The primary focus of the Etruscan Foundation since its origin has been on archaeology. For an unbroken stretch of 40 years, it has supported annual excavations, most of them at sites previously unknown. The discovery and excavation of these sites has contributed substantially to knowledge of civilization in the area over a wide range of periods, both pre- and post-Etruscan. A large number of the projects funded have been those led by graduate students or scholars at early stages of their careers. It is gratifying to see how many of these past collaborators, to whom the Etruscan Foundation provided their first opportunities in the field, are now prominent archaeologists.

Some of the more extensive field projects funded by the Etruscan Foundation since 1958 have been:

Vetulonia, 1958-60, directed by Dssa. Anna Talocchini, University of Florence. The 1959 season concentrated on the tombs, among them the rich Tomb of the Silver Lions. In 1960, Dssa. Talocchini changed the direction of the excavations to the study of the living instead of the dead; she undertook to clarify the topography of the ancient city. Work began on the north-south road and the western approach to the city. Vetulonia remains an important example of Etruscan urbanism, since it is one of relatively few Etruscan sites whose ancient structures and layout have been exposed. The report of these two campaigns appears in A. Talocchini, " La cittą e la necropoli di Vetulonia secondo i nuovi scavi (1959-1962)" Studi Etruschi 31 (1963) 41-67, and "Le Orificerie ed il vasetto configurato del Circolo dei Leoncini d'Argento di Vetulonia," Studi Etruschi 31 (1963) 67-89; and "The Golden Treasure and a Figured Jar from the Tomb of the Silver lions, Vetulonia," Etruscans I (1967-69) 12-19.

Malignano (Poggio Luco), 1964, directed by the late Prof. Kyle Phillips, then at the University of Michigan, later at Bryn Mawr College. The excavation of this Late Etruscan cemetery exposed one impressive chamber tomb and 18 smaller rock-cut tombs. All had been robbed in antiquity except for a few of the interior chambers, which yielded fragments of over 80 vessels and 52 coins. These coins indicate a period of use for the cemetery from the last quarter of the third century B.C. to the end of the second century B.C., a period of peace and development for the entire peninsula, between the expulsion of Hannibal from Italy and the first civil war between Marius and Sulla. This excavation led to Prof. Phillips' historical reconstruction of the life of the Etruscan settlement served by these tombs.

Prof. Phillips returned to Malignano in 1965 to excavate the "Monumental Tomb." Finds indicate that this tomb must have served a very well-to-do family, whose residence the team also sought without success during the season. The monumental tomb measures 17.5 m. in length and consists of a short entrance corridor leading into a large central hall with four connecting chambers. Black-glazed ware, worked bones, some large painted kraters, and fragments of decorated ivory were among the tomb furnishings. The material from Malignano is published in K.M. Phillips, Jr., "Relazione preliminare sugli scavi promossi dalla Etruscan Foundation di Detroit nella Provincia di Siena durante il 1964" Notizie degli Scavi di Antichitą XIX (1965) 5-29; and by the same author, "Excavations in the Province of Siena, 1964," American Journal of Archaeology LXIX (1965) 172-73.

Papena, 1964, another cemetery of the Hellenistic Period roughly contemporary with Malignano, also excavated by Prof. Kyle Phillips. The recovered material was sparse but did provide valuable information on Late Etruscan settlement patterns between Siena and the metal-bearing mountains (Colline Metallifere) to the west. Papena is published in K.M. Phillips, "Relazione preliminare," Notizie degli Scavi di Antichitą XIX (1965) 5-29; and by the same author, "Papena (Siena). Sepultura tardo-etrusca," Notizie degli Scavi di Antichitą XXI (1967) 23-40.

Orgia, 1966, directed by Dr. Luigi Rochetti, University of Rome. The team concentrated on the plan and date of the retaining walls around the acropolis terrace and made a final determination of the line of the slender inner retaining wall. Material from the second and third centuries B.C. was recovered and is on display in the museum at Spannocchia. The owners' plans to sell the property of Orgia curtailed archaeological work here, but the site would reward full excavation in the future. It is a walled settlement of the late period, thus comparable to La Piana and to a typology of sites identified to the north of Siena; see M. Cresci and L. Viviani, "Defining an Economic Area of the Hellenistic Period in Inland Northern Etruria: the excavation of a fortified hilltop village at Poggio La Croce in Radda in Chianti - Siena," Etruscan Studies 2 (1995) 141-157.

