POGGIO CIVITELLA

   A multiphase hilltop site in Tuscany that has been recently excavated. The first phase appears to be a ritual site of the Late Bronze Age. The site was reoccupied in the Archaic period by a village, with evidence of houses, a cistern, workshops, and ironworking on the summit of the hill and set into terraces. The ironworking artifacts include a furnace, a forge, and other ironworking areas. The iron probably derives from the nearby zone of Casal di Pari and was worked on the hilltop because of the availability of local charcoal and wind. There is also evidence of textile manufacture (loom weights and spindle whorls). In the third phase, in the fifth century BC, the site was occupied by a shrine. In the Hellenistic period, the site was hastily fortified by three enclosures, perhaps as a response to the imminent threat of Rome from the south.