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There are archaeological digs and research activities being conducted all over the world. Many archaeological digs are conducted during the summer months; however, some are ongoing throughout the year, and some are being conducted even during the winter months in parts of the world where the climate is favorable. This weblog serves as a gateway to up-to-date information about current archaeological digs, dinosaur digs, archaeological travel tours, and archaeological job opportunities throughout the world. It also features special postings highlighting specific archaeological digs, and other links related to archaeology and archaeological digs. Interested in archaeology news? See Archaeology Weekly.
This is how I'm making a little cash to finance my participation in digs. You can do this, too. If interested, see Peoplestring.com.
Here are the best listings online with links to detailed information about archaeological digs and field school opportunities for 2009, and see the specially featured digs by scrolling below. Return regularly, as the lists continue to expand with new opportunities:
Read about the events and latest discoveries on an archaeological dig by going to the online account of the excavation seasonfor the ancient biblical city of Bethsaida.
Read about an exciting new vision for conducting archaeological research at the El Pilar Blog.
Archaeological Tours
Not interested in digging right now, but you enjoy things archaeological? Here are some sources for great archaeological travel tours:
Like a great jewel, the modern city of Tiberias rises on the slopes hugging the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is, among other things, a popular resort destination in Israel. But not far from its shops and hotels lies another Tiberias......an ancient one. In about 20 C.E., Herod Antipas saw this location as a seat of power and established Tiberias as a governing center and a city of prominence. In addition to its association with a region where Jesus walked, taught and performed his many miracles, it became a center of Jewish political and spiritual leadership. Here, the Sanhedrin sat. Here also, the Talmud was compiled and edited. In the Byzantine period, it drew thousands of Christian pilgrims and during the time following the Arab conquest it served as the capital of northern Palestine. Needless to say, its ancient political, spiritual, and attendant economic significance endows the location with archaeological treasures yet to be unearthed. Add to this the fact that the ancient site has been relatively unaffected by later construction, and you have a site that promises incredible potential for new archaeological discoveries.
Excavations began in March 2009 on a colonnaded structure in the heart of the ancient city, partially excavated in the 1950’s by B. Ravani and later by Y. Hirschfeld. The building, which was originally interpreted as a covered market, has recently been restudied by Dr. Cytryn-Silverman, who suggests that the structure is not a market, but rather a congregational mosque dating from the Early Islamic period. The main focus of the March season was to excavate squares in and adjacent to the colonnaded building, defining its phases, dating and architecture. Initial data was retrieved during the season, prompting further research questions dealing with the building, its phases and its urban context. These questions will be the focus of the work in the October-November season. Special finds from the first season include: a mosaic floor, an Arabic inscription, complete oil lamps and hundreds of coins. The current research aims to utilize information from past excavations along with meticulous field work in order to study the urban phases and layout.
The expedition will be housed at the Aviv Hotel, a 10 minute walk from the site along the promenade of the Sea of Galilee, and a five minute walk from the city center of modern Tiberias. All rooms have a private bathroom, TV, air-conditioning and a balcony. Single and double rooms are available ($500-$400). Camping options are also available. Check-in to the hotel is on Saturday evening, and check-out is on Thursday afternoon. Fees include meals from Sunday breakfast through Thursday dinner, as well as all lectures and field trips to nearby sites. Minimum participation is one work week, and student discounts are available.
If you are interested in participating with Dr. Silverman in this exciting new research as part of the team, please contact: tiberiasexcavation@yahoo.com
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project
The name of Copped Hall first appears in a document of 1258 but the family named in the document, the Fitzauchers, who were the King’s huntsmen, had been granted land in the vicinity in 1165. Waltham Abbey bought the Hall in 1350 and held it until 1534, when it passed to the Crown. Mary Tudor (the future Queen Mary) lived here and celebrated the Catholic mass under her Protestant brother’s rule. Queen Elizabeth I granted the manor to her Chancellor, Sir Thomas Heneage, in 1564, who immediately started rebuilding it to create a Tudor grand-house. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream may have had its first performance at Heneage’s wedding festivities here in 1594. Later it was home to Lionel Cranfield, a Lord High Treasurer of England under James I who was condemned by Parliament for ‘bribery, extortion, oppression and other grievous misdemeanours’. But the Tudor grand-house at Copped Hall – save for some ‘romantic ruins’ – was demolished in the mid-18th century and replaced by a new mansion 250 metres to the south-east. This in turn was gutted by fire in 1917 and stood ruinous for much of the 20th century. In 1995, the Copped Hall Trust succeeded in saving what remained of this mansion and its gardens from the attentions of a variety of developers, authorities and vandals and has since been working to restore them to their original condition.
The Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project (CHTAP) was set up, with the support of the West Essex Archaeological Group (WEAG), to investigate the remains of the Tudor grand-house. In previous seasons, an intriguing sequence of brick walls and foundations overlain by the landscaped gardens of the 18th century house has been uncovered. The excavations will continue in 2009.
The 5-day Training Dig, for beginners only, will be held in the week starting Monday 10th August. Participants will learn about: tools and their use; excavation methods; archaeological surveying; written and drawn recording; finds and finds processing. Talks will be given on related subjects but most of the instruction will be “hands on” and in the context of actual excavation. A special bonus is the architect’s tour of the 18th century mansion, which is currently being restored, although much of the original framework is still visible.
The 5-day Field School, for people already familiar with the basic techniques of archaeological excavation and recording, will start on Monday 17th August. A small number of places may be available for those who have attended the first week’s training dig but priority will be given to more experienced diggers who are keen to develop their existing skills under expert supervision and those returning to Copped Hall from previous years’ digs. No formal teaching sessions are planned for this week, but for those interested there are likely to be opportunities to take part in a geophysical survey, photographic recording and environmental archaeology.
Instruction and supervision will be given by professional archaeologists, who know the site very well, assisted by highly experienced volunteers. The directors will be Christina Holloway and Lee Joyce. John Shepherd is consultant to the project. Attendance certificates will be awarded at the end of the course. Costs will be £140 for the training dig week (WEAG members £130); £90 for the field school week (WEAG £80). Tea/coffee/water will be provided, as will all tools except a digging trowel, but you will need to bring your own packed lunch.
Accommodation will not be made available at Copped Hall but details of nearby B&B/hotel/hostel/camping accommodation can be supplied. The site is just off the M25 and easily accessible by car or bicycle. Though not directly on any public-transport route, a taxi firm operates a service from Epping Station on the London underground Central Line.
If you wish to come, please fill in the attached form and return it to Mrs Pauline Dalton, Roseleigh, Epping Road, Epping, Essex, CM16 5HW. For some further information see www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk orwww.weag.org.uk or phone Mrs Dalton on 01992-813-725, or email pmd2@ukonline.co.uk
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Vratsata Project: Uncovering a Major Early Thracian Settlement
The ancient Thracians first enter the known historical record through Homer's Illiad, where they are described as allies of the Trojans. More recently, they have become known in popular accounts as the creators of strikingly beautiful and elaborately crafted gold and silver artifacts that have come to light through a number of excavations in the Balkans. The Thracians are important for far more than ancient treasures, however. Dr. Nartis Torbov of the Vratsa Historical Museum is leading an investigation of a site that may, according to his thesis, reveal much more about these ancient peoples and may, indeed, prove to be an important Thracian capital city with a settlement history going back 2,800 years. Known as Vratsata, he believes the site could yield evidence for the capital of the Tribali tribe, where generations of Thracian rulers lived. Research thus far has uncovered a citadel with a pentagonal layout. Materials found here have traced out four historical periods:
Thracians (5th - 1st century BC)
Roman period (1st - 3rd century AD)
Late Antique (4th - 6th century AD)
Medieval period (12th - 13th century AD)
>The Field School
Dr. Torbov is inviting volunteers and students from all over the world to join him and his team in this exciting, ground-breaking expedition of discovery. In association with the Vratsa Historical Museum, he is offering a formal field school that will teach, through practical hands-on activities, the methodology of systematic archaeological excavation and recording. The Field School will include a variety of related lectures and field trips to interesting historical and cultural points of interest in Bulgaria, including a stay in Sofia, the capital city.
The Field School begins June 1st and ends on June 28th. Participants may attend one or both 15-day sessions that make up the total field season. Accommodations are provided in a three star hotel in the town of Vratsa in shared double rooms with bathrooms, hot and cold running water, and TV. Meals include early morning breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the hotel. The food will be traditional Bulgarian. The project will supply all basic equipment needed.
