walking path through the city. The path led us to the Ospidale -originally a villa belonging to the most influential family in Tuscany, the Medicis' (Med-ee-cheese). Today, it is repurposed as a mental hospital. This is interesting because the old villa overlooks the local soccer field where local kids battle it out every week. What is so excellent about this set up is that Montelupo children play in front of a captive and exuberant audience who have favorite teams and players and cheer them on while booing the opposition. 

The museum itself is located in the former complex of a Church, San Quirico, which was originally constructed on a roman necropolis (mass burial site) from the eighth century.  

Like so many of Italy’s historical structures, San Quirico is a patchwork of additions and modifications from the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Italians have an intense respect for history and tradition, which leads them to repair, modify, repurpose, or even add to an old building rather than build a new one. 

This habit leads to what can most accurately be described as Frankenstein buildings with pieces and parts from different eras, made with different materials and purposes. It only seems fitting that the two main museums are buildings repurposed to this new task.

The Archaeological Museum of Montelupo features finds located in the area around the town dating from the prehistoric era straight through the Middle Ages. We spent the majority of our time in the main, middle room that spans the Etruscans through the end of the Roman era. Of particular interest where some pieces of amphora Sporica (pottery damaged during the firing process and consequently scrapped).

Amphorae are double handled terra cotta jars commonly used for packaging some of the Italians' favorite products: olive oil and wine. The classical amphora doesn't have a flat bottom like any container we use, which baffled me initially, but it's important to consider the life of these goods. Most where traded goods, moving by boat across the Mediterranean. The elongated and pointed bottoms where designed to waste less space in the bottom of a boat, stacking directly against the sides.

The pointed ends enabled them to easily plant the containers in the sand when landed to keep them from breaking or falling.

In addition, the rim and bottom of a large vase was found with grain remnants still within. Without fridges, burying containers and storing things inside of them was the best way to keep foods cool and fresh.

However, the jewel of the museum is a plaque featuring the features of a beautiful young woman in exceptional condition. She was found underneath the floor of a well, carefully buried and surrounded by other, taller stones with the floor carefully set on top of it. This arrangement protected the plaque from being crushed, implying that she was placed there intentionally and as such, carries a certain amount of (possibly religious?) significance. The current theory holds that she may have been a goddess or protectorate buried under the cistern floor to encourage agricultural well-being or luck.

It is not by accident that some of the best finds in the museum were found in wells and cisterns. Wells and cisterns become trash cans after they fall out of use and begin piling the trash of centuries inside in perfectly defined layers, protected from more modern incursions that would disturb their resting place by sturdy stone walls.

Archaeology uses layers to move back in time and understand the world of the past, but layers can sometimes be ruined by modern incursions (farmers tilling the fields, flooding, etc. which pull artifacts out of their original soil). A well is treasured because it remains untouched and protected. And, similar to the forensics of today, trash can be very telling and give great insight into what life must have been like. As a permanent, un-empty-able trash can, wells always have a lot to tell an archaeologist.

After spending the morning learning about the museum from our professor and the co-director of the field school (from our Italian archaeology partner, ICHNOS) lecturing at length, we had lunch before heading out to the site for the first time.

The Villa Romana del Vergigno is a large roman country village inhabited in the first century BC. It was discovered by the farmer who was tilling the fields and incidentally pulled up part of a wall. Initially excavated by our friends at the Gruppo Archeologico di Montelupo between 1989 and 1994, it was then shut down due to funding.

During these seasons a long portico and a series of residential rooms came to light, as well as a mosaic floor, sections of a bath complex, and evidence of agricultural and ceramic production. The agricultural area of the villa still remains to be investigated, which we will excavate during the 2013 season in order to study the scale of agricultural production and the site’s contribution to the regional and Mediterranean economy. We will also investigate the villa’s phases of construction to gain a clearer picture of the site’s status before and after Roman colonization, and survey nearby sites of possible similar importance where the materials of the villa might have been scavenged for use in later buildings.

The reason we have such an interest in Montelupo and the Villa del Vergigno in particular stems from several key factors that make the site particularly desirable historically. The area of Montelupo has been continuously inhabited since the prehistoric era due to its strategic importance at a docking point along the Arno River, and was prosperous during the last centuries BCE, resulting in its Etruscan population being subjected to repeated waves of Roman colonization between 80 and 30 BCE, which is roughly concurrent with the development of the Villa.

