A Perfect Season Comes to an End

It will be a hectic time on site this week until the very moment we finally drop the curtain, but one thing is clear already: this has been a very successful season! After seven straight seasons the archaeological levels in the so-called Area D have been completely excavate, reaching the natural deposits across the entire sector. We now have documented an uninterrupted sequence stretching back to the phase of Gabii's formation. Another major achievement is the conclusion of excavation activities in the Area F building. Our research group looks forward to the next step: study and publication! On the other hand, the important results from Area C have already opened new avenues for the expansion of the excavation areas in 2016. The future fieldwork will provide more evidence on the urban history of the urban core, addressing new research questions.


Such incredible accomplishments would not have been possible without the hard work, unwavering enthusiasm, and passion for archaeology of our 2015 crew. Thank you all! We hope that you will keep in touch with the Gabii Project, and we are looking forward to welcoming you back in the field next year if you wish. A special farewell goes to our long-time friend, supporter and staff member Diane Tincu. We celebrated Diane during our end-of-dig lunch party. To honor her, the project decided to officially name one of the buildings excavated in previous years on site after her: from now on, the Area B House will be known as the Diane Tincu Building. Thank you Diane! We hope you'll change your mind and join us again next season...

The Gabii Project is back!

If you are a friend of the Gabii Project, you will have seen from our facebook posts that a lot has been going on on site for the past four weeks! After a stint of preparatory work with staff only, a team of 40 students joined us on Monday June 29th for our seventh straight season of excavation at Gabii.

Despite the recent heat wave, activities in the three excavation sectors are progressing with the same enthusiasm ever since. The Area D group is completing the investigation of a cluster of Early Iron Age huts, whose stratified sequence is providing tantalizing new evidence on the earliest phases of city formation at Gabii. The Environmental Lab team is processing dozens of samples from these deposits, which will help us reconstruct the function of the structures, economic patterns, and ancient diet. In neighboring Area C, we reopened a trench first excavated in 2009-2012, which revealed a large atrium house. We are now exploring the Early Republican levels of the city-block, and we hope to reach into the same Archaic deposits attested in Area D. In Area F, three rooms of the monumental public building brought to light in the past two seasons remain to be documented. Once this will have been accomplished, we will have a complete picture of this exceptionally important building. Meanwhile, the Topo team is producing scores of photomodels (we are over 1000 now...). It is a busy time in the Finds Lab too, with washing pottery in the morning and sorting, drawing and studying the finds in the afternoon.

Several visitors and friends came to see the progress of the excavation, including Kim Bowes and Richard Hodges, Lisa Fentress, and David Potter, who gave a lecture on Epigraphy to our students. We were particularly pleased to welcome a group of children participating in the Summer Camp of the Children's Hospital of Padova.

Ciao for now!