For more information about this opportunity, go to the website at www.vratsata.archbg.net. The website includes information about how to apply. The application deadline is May 31, 2009.
Conbustica: Excavating a Roman Military Fort
By the first century A.D., the Romans had expanded their imperial reach into the eastern Balkans of present-day Europe. Among the many forts and towns they established in the region was the impressive fort of Conbustica, located in the northwest region of modern-day Bulgaria. The fort, situated on a plateau overlooking two major river valleys, was strategically positioned on the main road through the Roman province of Moesia. Conbustica is recorded on the Peutingerian Table, a schematic first-century A.D. map of the Roman world.
The Excavations
Over the years, excavations at the hilltop fort have revealed a classic model of Roman defensive architecture. The walls of the rhomboid-shaped fort were massive, with stone foundations measuring over six feet high and five feet wide. The wall's earthen superstructure is preserved to a height of four feet in some places. Inside the fort, archaeologists have found a range of artifacts that reveal the daily life of the soldiers who dwelt inside, including bronze artifacts, imported pottery and two unique bronze fibulae (ancient brooches used to fasten clothing). This season, excavation director Krassimira Luka, in conjunction with the Bulgarian Archaeological Association, will continue to excavate the camp's fortifications, but will also explore the site's pottery kilns and workshops.
The Field School
Volunteers and students are invited to join the team by participating this summer in the 2009 Field School. The training will afford students the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills in systematic survey and stratigraphic excavation techniques, including mapping of excavated features. The training will also inlcude plan and section drawing, archaeological drafting, laboratory processing and documentation of excavated material. In addition to the skills training, participants will attend formal and informal lectures throughout the dig period on a variety of topics related to the archaeological experience.
Team members will stay two-to-a room in a hotel in the nearby town of Belogradchik. Hotel amenities include private bathrooms, hot water, TV and internet access.
Does this sound interesting to you? Find out more about the project, program costs, and application procedures by going to the website at www.cambustica.archbg.net.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
The Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project
This year, a team from the University of California, San Diego will excavate and survey in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's Faynan district, 50 km south of the Dead Sea. Faynan, located near the beautiful Dana UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is home to one of the world’s best preserved ancient mining and metallurgy districts. Since 1997, UC San Diego has worked closely with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan on a deep-time, nine thousand year long, study of the role of mining and metallurgy on cultural evolution – from the Neolithic period to Islamic times. Known as the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project or ELRAP, its 2009 season will be devoted to excavating one of the largest Iron Age (ca. 1200 – 900 BCE) copper production sites in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Called Khirbat en-Nahas (Arabic, means ‘Ruins of Copper’), the site was the center of the earliest industrial scale metal production in the area and dates to the Biblical period. Excavations will focus on exploring some of the earliest metal production layers and administrative buildings at the site. In addition, the team will explore mines, and survey for hidden fortresses. The ELRAP project is special because it is at the center of using a high-tech on-site GIS digital archaeology system. Students gain extensive experience not only participating in archaeological survey and excavation, but also mastering an array of digital survey and recording tools. There is also a strong daily field laboratory component where students work in labs including ceramics, zooarchaeology, archaeometallurgy, lithics, digital photography, GIS and more. Local field trips, weekend trips and a special 3-day visit to the spectacular site of Petra – the RoseRedCity - will take place. Petra was recently voted one of the new 7 wonders of the world and the team will spend three days visiting the area.
If you were to walk along the terrain near the small town of Selah, Washington, you would see a hilly, desert-like landscape, reflecting the dry climate that is characteristic of the eastern half of this Pacific Northwest state; however, during Pleistocene times (1.8 million to 10,000 years B.P.), you would see a wetter, cooler landscape, consisting of a greater abundance of vegetation, water sources, and fauna long ago extinct. Mammoths roamed this ancient ecosystem. Isolated examples of their bones have been found scattered across this, the Columbian Plateau area. Rare, however, is the instance where an assemblage of associated bones from a single specimen can be found in one location. Such a site is the subject of ongoing investigations being conducted by a research team under the direction of Dr. Patrick Lubinski of Central Washington University. Known as the Wenas Creek Mammoth site, it has thus far revealed hundreds of bone elements, including nearly complete mammoth leg bones, vertebrae, toe bones and shoulder blade, as well as the remains of bison, dated to approximately 16,000 years B.P. Additional bones remain partially exposed from the 2008 excavations and are awaiting removal in 2009. Equally intriguing, human artifacts (cryptocrystalline flakes) were discovered in proximity to, and 15 centimeters above, a mammoth bone, suggesting a human presence at the site. Were there humans in the midst of these ancient creatures as early as 16,000 years ago? More work needs to be done to answer that question. The goals of the project are to recover additional mammoth remains and associated fauna and paleo-environmental data, and to place these into the geological context. Additionally, it is hoped that the research will reveal the taphonomic relationships between the finds, as well as more evidence of human presence.
Individuals interested in being a part of this exciting work of discovery will have the opportunity to participate either as field school students or in other volunteer capacities, learning the tools and techniques common to BOTH paleontology and archaeology. The Wenas Creek Mammoth Project Field School will be conducted during the summer of 2009 and will offer a full agenda of practical learning experiences.
The Field School
The Field School is open to anyone eligible to register for college credits (college students or not) and may be audited by those not wanting college credit. There are no prerequisites, but some background in archaeology, geography and/or geology is strongly encouraged. For the first week (June 22-27), students will be training with lecture, lab studies, field trips, and perhaps hikes. They will acquire some background in archaeological field methods, sediments, mammoths, maps, and the regional environment. The first day will be entirely on campus, but they may be in the field or on campus thereafter. Primary field tasks will be recovery of mammoth bones and any artifacts, and collection of stratigraphic and geomorphic information to place the finds into context. To do this, a number of 2 x 2 m units will be excavated, mapping all encountered bone and artifacts with a total station theodolite. Students may use shovels, wheelbarrows, trowels, brushes, and/or fine bamboo skewers for excavation, and shake the recovered material through 1/8" screens. As bone is recovered, the team will make use of a consolidant to stabilize fragments and prevent them from disintegrating. As they excavate the 2 x 2 m units, they will also carefully record the stratigraphy of each, and link this to the already-described stratigraphy of the backhoe trench excavated in 2005. Ultimately, the recovered bones will be linked to the stratigraphy and associated geomorphology of the site.Students may also gain experience with pedestrian archaeology. As part of an exchange program, they may spend up to a week on a survey crew working through central Washington. This exchange is with a parallel CWU archaeology summer field school under the direction of Dr. Steve Hackenberger. Transportation is provided. Students may choose their level of participation in this exchange, up to five days. Additionally, participants will also take several field trips elsewhere, such as the Yakima Valley Museum in Yakima and the Qwu?gwes "wetsite" archaeological excavation in Olympia.
Join the Team!
If you are interested in learning more about how to join this effort, go to the website at www.cwu.edu/~masters/mammoth.htmlfor more detailed information about the project and how to apply. Not interested or ready for the full Field School experience? You can volunteer to participate and get a taste of the action by registering for their ongoing volunteer program. Information about this program can also be found at the website.
The Center for American Archeology is pleased to offer five weeks of focused field excavation and laboratory experience for undergraduate students, graduate students, and other adults interested in participating in an intensive archeological experience.Our field school is a great opportunity to gain or enhance your skills in excavation and laboratory processing.
The Site: During Summer 2009, the CAA will be working at TBGOK (The BuriedGardens of Kampsville), a Middle Woodland/Hopewell village site (ca. 50 BC – AD 250).Middle Woodland is a dynamic and exciting time period in the prehistory of our region, one characterized by extensive trade networks, mound building, horticulture-based economies, and the emergence of an elite ruling class.From 2004-2008, our excavation team discovered an extensive midden deposit containing Hopewell pottery, exotic trade goods (mica, copper, hornstone, obsidian), bones from numerous animal species (elk, turtle, deer, dog, river otter), and stone-lined post molds.During 2008, excavators also discovered additional evidence of post-supported structures, intact pieces of mica, and unusual fired ceramic objects.Your work at the site will make an important contribution to our understanding of this time period in the lower Illinois River valley region, one of the richest archeological areas of the Midwestern US.