The geographical location of this area of northern Etruria (modern Tuscany) is significant due to the fact that it served as the border of Italia proper until the first century C.E. and was the last area in Italy colonized by Rome. Regionally, the area is significant as well, since during antiquity (and today) this was the point at which the Arno River dropped down from the hills and gorges that produced rapids along the more westerly calm river that stretched to Pisa and the coast. Thus, boats traveling upstream from Pisa to Florence would have had to stop, dock, and portage at this location, making the area a natural economic hub and cultural center.

Montelupo Fiorentino

Sorry about the wait, I am so busy its hard to sit down and write but I am pretty close on a few posts so hopefully they might come a bit more quickly from now on. So, to begin where I left off...

Sunday was all about travel.  The plan was to rendezvous with friends at the train station, take the train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella and then another to Sienna taking the second stop, Montelupo. I considered trying to visit the Vatican Museums in the morning before rendezvousing with the cohort but as desperately as I wanted to, it felt like I was tempting fate. Instead I slept in until 10, ate a relaxed breakfast, talking with my wonderful hosts, and then prepared to leave. Seeing Hilda, Giamo (My host) offered to drop me at the train station. I took him up on the offer rather than brave the stairs leading in and out of the metro. Driving with an Italian, especially in Rome, is a revolutionary experience. Honestly I’m surprised people still pay for roller coasters.

Despite the adrenalin-inducing ride, I got there safe, sound, and really early. I settled into the proposed café with my book and waited. About an hour later, my 6’3” appointment showed up, impossible to miss in the 5’6” Italian crowd. 

We proceeded to buy tickets to Firenze S.M.N., an easy hour and a half journey on the train. Because you actually buy seats like on a plane, we did not get to sit together, and actually ended-up on a few different trains, about 5 minutes apart but found one another again on the other side. Then we tried to figure out which train to take to Montelupo because it is not the destination of any of the trains but, apparently, almost every train stops by on the way and all of us were right. Something any amateur should know about Italian trains, at least, is not to let some helpful looking italian lurker sitting by the train doors help you. They are willing to left your bag onto the train and place it on the rack but they are really looking at it as a service rather than as an act of Goodwill and they want money for it. Also, they dont really ask. When Hilda and I rolled up to the train, she was snatched from my hands, heaved bodily up the stairs, and shoved onto the luggage rack before I had my Italian phrase book out. It felt more like a heist than a helpful service and instead of a tip, I yelled at them instead for taking my bag without asking, and for performing a task I had not asked for or accepted. I would like to think they would leave struggling young americans alone for a while, but I sincerely doubt it. 

We had just boarded and we waiting to get on our way when Dr. Lewis (dig director and Latin Professor Extraordinaire) called in a panic, telling us not to come early but to wait for the planned pick-up at 5 with all the students, and to just hang out in Florence for the two hours, something about not being ready and putting in some doors. As you will find out if you ever come, Italian time really does exist, and it really doesn’t care about the deadlines we Americans impose on ourselves, after all, they only had three months notice….

But we went with it, we swarmed off the train with minutes to spare and looked around for a nice café to set up and get to know one another while we waited since we still had our bags and exploration was less than appealing. Looking back, I want to kick myself a little bit because what I had not realized at the time but now do, having returned to Florence is that one of the sights of Florence was quite literally across the street from us and we never noticed it.  It is a famous church, the Santa Maria Novella, featuring an imposing façade, its own piazza, and even a tower. It isn’t Saint Peter’s but I still am amazed and my own obliviousness.

Back to killing time, we sat in a wonderful café off of the piazza (face:palm) and basked in the sunshine and atmosphere of beautiful Florence until Dr.Lewis and company arrived to accompany us, by train into our home for the next month: Montelupo Fiorentino.

Montelupo is everything you would want out of an Italian city. Around 15,000 people, it is situated on a hill, topped by an old fort which looks much more like a castle than an old  stronghold. It is traced with rivers that have been there for centuries and cobblestone streets which are only slightly younger. Looming over the small brick avenues lean stucco structures in every imaginable color, like a tin of pastels leaking into the sunset. Of course, we couldn't have arrived at a better time either, Montelupo was made to be seen thriving in the italian sun and then fading into a twinkling twilight.

In addition to the natural appeal of the town however, we were greeted by the finale of Montelupo's week-long annual ceramics festival with stands set up through the streets and piazzas and artisans performing in front of the shops their families have run for as long as they can remember.

