EXCAVATIONS 2013Dates: July Duration: 4 weeks Periods: Iron Age, Roman The Vaccean (Celtic-Iron Age) culture settled in Pintia in the 5th century BC, later conquered by the Romans. Over the past decade, excavations of the necropolis, which was used between the 4th century BC and the 1st century, have uncovered more than 300 cremation burials. The burials have provided information and artifacts relating to the settlement's social structure and the culture's warrior class. This summer we will continue excavating the necropolis. |
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Season: September Duration: 2 weeks Period: Roman Monte Testaccio is an artificial hill inside the walls of Rome, formed exclusively by the fragments of discarded amphorae - many of which still bear the markings of the contents and the exporters who transported them - that arrived in Rome during the 1st to 3rd centuries. Once an ancient pottery dump, Monte Testaccio is now one of the world's largest archives of Roman commerce. We will be cleaning, processing and restoring the shards as they join our database that tracks the goods that entered Roman ports. Just south of the city center on the far side of the Aventine Hill, Testaccio is walking distance from some of Rome's most famous monuments. |
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HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM AT POLLENTIA FORUM
Season: July Duration: 1 month Periods: Roman, Medieval Our High School team will join the excavation of the Roman Forum of Pollentia, a settlement in northern Mallorca which was founded by the Romans in 123 BC. The ruins of the city are the best preserved Roman remains on the island and they have become an important reference for the study of Roman culture in the Mediterranean. This program is open to students ages 16 and 17. |
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HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM AT VISIGOTHIC RECÓPOLIS
Season: July, August Duration: 4 and 3 week sessions Period: Visigoth The High School crew will join our field-school at the 6th century Visigothic city of Recópolis in central Spain. The city is the only known Visigothic settlement built from scratch. Students will be taught excavation methods in the morning and learn research techniques in the afternoon. It is open to students ages 16 and 17. |
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Season: May/June Duration: 1 month Period: Byzantine Participants will join the restoration/excavation project at the paleo-Christian and Byzantine settlement of Son Peretó, one of the most westernly outposts of the Byzantine Empire and dating to the 6th century. Archaeologists have already uncovered a church basilica and a baptistry with two baptismal basins. The ongoing investigation of this site is providing answers to how the islands developed concerning early Christianity after the fall of the western Roman empire. |
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PREHISTORIC NECROPOLIS OF SON REAL
Season: July Duration: 1 month Period: Talaiotic The Son Real cemetery sits just meters from the Mediterrean Sea within a complex of the circular stone structures built by the Talaiotic culture, the indigenous, pre-Roman Balearic people who lived around 850-500 BC. Archaeologists have already uncovered a huge area of small, circular structures containing graves of what scholars consider the local aristocracy. They also discovered a secondary phase of smaller graves and a site around 200 meters away that was used as a sanctuary. |
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Season: CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING Duration: 1 month Period: Roman One of Spain's most fascinating Roman cities, Clunia was an administrative and religious capital in northern Hispania during the 1st and 2nd centuries. So far archaeologists have uncovered the Forum, several large houses with mosaics, the basilica and two bath complexes. We will be excavating the city's 9,000-seat theater, the largest in Iberia. Over the past decade our crews have shed new light on the construction and usage of the theater, which was converted into an arena for bloodsport. |