Program: Participants may enroll for 1-5 weeks. Tuition includes room, basic field lunch (sandwiches, chips, etc.) each day, project-related supplies, and instruction; you’ll also get a one-year membership in the CAA!Breakfast & dinner are on your own.Participants will stay at one of the CAA’s bunkhouse-style dormitories; rooms are at minimum double-occupancy.Dormitories have refrigerators, microwaves, hot plates, and a BBQ grill.Participants are responsible for making their own transportation arrangements; the CAA can provide shuttle service to & from Lambert-St.LouisInternationalAirport or the Alton, Illinois Amtrak station for a fee (see Registration Form).
1 Week: $5503 Weeks: $1320
2 Weeks: $1100 4 Weeks: $1650
5 weeks: $2000
Limited scholarship support for women is available.Please follow the ‘Opportunities’ link on our main page atwww.caa-archaeology.org for application & deadline details.
Who May Enroll: Enrollees must be 18 years or older.
Is This Program Right For Me?: This program is for adults who are interested in improving their excavation and laboratory skills in a structured, intensive work environment.The majority of your time will be spent in the field, with evenings (and bad weather days) spent completing essential laboratory work.Reasonably fit individuals who are capable of working outdoors in hot, humid weather (shoveling, troweling, lifting, etc.) should be physically able to participate.Participants should be able to work collaboratively with others in an intensive, immersion-style learning & living community that emphasizes collegiality.
Credit for the Program:This program does not carry academic credit; however, we are happy to work with you if you petition your university/college for credit – we’ll supply supporting information and evaluation of your participation in the program.Many of our previous students have gone on to successfully earn credit for their work.
Enrollment Process: Complete the Registration Form and return it to the CAA Office along with your 30% deposit or full payment. Scholarship applicants should not send a deposit with their enrollment forms.
Upon receipt of a completed Registration Form, we will send you a confirmation letter and a packet of additional information.Please note that your remaining tuition balance is due one week before the program begins.
What Forms Do I Need to Complete?: Registration Form, Assumption of Risk/Permission to Photo Form, Adult Medical Form.These are available from the “Registration Packet” link on the main page.
NOTE: Registration for the program closes one week prior to the start of each session.Enrollment is limited to 10 individuals per week.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Understanding Maya Land Use at El Pilar
This is not your typical Maya archaeological site. It doesn't wow you with its imposing monumental temples, plazas, ball courts and residential palaces like Palenque or Tikal. Yet it boasts 100 acres of plazas, pyramids and other structures, ranking it among the major ancient centers of the lowland Maya region. Straddling the border of Belize and Guatemala, the site of El Pilar, as this settlement has come to be known, doesn't flaunt its monumental prowess with cleanly exposed stone structures. Many of its ancient structures still lie protected by vegetation because it is the subject of a whole new paradigm of archaeological investigation -- a paradigm that may prove to be a model for many projects to come, and which may lead to solutions about how humanity can sustain itself and flourish by cooperating with nature instead of altering, subduing and destroying it. The research at El Pilar is based upon the premise that the ancient Maya worked WITH their tropical environment, as opposed to exploiting and transfiguring it, to create a flourishing civilization sustained by its natural environment or ecosystem. Exploring this concept could answer some age-old questions about what contributed to ancient Maya prosperity and, conversely, what may have contributed to its mysterious decline. By extension (and even more exciting), in this age of increasing global environmental awareness, El Pilar serves as a living museum and laboratory, drawing from what can be learned about ancient cultural practices to create a conservation model for the future of our own civilization.
The 2009 Field Season
How did the ancient Maya manage their landscape? Under the direction of Dr. Anabel Ford of the Mesoamerican Research Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the nonprofit organization, Exploring Solutions Past: The Maya Forest Alliance, the 2009 El Pilar field season will focus on testing a predictive model of ancient Maya land use through the lens of contemporary Maya forest gardeners. Understanding how these farmers use their land will help piece together the mosaic of land use in the past. Moreover, animals that survived the rise and fall of the Maya and are only threatened today by modern hunting practices must have formed a critical part of the Maya landscape, past and present. This season's work will integrate these diverse elements into one exciting field exploration. The core of the fieldwork will take place from May 1 to June 2009. Following is an outline of the many elements that will be studied during the season:
Activities:
-Floristic complexity of today: canopy levels
oIn the fields and orchards: polyculture, agroforestry, forest regeneration
oTraditional land management: soil maintenance, land cover, pest management
-Food chain of the forest garden: faunal distribution
oCorn is the canopy: browsers, small mammals, reptiles, birds, insects
oOrchard/forest as canopy: all the above, arboreal fauna, top predators
-Mapping Maya house sites and soil at El Pilar
oUrban El Pilar: high density and complex distribution of structures
oRural El Pilar: low density and simple distribution of structures
oTraditional farmer input: understanding the rural component
When we think of the ancient Maya civilization, the monumental centers of Tikal, Palenque, Chichen Itza, and Copan usually come to mind. These, however, are only a few of the countless ancient sites, many of which, though known to exist, still lie unexcavated and unexplored. Still others are yet undiscovered, and their number is still a mystery. The jungle shrouds their secrets. The archaeologists who uncover and investigate these sites have many years of work ahead them before a complete picture of the Maya civilization, and how it mysteriously and suddenly declined, emerges.
Blue Creek
A comparatively small site in northwestern Belize promises to add an important chapter to the story. It will help answer questions about how a medium-sized community of approximately 20,000 people managed to support an unusually wealthy class of residents and a large public precinct surrounded by numerous, well-defined residential structures and agricultural components. Known as Blue Creek, scientists at this site have uncovered a large number of exotic goods, unusual for a community of this size. It is thought that its strategic location, in combination with the techniques the ancient inhabitants employed in agricultural production, defined the foundation for its wealth.
The Project
Dr. Thomas Guderjan of the Maya Research Program is leading a team of archaeologists and other professional staff to find answers to the questions surrounding the site. In 2009, the team will be returning to continue excavations in an elite residential area of Blue Creek known as Rosita, and in the agricultural field systems surrounding the site, including two other nearby centers. They are calling for students and volunteers to join them for their 2009 season, which begins May 25 and runs through July 26.
The Field School
Participants will receive training in field and laboratory techniques as well as receive a "crash course" on the Maya and archaeological methodology. Accommodation is at the Blue Creek research station, which has 35 small residential cabanas, a 1500 square foot laboratory building, a main building with a dining hall, and men's and women's restrooms and showers. All meals, equipment and supplies are provided. There will be four two-week sessions. Participants are welcome to join any or all of them.A particularly noteworthy aspect of this opportunity involves the offering of 10 Welker Scholarships, funded by income from the Welker Endowment and a generous donation by Mr. Jack Thompson. The intent of the Scholarships is to encourage talented young undergraduate and graduate students to participate in the project and to pursue archaeology or related fields. Moreover, these students will be afforded greater responsibilities than other participants during the fieldwork.
Join the Team
For the student or enthusiast of Maya archaeology, the Blue Creek experience represents one of the best field school opportunities available for this region of the world. If you are interested in becoming a part of it, you can find out more by going to www.mayaresearchprogram.org or by emailing Dr. Guderjan at guderjan@gmail.com. The project staff has prepared an excellent, detailed Participant Guide that will tell you just about everything you would want to know as a Project student or volunteer. The Guide can be accessed at the website.
..........For Pharaoh King of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether............1 Kings 9:16-17
Aerial view of Tel Gezer
Among the major archaeological sites of Israel, the Tel that marks the site of ancient Gezer has already revealed much of itself to scholars. A series of excavations have shown that the 33-acre site was continuously occupied from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period. During the Iron Age, according to the Biblical account, it was one of three major cities fortified under King Solomon. This makes it a key site for research concerning questions within the context of the current archaeological and scholarly debates about the nature and chronology of the rise of the ancient Israelite State and Iron Age ceramic chronology. Dr. Steven Ortiz of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Sam Wolff of the Israel Antiguities Authority, along with a consortium of universities, are investigating important questions related to these issues through renewed excavations, focusing now on the Iron Age stratigraphy of the eastern slope of the western hill where previous excavations have revealed several occupational phases of the Iron Age city. They are inviting students and volunteers to join them in this undertaking during the summer of 2009. The dig season will run from June 15 to July 17. For those interested in acquiring academic credit, this project offers a Field School that is clearly among the best that can be offered for students of archaeology of the Levant.