We took a brief stroll through the town on our way from the absolutely idyllic rural train station to our villa/home for the next five weeks. And, if it had been possible, seeing where we would be staying for the next five weeks even better. Stretched down the side of a turn and facing a gold facade with brief interplays of medieval brick and forest colored shutters framing windows spilling flowers and the melodious notes of an Italian family conversing.

We entered though huge wooden doors more reminiscent of portal gates and proceeded into a hallway also paved with cobble stone and were guided into the lower of two apartments on the right side of the hallway.

When dragging all of our bags inside, we took care to avoid a hole in the floor. As the antechamber began to quickly fill with the overstuffed, over large bags of seven girls prepared to stay in Italy of the month, space was required and the hole was inspected more closely with the conclusion that it had been covered with glass. Because that's what you do when you discover something historical in an Italian building still in use so that interested parties can see whatever was discovered without impeding traffic or use.

We were shown through the three bedrooms of the apartment and had the magnificent vaulted ceilings of the16th century and the murano glass chandeliers pointed out specifically. 

We also got a little bit of History on the house itself. It is one of the biggest and oldest (possibly the oldest but I can't definitively get a straight answer on that) structures in the City. It is 3/4 of the way up the hill Montelupo is built upon, topped by the fort. The house is actually a set of older older houses that were all claimed by a powerful roman official who moved into the city in the early 10th century. Since, evidently, none of the structures in the town at the time were available or large enough to properly accomodate his needs, he simply requisitioned five apartments on either side of a street and enclosed them all with walls, claiming the path that wound through as part of his residence as well.  When you enter the house, the main hall is actually a cobblestone road, continuing from the one outside with steps and old lamps. 

On either end of the hall are impressively large doors with even larger old-school keys to open them. Inside, the hallway leads to four different doors and into what are now apartments but were once separate houses. Each features it's own particular styles and layout that distinguish it from the others and makes the villa even more enthralling. Our own apartment which boasts two bedrooms, two baths, an atrium, and a common area (currently a third bedroom) features a jail that was converted into a wine cellar (how italian-lock up the booze!) the grate door has since been removed but the erie cell remains and is a little charming in it's renovations. 

In the kitchen, along with a medieval grill and oven, lurks a beautiful 14th century fresco of the Madonna flanked by two local saints and more gorgeous brick vaulting, enough to make you want to cry. The entire house is a piece of history used through the present day and its history still permeates the wonderfully stuccoed walls. Lurking in random corners and niches are priceless (or at least very pricey) antiques and ancient ceramics placed beside gnome caricatures on a ledge. the whole house is filled with unrealized treasures and brief glimpses into italian history. 

After unpacking, we gathered together in the ivy-covered, terraced back garden of the house to meet one another and our dig staff officially as well as our host family.

In the process we were served a virtual parade of Italian dishes as our host mom, Ivana who was once a professional Italian chef doted upon us.

After dinner, we went into the festival itself where we wandered the streets looking at the wares of different vendors. Montelupo was once one of the most important centers of production in the Mediterranean because of its exceptional soil and its location at the intersection of the Arno and Pesa rivers. Operating as an arm of the mighty center of Florence, the city was quite wealthy and has continued to be world renowned for it's pottery since, wares having been found in places as far flung as Cuba, the American Colonies and the Netherlands. Montelupan, and any pottery really, is distinguishable in a few ways. 

Ceramics at the time was quite the complicated art and so many shops had three participating artists who were all masters in different aspects of production: the potter, the painter, and the kiln master. Since it was still a thriving merchant community, shops "branded" their goods as an advertisement for their skill.   Also, the quality and type of clay used and the forms produced can be quite telling but most interesting, Montelupan pottery, specifically, is all hand painted. It is a noteworthy distinction because it speaks to the unrivaled skill of potters and sculptors at the time of Montelupo's ceramic heyday. 

At the very start of the festival, local artists had set up with their wheels making pots under a pavilion, and then cutting out shapes and working the clay. watching the deftness and skill displayed made me feel a little awed by the thought that they very likely grew up doing it, and that the skill had been in their family for generations. One man was making small pots for all us "bellas" watching and so, along with a few compatriots, I got to watch a small authentic souvenir be formed especially for me on my first night in Montelupo.

Unfortunately, for fear of spoiler alerts, the rest of the story of the festival will have to wait until I am back in America. However, suffice it to say that it was a wonderful, beautiful first night iand I felt so ready for this next leg of my adventure to begin in this picture perfect little town nestled into the Tuscan countryside. Since it was Sunday and my first day of real work was lined-up for the next day, I went home and, content, went to bed.