Today we mulled around for a while, as we passed close to the fresco on both sides, and pieces of it began to come loose.  Professor George and Silvia decided to begin excavating several of the surface pieces before we finished the trench so they didn’t get destroyed by a pickax or falling rubble from a shovel.  This is very meticulous work, as it is done completely with a small brush.  The hardened mud around the fresco is brushed off layer by layer as it is slowly uncovered.  We uncovered several beautiful pieces with greens, purples, yellows and reds on it.  Most of the other pieces we found had unfortunately had all of the paint already had been destroyed or worn completely off of it.  But the few large pieces we found are great, and some of them even fit together.  Hopefully we’ll uncover some more pieces that will fit in so we can piece part of it together and figure out what the fresco actually looked like 2200 years ago.  Silvia is still hopeful that we will also uncover a mosaic floor somewhere in the area around the fresco.  There have been several theories bounced around that because of the fresco, mosaic tesserae, and the waterway that this may have once been more than an ancient villa, but possibly either a bathhouse or a temple of sorts.  Some of the tiles we have found recently are inscribed terracotta that have bits of designs that would have only been found on such a place.  That would also explain the waterway and several of the tile pieces, which are scratched in patterns that would be used to allow heat to rise through them through the walls and flooring, as would be found in a bathhouse or possibly a temple.  This is rather interesting, but still only theories.  Professor Rulman has just about finished cleaning the coin found in trench A, and believes it to be Neronian, which is a great find, but she is still having trouble figuring out the coin from Trench C.  It may be too damaged to figure out what it was.  Trench D found a coin today, unfortunately it was a modern Lira coin.  They have been working really hard and have made about a meter’s depth (or will by Friday), but have slowly been gaining hope as they find more bits and pieces that show that there was something there at some point.

 

 

~Nick Quinn

a.k.a. Poncho!