Administrative buildings in Field A
THE FIELD SCHOOL
The Tel Gezer Excavation Project’s program contains three components:
Evening classroom lectures
Field School: practicum and lab; and
Weekend study-travel
Courses:
There are two courses (3 hours each). History, Archaeology, and Geography of Ancient Israel (BBHST 3423 Grad; BIB1203-A Undergrad) Archaeological Field Methods (ARCHE 4203 Grad; BIB3503-A Undergrad) (undergraduate credit will be offered through the College at Southwestern and graduate credit will be offered through Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary).
Each week there will be four evening lectures. The lectures will cover three areas of study: History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Geography of the Southern Levant, and Archaeological Method and Theory.
The archaeology practicum is the core of the academic program. Five days a week students will participate in field archaeology. They will learn field excavation methods and techniques, the field recording system, daily excavation strategy, removal and conservation of material culture, section drawing and survey techniques. Four days a week students will participate in an archaeological lab where they will process material culture: ceramics, osteological data, and botanical remains.
The study travel program involves four weekends of touring the country. The regions that will be covered are Jerusalem, Coastal Plain, Shephelah, Galilee, Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, Jezreel Valley, Dead Sea, Judean Wilderness, and the Negev. Key sites that will be visited are Caesarea, Megiddo, Sepphoris, Nazareth, Mt. of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Katzrin, Arad, Beersheva, Masada, Qumran, En Gedi, etc.
Storejar at pottery reading
Accommodations and Meals
Volunteers sleep in air-conditioned suites, four to a suite. Each suite is self-contained with its own bathroom, television, telephone. Clean linens and towels will be provided daily. Two breakfasts will be provided on the Tel and at base camp. Lunch and dinner meals will be prepared by the hotel and served in the hotel dining room. There is free wireless internet available in the hotel lobby.
Length of Stay/Room and Board/Costs
Volunteers are encouraged to join the project for the full five weeks of the excavation season. There are a limited number of spots available, and these will be reserved for those students who can participate for the full season. However, it is possible to arrange for a minimum two week stay upon approval by the project directors. The cost for the full five weeks is $1825. Additional costs include round trip airfare to Israel, tuition, and a $600 field trip fee.
Iron Age II juglet in Assyrian destruction layer
JOIN THE TEAM!
Learn, make new friends, and be a part of the adventure of discovery! Few archaeological digs in the Near Eastern region can offer this much to its participants. If you are interested, you can find detailed information about the project, including down-loadable educational/instructional documents, by going to www.gezerproject.org.
Exploring the Magnificent Ecclesiastical Palaces of Scotland
Almost any traveler to Europe can tell you about the incredible medieval architecture that dots its landscape. Scotland ranks among those countries with the finest examples of this period of history. Did you know that the Medieval bishops of Scotland were among the great nobles who spearheaded the construction of some of its finest cathedrals, churches, halls and castles? Their residential palaces were at the very least as impressive as the finest castles and manors of the Land. Through the Scottish Episcopal Palaces Project (SEPP) the University of Wales at Lampeter is investigating the development of bishops' palaces in Scotland up to the end of the episcopacy in the closing of the 17th century. The investigation of their residences will provide the basis for answering questions about the relationship between ecclesiastical and castellar architecture, and the physical and allegorical aspects of bishop's palaces in their landscape setting. In exploring the multi-functional roles of medieval bishops' palaces, SEPP investigates how the bishops conducted their pastoral and temporal work in a manner suited to their lordly status, taking into account their need for defense on spiritual as well as on physical levels.
Initially, SEPP has focused on the medieval dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray, where the project's research has identified fifteen possible episcopal sites. Detailed work has been conducted on two in particular: Kinneddar (diocese of Moray) and Fetternear (diocese of Aberdeen). In 2009, a team of students and volunteers, under the direction of Dr. Penny Dransart, will continue excavating the site of Fetternear. The site is important because it was the summer palace of the bishops of Aberdeen. It was associated with Bishop Cheyne at a time when Scotland was subjected to the invasion of English forces under Edward I. The palace was rebuilt in the 1330s by Alexander de Kininmund, a cleric associated with the Declaration of Arbroath (1320), which is Scotland's Declaration of Independence from England. The structure and surrounding area continued to undergo changes through time, making it a complex subject of study.
The Fetternear project team is inviting students and volunteers to join them this summer as they continue to uncover the architectural features and associated remains and artifacts of this informative site. It will provide the opportunity to not only excavate buried remains, but also to record and study the standing architecture. One of the project goals is to uncover more of the palace's surounding moat, which has some unusual features. This excavation opportunity offers another rather unique element -- the dig fee is............FREE. If you are interested in participating, find out more about it at www.lamp.ac.uk/archanth/staff/dransart/fetternear.htm and contact Dr. Penny Dransart at p.dransart@lamp.ac.uk.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Beyond Touring: Touring with a Purpose in Belize
These are not the average tours. They combine individualized or small group educational surveys of the most fascinating features of ancient Mayan sites with the chance to truly "give back" to the local host communities in a meaningful way. The tourists on these journeys "earn their keep", so to speak, and take away something special -- that great feeling that they have made a difference -- leaving the place they visit a little better than it was when they arrived. I am referring to that little-known company that designs affordable programs and itineraries for discriminating, service-oriented travelers who want to experience something beyond the beaten path. Known as "Beyond Touring", it provides specialized tours of selected archaeological sites in Belize in combination with the opportunity to become involved in community service programs for the associated current host populations.
Many of the tours focus on an examination of the impressive ancient ruins and artifacts of Lamanai, an ancient city that boasts over 3,000 years of human occupation. At one time it had a population of approximately 50,000, and archaeological investigators have found evidence of over 800 structures. Nestled within a tropical forest, one can also view a wide variety of birds and mammals here, including a large resident population of Black Howler monkeys. But the most important part of this experience entails a more hands-on activity: Coupled with the touring, participants have the opportunity to employ their time and talents on meaningful projects that assist the nearby Indian Church Village Library. The projects, focusing on such things as literacy development through after-school programs and Spring or Winter break literacy programs, are designed to benefit the residents and children who use the facility. Subjects and areas of concentration usually depend upon the needs of the community and the interests and skills of the tourist-participant. Moreover, the activities provide opportunities to get to know the local residents and culture in a much more intimate way, something that traditional tours cannot possibly match. Finally, as a parting gift for giving back, many of the tours end with a few days of relaxation at Belize's famous and beautiful barrier reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If you are interested in becoming a part of this unique travel experience, you can find out more by visiting the website atwww.beyondtouring.com.
Connecting the Past with the Present: The Mud Bay Archaeological Project
Photo by Larry Gill
It is nothing new to say that today's culture has its roots in the culture of the past. Everything we believe and do is influenced by an assemblage of ideas, values, traditions, knowledge, art and technology inherited from those who have gone before us. Part of the purpose of archaeological endeavor is to rediscover or recover and preserve the material vestiges of this cultural inheritance. But one archaeological project has embodied the essence of this through a fascinating cooperative effort between scientists dedicated to the study of a past people and those who represent today's living descendants of those people: Through the joint efforts of members of the Squaxin Island Tribe in the State of Washington and the Anthropology Department of the South Puget Sound Community College, an important site of an ancient culture on the shore of Mud Bay in south Puget Sound is meticulously being investigated and studied. For the field of anthropology, this project will serve as a unique example of how archaeological research can be informed through knowledge of a current culture.
At the site, the tribe provides cultural knowledge while college faculty members provide scientific expertise. The excavations are conducted as a field school for cultural anthropology and archaeology students, as well as tribal members. The site includes a 300-foot long shell midden that consists of a variety of stone and bone artifacts. Within the site area is evidence of a possible plank longhouse, a freshwater spring, a food-processing area, and an area of shell midden. A portion of the midden area is waterlogged and contains excellently preserved wood, fiber, and other materials. One of the early artifacts excavated in this area is a 60-square-foot section of gill net made of two-strand cedar bark string. Other excavated artifacts have included a carved harpoon shaft, basket fragments, fiber cordage, and wood chips dating 500 to 1000 years ago. Not far from the shell midden in the tidal flats of the bay are the remains of over 400 cedar posts from a wooden fishing weir recently Carbon-14 dated to 470 years ago.
Photo by Larry Gill
For the Squaxin Island Tribe, the site provides an important link to the tribe's centuries-old cultural history. For the scientific community, the cultural input provided by the Squaxin Island Tribe helps them gain a more complete picture of the past, including the tribe's oral history, tribal technologies and practices, and belief system. A prime example of this is when the participating tribal members were able to identify the gill net found at the site as intended for small species of salmon because of the size of the mesh openings and its similarity to nets in use today by tribal fisherpersons. This cultural component is rarely included in typical archaeological work.
