2007 CONSERVATION & MAGAZZINO Gretchen Meyers, Franklin & Marshall College: Director of Materials Ann Steiner, Franklin & Marshall College: Director of Research Jenifer Neils, Case Western Reserve University: Research Project Supervisor Chris White, University of Arizona: Head Conservator Wendy Walker, Metropolitan Museum of Art: Head Conservator Anne Hooton, American School of Classical Studies, Athens: Illustrator Courtney Brasher, Bryn Mawr College, Laboratory Assistant Supervisor Lauren Jackson, Rollins College, Laboratory Assistant Supervisor Allison Lewis, UCLA/Getty, Conservation Intern Josiah Wagener, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY, Conservation Intern  Opening Report  Final Report   Director of Research, Gretchen Meyers   Magazzino and Conservation -- Opening Report Gretchen E. Meyers, Director of Materials (Franklin & Marshall College) Chris White, University of Arizona As we begin the 2007 season of excavations at Poggio Colla, this year's staff includes a number of veterans, as well as new faces. Gretchen Meyers is once again Director of Materials, and together with Ann Steiner, Director of Research, oversees and organizes lab and research activities on a daily basis. In our conservation facility, Head Conservator Chris White returns with two Kress Interns, Allison Lewis and Josiah Wagener. Lab assistants Courtney Brasher and Lauren Jackson, both with us for their third year, are essential in their cataloguing and registration activities. Anne Hooton, our archaeological illustrator, will join us July 4 to continue her valuable documentation of our finds. Director of Research, Ann Steiner This year, as in the past, we are involving our field school students in our research projects. All students are working with the bucchero found in Trenches PC 3 and PC 20 along the northern edge of the site in previous years. Under the supervision of Jenifer Neils, Professor of Art History and Classics at Case Reserve Western University, students are working to create a typology of our bucchero shapes and decoration. This project complements the work of visiting scholar, Phil Perkins from the Open University, UK, who is conducting an in-depth study of all Poggio Colla bucchero. We are also pleased to welcome a number of other visiting scholars throughout the summer and look forward to a productive 2007 excavation season.   Gretchen Meyers and Lauren Jackson working with roof tiles in the lab   Lauren Jackson holds a student research project chart for Megan Burns   Courtney Brasher entering catalog data.   Illustrator Anne Hooton drawing a bucchero sherd Conservators Wendy Walker and Chris White in the field   Conservation Intern Allison Lewis   Conservation Intern Josiah Wagener   Jenifer Neils and Courtney Brasher coordinating the bucchero research group   Fiammetta Calosi working with Anne Hooton Magazzino and Conservation -- Final Report Director of Materials: Gretchen Meyers, Franklin and Marshall College Conservator: Wendy Walker, Metropolitan Museum of Art The 2007 excavation season has been a busy one in the conservation and research lab. A number of projects have occupied the staff and have given us a lot of valuable information about our finds, both from this season, as well as previous ones. Much of our research has been focused on typological study of our bucchero from the northern edge of the site, excavated largely in 2004-2005. Students, working on their research projects, contributed a great deal to our understanding of the range of our bucchero shapes and decorative motifs. Their intense look at the material resulted in more than 130 newly catalogued bucchero pieces, as well as 25 joins between finds. Much of this new material was catalogued and processed by Lab Assistant, Lauren Jackson, and drawn by Illustrator Anne Hooton. Lauren Jackson measures a bucchero sherd for catalog data entry   Our masterful and prolific illustrator Anne Hooton inks her drawing of a bucchero vessel fragment stamped with a griffin pattern In addition to these items from previous seasons, Lab Assistant Courtney Brasher has managed the inventory of objects excavated from PC 30, 31 and 32 or recovered from the survey during the season. Together, she and Gretchen Meyers have catalogued nearly 100 new objects, including an amber intagilio (07-001) new examples of cover and pan tile, miniature fineware and the axe-heads recovered from PC 30. Gretchen Meyers, Ann Steiner, and Courtney Brasher study bucchero The conservation team, headed by Wendy Walker, after Chris White's departure on July 15, has continued to clean, stabilize, reassemble and re-house objects from this and previous excavation seasons. A wide range of materials has been treated, including several types of ceramic ware, metal, bone, glass, sandstone and amber. Head Conservator Chris White completed the reassembly of a thin-walled, highly corroded, fragmentary bronze phiale (a shallow bowl with a central round protrusion in the interior). Chris White using the microscope to consolidate a fragile bowl   The PC 28 bowl after several weeks of conservation   Conservator Wendy Walker logs completed projects Chris White, Josiah Wagener, and Allison Lewis in the conservatin lab On site, the conservation team block-lifted a fragile carbonized log from trench PC 30, employing plaster-soaked bandages to create a rigid support that allowed them to lift the log and the surrounding soil without damaging the burnt log. Throughout the season, the conservators, aided by the bucchero research students, have bonded joining fragments of bucchero ceramic vessels. In addition to helping with processing daily finds, conservation interns Josiah and Allison devised a way to clean a large sandstone podium block, helped to design and implement a survey of metal finds conserved at Poggio Colla, and re-housed objects with special storage needs. Allison also mechanically cleaned a Roman victoriatus coin, and honed her large-scale ceramic reassembly skills by reconstructing an unusually large roof tile excavated in 1996. Josiah worked on the cleaning and consolidation of a remarkably well preserved iron axe head and created a storage system for the bronze phiale. Wendy, ceramics specialist, gave a gap-filling workshop in which the interns discussed different gap-filling materials and strategies, and executed fills on vessels in need of structural stabilization. Axe head found in Trench PC 30 being cleaned in conservation   Wendy Walker guides students through joining sherds and explains gap filling techniques during a conservation workshop The year has certainly been a success in terms of all of our goals in the lab: conservation, documentation, storage and research. I am certain that this is due to the professionalism and diligence of each member of the lab staff, with whom it has been a pleasure to work. Sherds cleaned and reading for joining by conservators   A bucchero vessel under reconstruction by conservators   Chris White leading the ceramic conservation workshop for students, whose task is to find matches and join sherds   Mat Ferron and Erin Bradley join sherds during the workshop   Mandy Olson and Nickie Riley join sherds during the workshop   Research   Illustrator Anne Hooton completes hundreds of drawings each season.   For photographs of key finds from trenches in the recent season, see Finds. For information on the Conservation Lab, see below. For additional information on the lab and magazzino, visit the Conservation Lab page listed under Facilities. Conservation lab and magazzino in Guardia. About the Conservation Lab In the conservation lab, conservators and assistant conservators clean, conserve, and label finds. Conservation involves the repair, consolidation, and preservation of material remains. In special cases, our conservators will come up to the site and assist in the removal of fragile remains. Conservation work requires expertise in art history, science, and studio art, and an understanding of archaeological methodology. 2007 Conservation and Illustration lab and staff: Josiah Wagener, Allison Lewis, Wendy Walker, and Anne Hooton   Puzzle: a table of pot sherds to be matched up and joined.   Conservation tools and chemicals used in cleaning and joining finds.   Axe from Poggio Colla trench being cleaned in conservation lab   Chris White joins and restores fragments of a bucchero oinochoe.   Chris White with his portable conservation lab.   Anna Serotta and Chris White lifting bowl from Trench PC 28 for transport to the lab.     Co-Directors: Gregory Warden gwarden@mail.smu.edu and Michael Thomas mlthomas@mail.utexas.edu Excavation house phone during the field season: (011-39) 055-844-9834