Skip to content | Change text size
 

Digging through history

4 November 2009
 

A group of 20 Monash archaeology students has recently returned from a two-week dig at the ancient fortress of Pietramarina in Tuscany, Italy.

The study tour aims to introduce students to the techniques and methods of archaeology.

This is the first time Monash students have participated in excavations in Italy with the program made possible through collaboration between the Centre for Archaeology and Ancient History, Monash Prato Centre, the Soprintendenza Archeologica of Prato and the Comune of Carmignano.

Focusing on the study of ancient Etruscan civilisation and Archaic Rome, the unit allows students to study the excavated material in a broader cultural landscape through direct experience of the Etruscan artefacts.

Pietramarina, which lies about 45 kilometres south of Prato, is thought to have been an urban settlement in the 5th Century BC, prior to operating as a watch and check point to control access and passing trade.

Third-year arts/science student David Hocking, who became interested in archaeology after watching Indiana Jones movies as a child, said for most students it was their first-ever experience of an archaeological excavation.

"It was amazing. We began the excavation work from the ground surface working our way back through the centuries we initially found evidence of the later occupation of the site when it was used for collecting sap from the trees in the 18th and 19th centuries." he said.

"Other areas revealed remains of the lives of the people who inhabited the site long ago, including roof tiles, wooden beams, post holes, walls and even pottery, fragments of bronze and decorated wooden items.

"In a way, as you move down the layers you are moving back in time; it's a bit like having a time machine."

David, who hopes to undertake honours study next year, said archaeology took a lot of patience so that any discovered material was not damaged.

"This approach is gratifying when you discover something that you may have spent hours carefully scraping through nothing but mud and dust," he said.

"Slowly as the dig progresses you begin to reveal things that form a picture of what it was like to live there."