Dr. Dale Croes of the Department of Anthropology, South Puget Sound Community College, Rhonda Foster, Director for Cultural Resources, and the Squaxin Island Tribe are inviting students to join them in this field school during the summer of 2009. Participants will gain invaluable training in full-scale archaeological excavation techniques, as well as laboratory experience, including conservation, analysis, replication, interpretation, photography and illustration of artifacts. Moreover, working as a team with the Squaxin Island Tribe, participants will also gain invaluable cultural training.
Photo by Larry Gill
Clearly, this field school will afford a one-of-a-kind experience for those fortunate enough to be a part of it. If you are interested in being a part of this unique opportunity, go to the website for more detailed information.
Archaeological Digs' Field School Pick of 2009: Investigating Paleoindian Sites in the Mountain West
2007 field crew, which included students from all over the country.
Combine beautiful scenery, the adventure of hiking and camping, cutting-edge research at Paleoindian sites dated thousands of years before the coming of 19th century settlers, and one of the most comprehensive archaeological field schools ever devised, and you have Archaeological Digs' Pick of 2009 for archaeological fieldwork experiences: The Utah State University 2009 Archaeology Field School, otherwise known as the "Rocky Mountain High" field school.
Two 2007 field school crew members beginning test excavations at an 8,000 year-old site in Gunnison County, Colorado.2009 field school participants will excavate a site of similar age in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho.
Open only to serious, matriculated students of archaeology, anthropology, and related fields, it has operated for nearly a decade, and it has become increasingly popular because students gain a broad range of experiences that most other field schools do not offer. In summer 2009 this will be truer than ever before.
The summer 2009 field school will encompass most of the summer. Rather than simply working in a 1X1 m excavation unit for a few weeks and then heading home, students will participate in every element of a robust archaeological research program, starting in the field, and concluding with artifact analysis and the write-up of results.
Participants will earn 8 credits: 5 for "archaeology field school" (Anth 5310) and 3 for "archaeology lab” (Anth 5310). These credits have always readily transferred to other universities and colleges, for students who join from institutions other than USU. To earn the credits, students will work four 10-day sessions in the field and two 10-day sessions in the archaeology lab on the USU campus.
Principal Investigator Bonnie Pitblado and field school participant Eric Giese record a site located during a field school survey in the Gunnison Basin, Colorado.This site is located at an elevation of about 10,000’ above sea level.
The first three 10-day sessions will be based in the Gunnison Basin of Southwest Colorado. There, with National Science Foundation support, students will learn to conduct archaeological surveys and will participate in a geoarchaeological project that involves recording prehistoric stone quarries. The P.I. (Principal Investigator, which equals Project Director)) and other project personnel are developing geochemical techniques to fingerprint quartzite (as we currently do obsidian), and students will help collect the samples needed to characterize the range of quartzite in the GunnisonBasin. In the process, students will learn to read geologic and topographic maps, work alongside geologists to reconstruct landscape formation processes, and learn and practice traditional survey and site recording techniques.
2007 field school students record a quartzite quarry site in the Gunnison Basin, Colorado.2009 field school participants will also record quarry sites—and take a lot of quartzite samples for later geochemical analysis.
The fourth 10-day session will again be field-based, but this time the team will move to a Paleoindian (11,000 - 8,000 year-old) site in southeastern Idaho, where Dr. Pitblado of USU recently began a new field program. This will expose students to excavation techniques, including mapping using a total station, keeping detailed records of finds, and so forth. The Idaho project area is located within an hour or so of the USU campus, but the excavation team will establish a base camp near the site for the session. Students will enjoy about a week off between the third session in Colorado and the Idaho field session, and it will fall over the 4th of July holiday.
The final two 10-day sessions will be lab-based, and will convene in the USU archaeology lab. Here, students will learn what most field school participants never do: how to process (curate) finds, analyze them, manipulate the data gathered, and write-up reports of field work. Students committed to careers in archaeology may opt to go one step further, presenting elements of the fieldwork at the fall 2009 Rocky Mountain Anthropological Conference, an experience that can bring the work full circle (and provide wonderful networking opportunities for job- and grad program-seekers). Conference participation is optional, and something students can decide to do or not do over the course of the summer's work.
2007 field school participants taking a break from recording a site located near an active hot spring north of Soda Springs, in southeastern Idaho.This area is part of the Yellowstone “hot spot,” hence the Yellowstone National Park-like travertine formation.
One of the great aspects of this program is that students may use their breaks to hike, go white-water rafting or kayaking, fish or explore the fascinating mountain towns of Crested Butte, Lake City, Ouray, Telluride, Silverton, and Durango; as well as to visit the great popular attractions of the American West, such as Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson, Wyoming.
This experiential learning activity will afford a valuable set of skills matched by few other field schools. If you are a current student and you are interested in this opportunity, you can find more detailed information about the field school and how to apply by going to www.usu.edu/anthro/intothefield.html.
Turkey has long been known for its wealth of archaeological treasures. Ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium, and others have all left some of the finest material examples of their culture and legacy within its present day borders. Here, the ancient remains of Homer's Troy were unearthed and explored, and ongoing excavations throughout the country continue to reveal more of what is left of the vast network of breathtakingly impressive, monumental settlements left behind after these great civilizations met their demise. No less fascinating is the mosaic of Turkey's own history and culture, making it a preferred travel destination for those with a more discriminating palate for escapes beyond the beaten tourist path.
Enter Peter Sommer Travels, an organization that specializes in unique, small-group educational itineraries that traverse both the land and coast of this anciently endowed country, taking participants on an historical and archaeological odyssey that in most cases crosses centuries of some of mankind's greatest architectural and artistic/cultural legacies. What makes many of these journeys particularly noteworthy, however, is the unusual mix of land and sea traveling, utilizing the traditional Turkish gulet, a two-masted wooden sailing vessel of a type that was originally indigenous to the south-west coast of Turkey. This blends a bit of adventure and romance with an intense educational experience -- a combination that is difficult to match by most other travel programs.
In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great
In 2009, Peter Sommer Travels will offer no less than 18 unique excursions, one of which could arguably be considered its flagship offering: Entitled "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", it is no doubt inspired by the agency founder's 2,000 mile personal trek across Turkey in 1994, retracing the steps of Alexander the Great. Perusing the itinerary of this trip alone draws one to conclude that it is no wonder that the National Geographic Society has tabbed it as one of the "100 best worldwide vacations to enrich your life". Go to the websiteand see for yourself.
For those of us who, for whatever reasons, prefer the specialized educational tour over the excavator's trowel and pick-ax, this alternative to the traditional tour vacation might be just the solution. For more information about these travel tours, go to www.petersommer.com. As the writer has often noted, reading history is interesting, but actually seeing it is an adventure that enriches your life.
Archaeological excavation is by nature a process of planned, systematic destruction, and although it carefully records the material context of what it uncovers, the space it touches is never the same. But we can attempt to do the best we can to place some things back in order based on what we have learned about a site. That is where restoration and preservation come in, involving the actual reconstruction of what the ravages of time and human hand have put asunder. At a site known as Tamar in the southern desert of Israel, a team of professionals and volunteers are doing just that -- resurrecting what remains of an ancient city that, at one time, bore great commercial significance for the ancient kingdoms that successively or cooperatively controlled the critical trade routes of the southern Levant.
The Site
Throughout antiquity, the lucrative Arabian spice trade was carried on the backs of camels, traveling thousands of miles across trackless desert to reach the major ports and cities of the Mediterranean. All along this long road, local kings and faraway emperors eagerly set up stopping points for the caravans, making sure that they too got their share of the goods and profits.
The ancient city of Tamar in southern Israel was one of these sites. Already by the tenth century B.C., Solomon had established Tamar as a fortified town to control the trade routes coming from Arabia. Subsequent kings of both Judah and Edom, including Josiah, occupied the site in order to oversee the passing caravan trade. The Edomites even maintained a cultic shrine at Tamar, as evidenced by several distinctive Edomite incense altars found in a pit at the site. By the latter half of the first millennium B.C., the great Nabatean merchants of Petra had also established a commercial outpost here, an outpost that was then occupied by the Romans in the second century A.D.
