Week Two Review

Week two was a week of mystery for both areas. Starting with area A, there was a combination of intact wall foundations of the Roman villa home and large rubble piles. It was unclear what caused the major destruction and debris layer in area A. Soon enough Medieval pottery began to surface and it looked like Medieval people ruin the party again! It is likely that centuries after the abandonment of the villa, Medieval people moved into the area and used the stones and building materials from the villa to build new settlements. The same occupation popped up in the Mithraeum III Project where Late Antiquity and Medieval period homes and artifacts were discovered in the Mithraeum.

Area A also had some lovely Roman abandonment layers, including a tile pile, an area where roofing tiles collapsed after people stopped living in the villa house.

We got stuck with some rain during the second week of excavation. Fortunately, it did not last very long, but area B did end up with an amazing time-lapse video (courtesy of Ailsa McFadyen) as the fog and clouds move across the foothills and mountains surrounding ARVP.

Onto area B! Area B was a chronological catastrophe for quite some time. After the first week of excavation, the team discovered several foundation walls. Based on the aerial photography, there seemed to be two clear building phases with a large single room building and a smaller building with two or three rooms. Our task was to understand which building was first and which was second.

Surely, this would be an easy enough endeavor. Spoiler alert: it was not as clear cut as the aerial photography suggested. Not only could we not figure out which foundation walls were built first and which were built last, but it also appeared that there were three different building phases. Week two left area B saying “WHATTT??”

Another reason that Area B is the best area at ARVP is that the team decided to buy our own tent. Yes, I admit it, I am working in Area B, but I do not have a bias. Empirically, area B is better than area A. The fact that we bought a tent to shade us during the hot afternoons just proves how wonderful we are.

Week two ended with a fun trip to late Iron Age Dacian fortresses, Cotești-Cetățuie and Sarmizegetusa Regia!