Italian Adventures: a Travel Blog: Field School Week 1!

Field School Week 1:

So it turned out to be quite difficult to actually write up each day! We left for Grosseto on Sunday afternoon which meant there was time to go and look at the Villa Borghese again before we left! It is such a beautiful art gallery, and I think I could see it again for a third time!

We arrived in Grosseto about 3.30, it’s a really cute little walled town and has much crisper air than Rome! The first week of school was one that I will never forget! We began our introduction to the Alberese excavations through lectures from Dr Sebastiani and Mr Colombini, who are archaeologists who have been working on the project. They both provided us with very informative lectures about the landscape and general information of the area and the excavations that have taken place. This was then followed by a tour and more lectures by Dr Citter, an archaeologist who only recently excavated the mediaeval city centre of Grosseto along with a church in the city. He was incredibly informative, friendly and hilarious! We had the chance to see some of the most important sites in the city, such as the square and the city walls. The basilica of the city had been in construction since the 1200s!

After a relatively relaxing first two days, we finally started our field work! Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to marble study, which was incredibly exciting! Dr Marri, an archaeologist and expert on marbles gave us an introductory lecture about marble and its use in antiquity, and some information about how to identify the type of stone it came from. We then started the really exciting stuff, separating into groups of three and then sorting through bags of marble fragments and identifying and documenting them. The group I was in found a few interesting fragments including a slab of some sort of mystery marble that was quite beautiful, but also quite unidentifiable! While the first day of marble study was really enjoyable, it really did not compare to the excitement of our second day!

We were very lucky to start the day with one fragment that was particularly interesting, it was very smooth, and had a rounded edge which suggested it was more than just a floor or wall veneer. Without thinking too much about this fragment we documented it, then moved on to our next bag. Then something very interesting happened. This second bag actually contained another very smooth, very rounded piece of marble… and another! These two pieces fit quite nicely together, so we had a look at the first piece we had examined and sure enough, it also fit! This soon turned into a frenzied search for other pieces that fit into our puzzle. Soon our three pieces had turned into 23 marble fragments of the same, smooth type!

It was like doing an incredibly exciting, and frustrating puzzle! It took our group quite a while to finally get all but two pieces together, and we felt so content with this result as many pieces that were uncooperative in the process soon stuck together. We were just left with three extra pieces that we were certain had to fit into the rest of the slab. It was soon revealed to us that this slab had been found on one of the burials at the excavation site. This was a part of an ancient tomb lid that was prepared quite quickly! So, while the fragment we had did not appear to be long enough to fit over the body, it became clear that it was probably the centrepiece of a lid, probably with brick or wood (which has not survived) either side of it. It was also evident that this marble slab was recycled as there are traces of mortar on the rough side, suggesting it may have had a role of something like a threshold or step. This was incredibly exciting. We then had the task of drawing the slab onto some paper to record in the catalogue. After carefully tracing the slab’s fragments onto the paper something amazing happened- we accidently made the three left over pieces fit into the rest of the slab! It was such an amazingly fulfilling moment, and so we had an almost complete slab!

This experience would not have been possible without the help of Dr Marri who constantly helped us, and put up with our putting things in the wrong place- all the time!

Unfortunately, our study of marble was concluded at the end of the day. On the Friday, we had a visit to the Archaeological Museum of Grosseto that boasts four levels of artefacts from Etruscan to Mediaeval times. The fourth level of the museum houses some beautiful religious artefacts and artworks from the area including many gold chalices, some mediaeval manuscripts and Renaissance paintings. I had not expected the museum to have housed so many religious relics that were outstandingly beautiful!

After this visit, we had a free afternoon which was a great chance to relax and explore the city after a very busy week! I had a delicious Napolitana pizza, and bought a pair of 10 euro leather boots!

On the weekend I headed back to Rome for Saturday night in order to finish my summer semester courses and my Bachelor of Arts! So, as of now I have completed one degree and now have to start researching for my Honours thesis this year! It was quite an honour to submit the last of the assessment for my BA at the British School at Rome!

We arrived back in Grosseto at about 6:30 last night, and I went and celebrated the end of my degree at a Mexican restaurant with some of the people on this trip, it was a very enjoyable and delicious way to celebrate!

This week we are studying glass fragments- which I personally don’t find as interesting as marble study, but we had a wonderful lecture from Ms Sally Cottom from the University of Sheffield. She’s an astoundingly intelligent glass expert and taught us so much! We spent the afternoon cleaning up the fragments and then starting to piece them together (which is a lot harder than piecing marble together!). I’m sure the rest of this week will be just as exciting and bring wonderful experiences.

Hope everyone back home is well!

A piece of Porta Santa marble.