The Project
In 1984, Blossoming Rose volunteers went to the desert to help make it blossom. Then, in 1986, Blossoming Rose volunteers and Israeli archaeologists initiated the excavation at Tel Tamar, exploring the ruins of the tel’s Second Century Roman fortress. After their shovels and brushes confirmed a Roman presence on the tel, they dug deeper, uncovering gates and walls of Jewish design, Jewish pottery, and the seal of the ancient Southern Kingdom of Judea. Along with excavation, however, came reconstruction. In 2009, under the sponsorship of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Jewish National Fund, and Blossoming Rose, a team of experts and volunteers will continue the process of reconstructing Biblical Tamar, with the goal of not only restoring its ancient likeness, but to establish a center of learning and fellowship as well. They will welcome people of all ages and experience, not only to dig and restore but also to work in the kitchen, garden, do carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work. In addition to reconstruction and restoration, they want to plant trees and create a green belt around Tamar. Additionally, from February 23 to March 5, 2009, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Blossoming Rose will be sponsoring a seminar on archaeological reconstruction, conservation, and maintenance. Volunteer students who participate will receive 100 hours of classwork and fieldwork time which will be awarded by a certificate from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Do you want to be a part of literally reconstructing the past? If so, go to www.blossomingrose.org to find out more. It might open a whole new chapter of learning and experience in your life.
Most of us tend to think of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Classical period when we think of Mediterranean region archaeology, but the civilizations of these periods were built on the foundations of settlements that came before them. Who were the people who came before? What did they build? What did they eat? How, who or what did they worship? These are the kinds of questions that a team of archaeologists are trying to answer through excavation of a Late Neolithic settlement site in Cyprus known as Kalavasos-Kokkinoyia in the summer of 2009. They will explore surface features of a possible structure, man-made pits and subterranean chambers and tunnels. How and why were they made? What was their significance?
The Site
The site of Kalavasos-Kokkinoyia is situated close to the south coast of Cyprus, a couple of kilometers inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Its name arises from its location in fields belonging to the modern village of Kalavasos, the toponym Kokkinoyia referring to the red soil of the locality (Greek kokkinos=red). Kokkinoyia is a settlement of the Late Neolithic period (4500-3800 cal. B.C.), a period otherwise known as the Ceramic or Pottery Neolithic because it follows (with an hiatus) the Aceramic, Pre-pottery or Early Neolithic period (ca. 8000-5500 cal. B.C.) in Cyprus. The Cypriot Late Neolithic is also sometimes referred to as the Sotira culture, named after the first site of this period to be extensively excavated. The period is succeeded by the Early Chalcolithic period (3800-3500 cal. B.C), and ceramics and other aspects of material culture indicate a large measure of continuity between the two periods.
The site of Kokkinoyia was first discovered in the 1940s by Porphyrios Dikaios of the Cypriot Department of Antiquities, and in 1947 he excavated both here and at the adjacent Late-Neolithic-Chalcolithic site of Kalavasos-Pamboules. Dikaios established that Kokkinoyia comprises a series of enigmatic pits, many of which he felt had been used as work areas or habitation units. More recent excavations elsewhere have shown that Cypriot Late Neolithic sites normally have upstanding buildings, so Kokkinoyia appeared an interesting anomaly as it lacked buildings.
Work has resumed at Kokkinoyia over the past four years, with several small seasons of excavation having been conducted by the University of East Anglia. So far, the 15 or so newly excavated pits do not give the impression of having served as habitations or workplaces, calling into question the interpretation of the previous excavator. Indeed, the discovery in the 2006 season of a possible structure (building?) of a type similar to that found at the Early Chalcolithic site of Kissonerga-Mylouthkia, may indicate that Kalavasos-Kokkinoyia is transitional between the end of the Late Neolithic period and the Early Chalcolithic period. Even so, as pottery and other items from the Kokkinoyia pits share similarities in form and decoration with those from Late Neolithic villages, it is, as yet unclear, what type of site Kokkinoyia actually is and this is one of the questions that the expedition would like to address in the 2009 season.
In addition to the more conventional pits and the possible structure, a complex of several subterranean chambers, connected by tunnels, has come to light at Kokkinoyia and is of unknown purpose. Because it is hard to imagine how the complex could be put to practical use, the reason for its creation may lie in the realm of the mystical. Inexplicable souterrains of similar type are known from other broadly contemporary sites on the island.
The Upcoming Season
In 2009, the expedition plans a four-week season in April, when they will extend excavations between two distinct zones (the possible building and individual chambers in one zone and the chamber and tunnel complex in another).
The project is conducted under the overall direction of Dr Joanne Clarke of the University of East Anglia, a lecturer in archaeology and a specialist in Cypriot prehistory, and the field director, Dr Paul Croft, a research fellow of Edinburgh University (Archaeology) They are calling on students and volunteers to join them in this cutting-edge research. Participants will be expected to undertake not only on-site excavation work, but also finds processing as required. It is envisaged that each week will consist of five and a half working days and one and a half non-work days, the latter involving some combination of travel to sites, museums and other places of interest, as well as free time.
Are you interested in doing some meaningful work in actually reconstructing a piece of human history? If so, you can join this project by going to www.uea.ac.uk/art/kalavasos for more information about the 2009 season and how to apply.
The relatively small area of this little city detracts nothing from the impressive architectural remains one beholds as the casual observer traverses its ancient streets. "Monumental" is the best word that comes to mind when describing this fortified Hellenistic-Roman style space and its commanding view of the surrounding countryside.
Known as the ancient city of Hippos-Sussita, it is located on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee, on top of a flat, diamond shaped mountain, 350 m above the lake. Sussita, or as it was known by its Greek name, Antiochia-Hippos, was founded after 200 BC, when the Seleucids seized the Land of Israel from the Ptolemies. During the Roman Period Hippos belonged to the Decapolis, a group of ten cities which were regarded as centers of Greek culture in an area predominantly populated by Semitic peoples such as Jews, Aramaeans, Ituraeans, and Nabataeans.The cities of the Decapolis had much in common. Most were founded during the Hellenistic period and were given the encouragement and support of the Seleucid kings, who saw them as a counterweight to the kingdoms that lay to the west (the Hasmonaean Kingdom of Judaea) and to the east (the Nabataean kingdom). Most of the population in the cities was Hellenised and the citizens saw themselves as citizens of a polis in every respect.
The Project
The research of Hippos-Sussita is an international Israeli-Polish-American project collaboration co-directed by: Professor Arthur Segal from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa; Professor Jolanta Mlynarczyk from the Research Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology, Polish Academy of Sciences; Dr. Mariusz Burdajewicz of the National Museum, Warsaw; Professor Mark Schuler from Concordia University, St Paul, USA; and Mr. Michael Eisenberg, a PhD candidate from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology who serves as Professor's Segal assistant.The objective of the expedition is to uncover the entire ancient city, the street network, the main public secular and religious buildings, as well as the domestic quarters. The expedition also hopes to survey and excavate the two necropoleis located to the south and south-east of the city. The relationship between the city and the surrounding countryside will also be examined in future seasons, especially the area stretching between the city and the lake. Further, they plan to conduct a detailed survey of the lake's shore to establish the exact location of Hippos' port.
The 2009 Goals
During the summer of 2009 (July 5 --July 30), the team plans to:
Continue the excavation of the Roman Monumental Arch area, east of the Hellenistic Compound;
Reveal more of the Roman Monumental Building west of the Forum;
Complete the documentation and preservation of the North West Church;
Complete the excavation and preservation of the North East Church;
Complete the excavation of the insula located between the North East Church and the Decumanus Maximus;
Continue the excavation of the Roman Byzantine Bath located between the Forum and the southern city wall; and
Continue the preservation treatment in all the sites exposed so far
The project directors are inviting students and volunteers from all over the world to come join them in this exciting long-term expedition. If you are interested, go to http://hippos.haifa.ac.il for more detailed information and to find out how to apply.
When most of us think about archaeology, we imagine digging on dry land through layers of soil and stone under a variety of weather conditions. But much of our history can be learned by exploring what humanity has left beneath the surface of oceans and lakes. A wealth of information still lies waiting to be recovered underwater.
In 2009, the Ecomuseum of the CapeCavalleria will be exploring the Roman port of Sanitja and the coast of the Cape of Cavalleria, identifying structures of the Roman city of Sanisera (a part of present-day Spain) as well as shipwrecks. The port of Sanitja was not only occupied by the Romans. There are also ruins on land of a Muslim mosque and English defense tower which suggests that underwater evidence from these periods will be found, as well.
