The January and June 2009 fieldwork at the site of Capalbiaccio (GR) employed non-invasive archaeological methods to establish the existence of a long-range settlement at the site from prehistory to the Renaissance. Pottery analysis, magnetometrical survey, and the examination of the surviving high-medieval fortified village have allowed us to trace two previous settlements without excavating the site. The excavation of Capalbiaccio in the 1970s by Steve Dyson and his team from Wesleyan University produced a large wealth of material about the site, which is herein interpreted from classical and medieval perspectives.
This research has led us to the conclusion that Capalbiaccio has been occupied with a few interruptions since the 11th century BC. In light of this, the plan for the brief 2009 season was to prove the existence of settlements prior to the medieval fortified village. The magnetometrical survey undertaken reveals a series of structures that constitute a village with an orientation that is not based on the plan evidenced in the remaining medieval village.

Our study of the pottery excavated by Dyson reveals large amounts of classical pottery, as well as 10th century AD productions imported from north and central Italy. This evidence supports our contention that Capalbiaccio was the site of both an Etruscan town and an active center of trade in the early medieval era. Traces of the latter center have been found in the photographic documentation from the previous excavation, showing large post-holes in a red layer of earth, which indicates the early medieval occupation.

The team studying the surviving wall elevations of the final phase at medieval Capalbiaccio has identified a very wide range of construction techniques that span the 10th to 15th centuries AD. These findings allow us to speculate that the commissions for the buildings at Capalbiaccio were many and as varied as the different workshops that built them.

Finally, the landscape of the territory surrounding the village was surveyed and planned with a GIS system in order to capture the changes and patterns of the landscape, which serves to augment our understanding of the history of the territory. This preliminary report provides a foundation for further research into southern Etruria and the conflict between the Roman Church and the growing power of feudal families, such as the Aldobrandeschi, as they competed for control over the same land.