The excavation of the Montieri castle
Montieri it's a small one medieval village located in the Province of Grosseto, in the heart of the Metalliferous Hills, an area linked since ancient times to a strong mining vocation due to the presence of important metal deposits, especially copper, silver and lead.
Since autumn 2012 the archaeologists of Coopera they are engaged in a great effort, the excavation of the castle Of MontieriThe people of Montieri know this well because they often see archaeologists on the streets, rain or shine, but even snow, and they are happy to offer us coffee and stop to talk with us!
Don't imagine an abandoned and ruined castle; Montieri is a beautiful village, full of towers and medieval buildings still standing, and inhabited by many people interested in our work. And in the year Thousand, Montieri was the “City of Silver”, one of the most important mining castles in central Italy, where thesilver for the minting of the coins.
The excavation opportunity arose with the creation of the town's district heating network, which will bring heat to the homes of all the Montierini, accustomed to stoves and wood. All streets and squares, both inside and outside the medieval walls, will be investigated, offering us a unique opportunity to rebuild life in Middle Ages inside this important castle.
When the excavation is finished, perhaps already this spring, it will be time for us to review the photos taken, the drawings made and to take up again our "notes" taken on the construction site, on the sheets which are the basis of the archaeologist's work and they are called Stratigraphic Units and finally reconstruct the "stories" present in the Montieri subsoil, until now totally unknown.
This is the complexity and beauty of our work: from the data of the soil we bring to light ancient stories about the men who preceded us and who inhabited the houses still inhabited today by those who offer us coffee a thousand years ago.
And what better thing could we do than restore to those who live in a country their historical memory and the awareness that each of us is called to safeguard and preserve what has been passed down to us?
On the Poggio di Montieri, overlooking the town, we also worked along a ditch that bisects the slope, the Nebbiaio ditch. There, we marked on maps dozens of human activities, now buried in the woods, that occurred to enable the important silver mining operations directed by the Bishop of Volterra and noble families who lived in their castle in Montieri.