The course is designed to provide practical experience in underwater archaeological field work, from site discovery to lab analysis. Participants will gain experience in various activities such as surveying methods, site reconnaissance, recording, drawing, mapping, position fixing, photography, and laboratory processing. Students will also attend lectures on Roman archaeology. The course runs six hours a day, six days a week. The day will be divided between diving in the port of Sanijta, lab work, exercises, lectures, videos and excursions. The course schedule is designed to be flexible because this program is dependent on weather and conditions at sea.
In addition to daily research activities, participants will learn about the history and culture of Menorca through organized excursions. The course is taught in English and Spanish.
Participants will be able to choose between Group 1: No open water diving certificate, or Group 2: Possession of an open water diving certificate from an internationally recognized organization.
This is a perfect opportunity for those interested in developing a career in underwater archaeology, or for those simply interested in a unique educational adventure that can be found through relatively few other venues. Find out more about the project and how to join by going towww.ecomuseodecavalleria.com.
Up Close and Personal: Uncovering the Necropolis of Ancient Sanisera
Are you interested in excavating ancient human remains? Understanding our past is not complete without a direct examination of the actual people who created it. Here is a chance to literally meet some romans up close and personal.
In 2009, a research team of scientists and student volunteers will be excavating a cluster of Roman tombs belonging to a cemetery located on the outskirts of the Roman city of Sanisera that was occupied from 123 B.C. to A.D. 550. The excavation is directed by Fernando Contreras, director of the Ecomuseum of the Cape of Cavalleria, and Thaïs Fadrique with the collaboration of specialists in physical anthropology and conservation.
The course runs seven hours a day which is divided between excavation of the tombs and laboratory work; studying and conservation of the human remains and other materials recovered during the excavation (The amount of time dedicated to lab work may vary each session depending on the state of the tombs excavated). Students will also participate in lectures, classes, exercises and excursion.
Participants will learn and apply excavation techniques used in physical anthropology when excavating tombs. In the laboratory, participants will follow guidelines set by an anthropologist and other specialists for the classification, study, and conservation of human remains and other related material found. Participants will also be given lectures on methodology, roman archaeology, physical anthropology, and conservation of archaeological materials. Participants will visit other archaeological sites on the island through organized excursions. Academic courses will be offered in both English and Spanish.
If you're interested in joining the team, go to www.ecomuseodecavalleria.com to find out more.You may be surprised about how much can be learned about ancient lives by just studying their bones and how they were buried!
Investigating a Roman City in the Balearic Islands
As early as 123 B.C., the Roman army had reached and conquered Menorca of the Balearic Mediterranean islands. Now a part of Spain, Menorca became at that time a part of the vast Roman empire. It was ruled by Rome for at least 600 years. On one of those islands, they had established three cities, one of which is known today as Sanisera. Built around the port of Sanitja, it flourished as a commercial maritime center, receiving ships traveling from present-day Spain to Italy and from present-day France to Africa. The impressiveness of Sanisera can be appreciated in the present by the quantity and quality of the amphoras and other roman artifacts that have been found in recent excavations. Sanisera is situated in a spectacular natural reserve next to the Ecomuseum of the Cape of Cavalleria, which, along with the Sanitja Association, is sponsoring archaeological excavations at the ancient site.
Under the direction of Directors Fernando Contreras and Regine Muller, a team of archaeologists, students and volunteers with be conducting systematic excavation and research at the site from May 12 to Octobe 21, 2009 to uncover more of what made this city such an important Roman settlement and center of maritime activity. Students will learn and gain experience in excavation using the Harris Matrix. Various instruments and tools will be used to record stratigraphy and document the plans and photographs of the excavation. In the museum laboratory, students will study excavated material and learn basic techniques of artifact recording, focusing on Roman pottery. In addition to the daily excavation and laboratory work, students will also participate in conferences on methodology and Roman archaeology, and will visit other museums and archaeological sites on the island. Academic courses will be offered in both English and Spanish.
If you are interested in expanding your mind and learning some first-hand field archaeology in a Mediterranean setting in 2009, you are invited to join the team by going to the website at www.ecomuseodecavalleria.com to learn more about the project and the application procedures. Who knows? This could be a life-changing experience!
Located on a mountain top on the northern coast of Portugal lies what remains of the ancient Roman city of Talabriga, surrounded by two rivers and shrouded by a forest of eucalyptus. It sits above the prehistoric remains of an indigenous village from the Iron Age, and was founded in 138 B.C. by Decimus Junius Brutus, consul of Hispania Ulterior, who led a great military campaign aimed to control the territories of current day Portugal. Talabriga became the capital city of its region.
In the Spring of 2009, Directors Tatiana Valente, Fernando Contreras Rodrigo and Regina Muller will be conducting a field school that will explore this fascinating settlement and offer an intensive hands-on learning experience in the principles and techniques of archaeological field research. It includes an introduction to basic aspects of field excavation techniques, which are applied during the excavation time. In the laboratory, students will classify and study excavated material. Participants will also attend lectures on Roman archaeology. In addition to the daily excavation and laboratory work, students will further learn about the history of indigenous settlements in Portugal during lectures and organized excursions. The course includes 7 hours of class per day, distributed in 4.5 hours of excavation and 2.5 hours of lab work, exercises, lectures and excursions. There will be one excursion day and one free day per session. Courses will be offered in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Does this sound like something right down your archaeological alley? If so, go to the website at www.ecomuseodecavalleria.com and find out more about the project and how to apply. But be careful.......once you've been on the dig, you'll want to go back for more!
About 30 kilometers directly south of Haifa, Israel, lies a very large tel (an earth mound containing ancient architectural and artifact remains) that tells a story crossing at least eight civilizations. The story is largely a commercial one, as the ancient seaport city of Dor on the Mediterranean coast of present day Israel was host to the trading activities of a number of civilizations or cultures that ringed the Mediterranean world in ancient times. Once a Canaanite city, its history spans settlement or rule by "Sea Peoples", Phoenicians, the Solomonic monarchy, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Finally, in the thirteenth century A.D., a Crusader castle was built on the site. Few sites of the ancient world can boast a settlement history more varied and complex than this.
The 2009 Excavation Season
From July 6 to August 12, the University of Washington (UW) Tel Dor Archaeological Program will resume its field school excavation at Dor under the direction of Professor Sarah Culpepper Stroup. The majority of the participants will be excavating the Hellenistic and late Persian strata under the leadership and instruction of Professor Stroup and associated staff. The area consists of a fascinating complex of industrial buildings. Discoveries from the 2007 season included four large Roman-period tabuns (round local ovens), each of differing construction, several drains and basins, hallways,thresholds, and massive amounts of Roman-period pottery. In the 2008 season, the team excavated through the Roman strata and uncovered the tops of beautifully constructed Hellenistic period walls. Also uncovered were large amounts of fine Hellenistic mold-made ("Megarian") pottery, a few fine pieces of Hellenistic glass, an assortment of bronze tools and weapons, and a somewhat puzzling ashlar installation that instantly gained the affectionate nickname "the crypt". The 2009 season promises to be an exciting one as the expedition returns to more fully explore the Hellenistic strata. Other participants will have the opportunity to excavate in an area with earlier strata -- under the leadership and instruction of Talia Goldman and Yftah Shalev, Israeli graduate students who are also experienced archaeologists and teachers with a long history at Dor. Due to its situation on the south slope of the Tel, this area is stratigraphically rich, with upper levels in the Persian Period and lower levels approaching the Bronze Age. Past discoveries have included -- in the Persian strata -- three dog burials, a street front, a puzzling triple-layer hemicircle of long bones and amphora handles and -- in the Iron Age strata -- a complex of mud-brick rooms and nearly complete vessels filled with lentils and grain. Always an interesting area, its location also boasts the best views of the bay!
The Field School
One of the hallmarks of the Tel Dor Archaeological Program is its rich and intensive course of study, consisting of three major components:
1. Field Work Students will learn about the past as they unearth it. All students registered in the Field School receive daily instruction and participate each day in the archaeological excavations at Tel Dor. Field excavation is supervised by an experienced team of international archaeologists from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Haifa, the University of Washington in Seattle, and other institutions, and includes training in excavation techniques, stratigraphy, artifact analysis, and transit elevations.