Strove, 1967-68, excavation of the necropolis located on the low hill called Poggio alla Fame, directed by Prof. David W. Rupp of the University of Pennsylvania, now at Brock University, Ontario. Twelve chamber tombs, dating from the fifth to first centuries B.C., and 23 trench graves were excavated. The majority of the material found at the site was similar to that found at contemporary Malignano and Papena. The site should be considered typical of the small Etruscan necropolis found in the upper Val d'Elsa and the Sienese region. The report for these seasons appears in D.W. Rupp, "The Necropolis of Strove: Preliminary Report of the 1967 and 1968 Campaigns," Etruscans I (1967-69) 27-39.

Eremo Santa Lucia, 1969, excavation under the direction of Prof. Alfonz Lengyel, Wayne State University, and Prof. George T. Radan, Villanova University. Santa Lucia probably originated as a hermitage well before the tenth century, the period from which comes the earliest dating evidence; the dating is based on the analysis of bones excavated from the burial ground during the 1969 research season. The site was officially designated an Augustinian hermitage under the Great Union of Monastic Orders in 1256. The hermitage remained active until the late 17th century, when the numbers began to dwindle. It was abandoned in 1785 during the reign of Joseph II, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1765-90, whose religious reforms abolished hereditary and ecclesiastical privileges. The site yielded much historical and architectural information about the old structures and about the life of the monks. Excavation also produced pottery, coins of Emperor Henry II of A.D. 940, and an iter sacrum - a pilgrimage route - that continues indefinitely under the shifting mountain. The mountain, even today pressing on the walls of the building, may have covered the original Etruscan settlement, if there was one, with an immense slide of earth. Publication of the excavation material appears in G.T. Radan and A. Lengyel, "The Eremo di Santa Lucia: Archaeological Documentation of an Augustinian Hermitage," Etruscans III (1974) 5-33.

La Befa, 1976-77, a Roman villa excavated by Prof. John Dobbins of the University of North Carolina, now of the University of Virginia. Located near the warm springs of Petriolo, the villa flourished between the mid first century A.D. and the early fifth century. It included a large apsidal room and two hypocaust systems. This structure yielded many fragments of colored marble revetments that testify to the elegance of its appointments. The site provides useful evidence for the romanization and repopulation of this region after a period of widespread abandonment during the first century B.C. The full excavation report has been published as a monograph: John Dobbins, The Excavation of the Roman Villa at La Befa, Italy (Oxford, British Archaeological Reports: 1983); a preliminary report by the same author is published as "The Roman Villa at La Befa, Italy" Archaeology XXXII,1 (1979) 58-60.

Petriolo, 1975-87, survey and excavation of Paleolithic period settlements along the river banks in this geothermal area, directed originally by Joseph Chartkoff of Michigan State University, then jointly by Chartkoff and Randolph Donahue of Michigan State, and finally by Randolph Donahue, now of Sheffield University, England. The careful flotation of every inch of excavated soil produced many microliths and a range of stone tools, which testify to the extent and character of habitation in this area 14,000 to 16,000 years ago. During these late stages of the last glaciation in southern Tuscany, the society was economically diverse and seasonally transhumant, following browsing-mammal migration patterns. Excavations in the Petriolo III area have been published in J.L. Chartkoff and R.E. Donahue, "Petriolo III, an Epigravettian Occupation in Southern Tuscany: First Season," Current Anthropology 22.5 (1981) 575-6; Donahue and Chartkoff, "Petriolo III: Second Season," Current Anthropology 24.1 (1983) 104-5; and R.E. Donahue, "Petriolo III South: Implications for the Transition to Agriculture in Tuscany," Current Anthropology 33.3 (June 1992).

La Piana, a Late Etruscan settlement is currently being excavated by Prof. Jane K. Whitehead. Although contemporary with Malignano, Orgia, Papena, and Strove, this site is the only habitation area of the Late Etruscan Period to be excavated in this region, and one of a relatively few excavated elsewhere. It thus gives important complementary information about the Etruscans' living environment and activities. This project has been in progress since 1982. See J.K. Whitehead, "Survey and Excavations of the Etruscan Foundation, 1989-91: La Piana, Mocali, and Ripostena," Etruscan Studies I (1994) 176-205.; and eadem "New Researches at La Piana, 1992-95," Etruscan Studies 3 (1995) 105-46.