2025 Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)

Abstract

The 2025 excavation season focused on previously explored areas to understand aspects of the Intermediate and Final phases of the settlement better. Exploration immediately north of the Intermediate Phase’s industrial center yielded considerable evidence of various forms of production while also revealing details concerning this area’s original, seventh-century BCE topography. Excavation on the eastern edge of the Piano del Tesoro plateau clarified a few details concerning the structure found there in 2024. Exploration to the north revealed traces of previously unknown fortifications along the monumental Archaic Phase Building’s western façade and also permitted the re-examination of an earlier building, potentially associated with the Intermediate Phase complex. In the closing days of the season, excavation revealed traces of an intentional pit apparently excavated contemporaneous with the site’s destruction that contained a large fragment of a defaced stele.