2. Museum Work Students will learn what happens to an artifact after it has been excavated. They will receive instruction in various aspects of museology, including cataloguing systems, pottery typology, dating methods, and conservation techniques.
3. Evening Lectures Students will learn the concepts behind the archaeology. They will attend four evening lectures per week on such diverse topics as the history of Tel Dor, the histories of the civilizations who occupied it, past excavations, day-plans and day-book methods, the ‘digitization’ of modern archaeology, three-dimensional imaging of artifacts, architectural drafting, and a great deal more.
Those who successfully complete the course requirements of the Field School will receive 12 credits (either graded or C/NC) from the University of Washington in either Classics (CLAS) 399, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) 399, or Archaeology (ARCH) 270. These credits can be counted toward a major in these programs.
Join Us
Don't just read about history. Help make a difference -- feel it, discover it, and make it a part of you. You can learn more about the project and the application procedure by going to the website at http://depts.washington.edu/teldor or, alternatively, at http://dor.huji.ac.il.
Contact Information:
Professor Sarah C. Stroup scstroup@u.washington.edu
Did the Minoans walk the ancient land of Canaan? No one can say with certainty, but new evidence is emerging that further supports the possibility. Directors Eric Cline of the George Washington University and Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of California, Santa Cruz, will be leading an excavation this summer that will shed new light on this, and many other questions about the ancient inhabitants who once occupied the site of Tel Kabri.
Located in the western Galilee region of modern Israel, Tel Kabri was the center of a Canaanite polity during the Middle Bronze Age.Excavations conducted by Aharon Kempinski and Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier from 1986-1993 revealed the remains of a palace dating to the Middle Bronze period (ca. 2000-1550 BCE). Tel Kabri has now been revealed to be a large site (more than 200,000 sq. m.) with a continuum of strata from the Neolithic Period to the Iron Age. Most significant are the Middle Bronze Age remains, which include massive fortifications (Area C), residential architecture and tombs (Areas B and C), and a large palace (Area D), as well as an Iron Age fortress with imported Greek pottery and additional evidence for the presence of Greek mercenary soldiers which was partially excavated at the highest part of the Tel (Area E).
A rare discovery was made within the palace at Tel Kabri: a floor and walls decorated with paintings done in Aegean style.The painted floor was found within a ceremonial room and was decorated with floral and marbled motifs. The approximately 2,000 fragments from one or more wall frescoes included boats, griffin wings, and houses that bore much resemblance to the miniature frescoes found on the Greek island of Santorini. Kabri is one of only four sites in the Eastern Mediterranean to have such Bronze Age Aegean-style paintings and may well be the earliest. Such evidence for artistic connections between the Aegean culture of ancient Crete and the Cyclades with the Canaanites and other inhabitants of the ancient Near East is unique in Israel. It is also very rare elsewhere, existing outside the Aegean only in Egypt at Tel el-Dab’a, the capitol of the Hyksos, and at the sites of Alalakh and Qatna in Syria.
Ancient Frescoes from Tel Kabri
The 2009 Season
The 2009 season will focus on continued excavation of the palace, with the goal of investigating its life cycle, from its humble beginnings to its destruction three centuries later.
In Area D-West, the team plans to re-initiate the excavation of the core of the MB II palace primarily within Room 1433a. It was this room that, along with Room 740, Kempinski and Niemeier thought might have served as a throne room, but it was left unexcavated by them. In addition, since we now know that the Aegean-style miniature frescoes were found only in secondary contexts at Kabri, i.e. used as filling material for the thresholds of the Middle Bronze Age building in its final phase, the will attempt to excavate the threshold fillings at the entrances to certain rooms, all of which were renovated during the latest use of the building and are thus prime candidates for the presence of additional fragments of Aegean-style paintings.
In Area D-North, they will continue to excavate and expose the plaster floors of the Middle Bronze Age palace, seeking to determine whether any of them were painted in an Aegean style.
In Area D-South, excavation will continue down to the floors and then below the courtyard area of the palace, in order to determine whether it was preceded by an earlier court or by different structures. During 2005 excavations in this area, they also encountered the corner of an additional, and monumental, Middle Bronze construction which is very likely a Syrian-style entrance complex. They plan to further expose this complex.
Directors Cline and Yasur-Landau are now calling for students and volunteers to help continue the discovery process this summer. If you are interested in being a part of this cutting edge research, go to digkabri.wordpress.com for more information. It may well be an experience you will never forget.
Saving Rome: The Ville delle Vignacce Summer Archaeology Field School
Can You See Yourself Saving Rome?
By "saving" one means uncovering and preserving its ancient remains, of course. Project Director Dr. Darius A. Arya and Co-Director Dr. Dora Cirone of the American Institute for RomanCultureSummerArchaeologyFieldSchool will be conducting a seven week intensive learning opportunity in Roman archaeology. The program is held from June 15, 2009 through August 02, 2009and offers students a unique combination of on-site field work and specialized academic instruction by expert archaeologists and institute professors. As the program centers in Rome, there will also be visits to major Roman museums and open-air sites to augment field studies and to provide participants with a broader context of what life was like in Ancient Rome.
Participants will be given the opportunity to develop their archaeological techniques at the ongoing excavation and preservation of an important Roman site, the Villa of the Vignacce.In its fourth season of exploration, students will work with professionally trained archaeologists to explore and preserve an important second century AD villa located within Rome’s famed Park of the Aqueducts.
This summer dig programming will continue to focus on the comprehensive analysis of Ville delle Vignacce’s imperial bath complex, while working to examine and preserve the caldarium, latrine and an apodyterium with marble veneer and glass paste mosaics in the vaulting previously discovered during the first three seasons.The Ville delle Vignacce is proving to be one of the city’s most exciting new excavations and has recently garnered international press attention as one of Ancient Rome’s “At Risk” archaeological sites, threatened as the result of previous neglect and vandalism.
Participants will also explore both the urban development and the material culture of Rome from the 1st- 6th century A.D., investigating in detail many diverse aspects of Ancient Roman civilization. Through the examination of material evidence, so abundant in Lazio, program participants will have ample opportunity to learn from archaeological evidence as well as the many historical monuments and world heritage sites located in the area.
This season’s summer program aims to supply participants with both a chronological and diachronic approach to the study of Roman civilization. Through this dual approach those involved in the program will gain a more comprehensive historical and cultural overview of Roman civilization from its rise to power in this rich Mediterranean area, understanding how this civilization set a standard of cultural values that have had long lasting influence over the entire Western world to this day.
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All prospective student participants and volunteers are encouraged to go to the website for additional information about the opportunity and how to apply. Saving Rome couldn't be more fun and exciting!
Anyone following major archaeological discoveries in Israel will recall the pottery shard whereon was found five lines of what may be the oldest Hebrew script ever discovered. The find was uncovered at a hitherto unknown archaeological site known as Khirbet Qeiyafa. Despite its mystery, it is emerging as one of the most important archaeological excavations in Israel, revealing an ancient city that may tell a new story about life during the times of ancient Israel's best known kings. Add to this its massive fortifications and its strategic location between Jerusalem and ancient Israel's coastal plain on the main road from ancient Philistia, and we have a site that promises to add much to our understanding of Iron Age Judah. It is in this area that the famous battle between David and Goliath may have taken place.
During previous excavations, an early Iron Age II stratum was uncovered, including a massive casemate wall and two residential buildings. Radiometric dating places this stratum in the years 1,000 - 975 B.C., the time of King David. This makes it the only site in Judah that can be securely dated to the time of King David.
The 2009 Season will focus on the site's fortifications, exposing the full plan of the gate to determine how the entrance to the city was organized. In addition, a number of casemate wall sections are planned to be excavated to the north and south of the gate.
Students and volunteers will have the opportunity to participate and help make a difference in this effort to answer important questions about this significant location. If you are interested in joining the team this summer, go to qeiyafa.huji.ac.ilto learn more about how to apply............At $300 a week, few can argue its affordability.
Do you wish to tour a fascinating archaeological site but you're short of time and cash? Here is a viable option developed by Nicolae Roddy and Ronald Simkins of Creighton University: the Virtual World Project. This is a web-based teaching and study tool that presents interactive virtual reality tours of the ancient world. Updated continuously, it is an ongoing project with a primary focus on the Levant. To date, many sites in Israel and Jordan have been extensively photographed and graphically represented to allow the visitor to "walk" through the sites, many of which offer an audio component, as well. Check it out, and happy touring!
