Summary The fortified hilltop town of Capalbiaccio is a lost Etruscan settlement, a site that developed out of prehistory to become an important colony and grain provider for the Roman Empire, before being sacrificed to medieval intrigue and conquest by the Republic of Siena. The site, together with the castle of Tricosto, was first excavated forty-five years ago, but the results were never published. Then, in recent years, archaeologist Michelle Hobart was invited to explore the area with a new team and employ the latest techniques of remote sensing to explore the landscape and fortifications. The results of both explorations are presented here for the first time in this volume, which combines the invasive and non-invasive approaches of two generations of archaeologists to reveal what attracted settlers to this site, from the inhabitants of the late Bronze Age through to the most important families of medieval Tuscany. This book employs the best of the latest geophysical techniques and time-tested approaches to ground the history of Capalbiaccio, and to narrate how the fate of this small village was inextricably linked to regional and national networks, as control of the territory and the settlement's reason for being evolved over time. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Part I. Genesis of the Project 1. The Archaeology of Coastal, Southern Tuscany Michelle Hobart 2. Capalbiaccio: The Initial Archaeological Campaigns (1976-1980) Stephen L. Dyson Part II. Recent Research and Non-Invasive Archaeology 3. Geo-Archaeology of Coastal Southern Tuscany Nicoletta Barocca 4. Geophysical Prospecting, Topography, Thermal Camera and DEM Laura Cerri and Emanuele Mariotti 5. Medieval Wall Reading: The Archaeology of Architecture Irene Corti Part III. Material Culture and Survey of Post Medieval Southern Tuscany 6. Analysis of the Material Culture Michelle Hobart 7. Pre-Etruscan, Etruscan, and Roman Pottery Valeria Acconcia 8. Capalbiaccio and the Early Medieval Pottery in Southern Tuscany (900-1000) Emanuele Vaccaro 9. A Comparative Study of Pottery from Southern Tuscany and Latium (1000-1200) Chiara Valdambrini 10. Medieval Pottery (1200-1400) Michelle Hobart 11. Small Finds Elisa Rubegni 12. Coins Alessia Rovelli 13. Archaeozoological Remains Diana C. Crader 14. Field Survey of the Post-Medieval Settlement Patterns in Southern Tuscany Herman Salvadori Part IV. Historical Reconstructions and Conclusions 15. Reassessing the Etruscan Valle d'Oro Michelle Hobart 16. Builders of Landscapes: The Aldobrandeschi and the Castle of Tricosto Michelle Hobart 17. Concluding Remarks and Open Questions Michelle Hobart Appendix Castle and Countryside: Capalbiaccio and the Changing Settlement History of the Ager Cosanus Stephen L. Dyson Works Cited Author Biographies Index