Working interpretations
We've decided to stop the use of the four Phases, too simply to describe the life of the site, and we've created 6 periods. We've started to use it immediatly in the investigation diary and in all the new sections and we are going to update all the other sections.
Period I:
the area was used for the farming and later as untilled field; there were a small brick structure used as a warehouse, very bad preseved at the beginning of the archological investigation.
Cronology: modern and contemporary age
Period II:
The whole complex were abandoned and used as strip mine for stones and building materials probably used for some of the houses of the village. There are many signs of this activity like spoliation and smoothing of the walls and hearths for yards made on the collapses.
Cronology: XV-XVI centuries
Period III:
The top of the hill inside the defensive walls has been renovated again. During this period the room 4, leant to the boundary wall, has been built and the room 3 was still in use.
Cronology: XIV century
Period IV:
This period has been diveded in three different phases of the XIII century, the state of the research dosen't allow us to a higher detail in the cronology.
Phase 1 - Marked by a new and important rebuilt of the upper part of the hill with the costruction of the small room 1 close to the defenisve wall and characterized by the use of a grey strong mortar.
In this phase probably there were two towers, the sighting one of the Period V and a second one in the south part, actualy just partialy digged; between the towers there were a wall made with squared ashlars where a new inner and monumental entrance has been built. It's marked out by a splay to the inside 1,5 meters wide. In the door jambs we have found two squared holes probably made to house a pile for the lock or a pivot. 40 cm lower then the holes we've found a base of stones and mortar probably interpretated as jamb. In the south side of the door the door jamb of the hypothetic former entrance has been reused to create a small rectangular room maybe interpetable as guardroom for a sentry.
The complex has the shape of a Forterss with a monumental entrance system.
Phase 2 - During this period there were the built of the imposing entrance with the opening of a door, with stony jamb, in the defenisve wall the goes around the hill. At the same time a wall in direction East-West has been contructed in the south part of the upper plateau. A portion of a sloping wall (period V) together with the precedent one create an central open area. Contemporaneously with the entrance door has been probably built a stairs that would connect the entrance with an open and banked area inside the boundary wall.
it's probably the phase of the costruction of a cistern leant to the defensive qall (we'll verify it in the future).
Phase 3 - In this phase the big defensive wall that close the top of the hill as been built; the upper part has been divided by two walls that lean on the tower and set up partialy on the cutted natural rock and partialy on the smoothing of the sloping wall of the Period V; the west side, even if bad preserved, is still partialy visible and has been enlighted but it's just a ruin covered by the vegetation in the border of the investigated area. Actualy the south part of the boundary wall clash with the southern bound of the escavation where a wall with East-West direction seem to close the settlment area in this phase. It's possbile that the site would occupy the entire upper plateau and this wall was the limit of the lord part; this hypothesis will be verified with the prosecution of the investigation.
Cronology: XIII century
Period V:
The watch tower was built, directly on the natural rock, in the upper part in this period. A wall with the same kind of mortar leant to the tower close to the the south corner; it's probably an old and bad preserved defensive wall prior to the large and well preserved one.
An other tower and a sloping wall, east-west oriented, are all connected with the complex of this phase; both this structures are in the bound between Area 1 (2009 escavation) and Area 2 (first adn second 2010 escavation) and have been realized with squared ashlars 3 meters wide, theri function will be clarify with the prosecution of the escavation. The smoothing wall will be reused in the next period as foundations for the part of defensive wall leant to the tower. We have a preliminary hypothseis according with the datas found until now. The tower and the sloping wall are all part of a big structure that we could find under the rooms of Area 1.
Close to the North-East bound of the area the cutted rock is interpretable as lodging for a stairs created to connect the lower part with the upper level of the tower; later this has been smothed and obliterated with the structure and used as foundation for the boundary wall. The stony stair still visible in the south side of the tower was part of this admission therefore this was the side where the stairs ran.
Cronology: XII century
Period VI:
At this moment this is the older frequenting of the site, prior to the first mention in the written documents (the sell of the "Castellione dai Manenti" of Sarteano to the monastery of S.Piero in Campo in two times 1117 and 1127); this confirmed by the foundation cut of the watch tower that destroy partialy layers connected with a structure with wall in masonry and a flag stone roof with a rectangular lenghtened shape north-south oreinteted. This buildig found in the area later occupied by room 3 (Period III), datable to the XI century thanks to the finds found all dating between the X and XI centuries, is probably older but connected with the melting structure digged in room 1; we laso found some metallic scum in US 102 to confirm this hypothesis.
Cronology: XI century
