02 AGOSTO 2018  

Generale

Oggi abbiamo avuto il piacere di ospitare sul cantiere di scavo la dr. Alessia Gazzola, medico legale e celebre scrittrice e sceneggiatrice, creatrice del caso letterario di Alice Allevi.

Il prof. Gino Fornaciari ha poi tenuto una lecture sulle analisi paleopatologiche su Cangrande della Scala. 

Area 3000

Nella porzione sud-orientale del settore è stato completato lo scavo delle numerose buche di piccole dimensioni concentrate immediatamente a nord del muro USM 5087. Tali buche dovevano ospitare dei piccoli pali per il sostegno di una leggera struttura in legno annessa alla possibile capanna posta più a ovest, il cui ingresso poteva essere segnato, a sud, da due pilastrini quadrati, all’interno di US – 30006 e US – 3954.

Today the cuts excavated yesterday were redefined and the southern half of section B was cleaned. The area will be further cleaned for pictures and a possible grave cut along the original facade of the abbey will be explored

Area 5000

We cleaned all of section D for photogrammetry and documentation, to be taken tomorrow. During the process, a human long bone was recovered along with a very odd piece of pottery (light blue chipped glaze or coloring, first apearing too lightweight to be a pottery sherd). It was ascertained that the lightweight was due to extensive weathering - although, this effect is unusual for the site. We began to excavate a hole in the South-West corner. 

Area 6000

Today in area 6000 we continued removing skeleton 6238. We removed both femurs, a few ribs on each side, and portions of both scapulae that broke off as we cleaned. We are slowly working to remove the ribs, pelvis and vertebrae, as they are fragile and demonstrate interesting pathological characteristics. We also filled out more of the context sheet as joints and bones were uncovered.

(Group 3000) Today the fill 6551 was further lowered to reveal the bones contained in the first reduction layer within the lithic coffin in section B. What was previously thought to possibly be an unassociated articulated foot has been futher revealed and may actually be attached to a tibia previously revealed which is thought to be connected to a humerus and clavicle revealed yesterday. Also possibly in association with these elements are several articulated vertebrae in line with the humerus. Several unidentified bone diapheses were revealed in the western third of the lithic tomb, and effort was made to better define the western boundary of the tomb. Along with the newly revealed vertebrae in the central third, a mostly intact scapula was also uncovered, but not in an orientation to be associated with the articulated bones in the grave. 

Area 7000

We troweled the whole area to clean the surface for photographs. In the mid-section, a patch of slate and rocks, to the Eastern extremity, were exposed with trowels and brushes, wetting the ground with spray bottles to facilitate the process.