Run-up to a new campaign: Gabii pre-season 2012

Returning to Gabii, now for the sixth consecutive year of fieldwork, is always a study in contrasts. Many of us rush to Italy from university classrooms and campuses, fresh off the frantic business of ending an academic term. Arriving at Gabii, things are mostly peaceful. The vegetation has grown high, the poppies bloom, the lizards, porcupines, and harvester ants rule the site. But, a few days of hard work and the archaeological site springs back to life (and action) … but the lizards still stand their ground, reminding us who really owns the place. Thus it has been this season. The pre-season has been busy, from the expansion of our pre-existing area D and the westward expansion of the overall excavation area to create Area F, the staff has been busy preparing the site for the arrival of the full team in Rome.

This season’s goals include continued investigation of a domestic compound in Area D and the exploration of the newly defined Area F that represents part of yet another city block of the urban layout. The team has high hopes for both of these areas and we are especially interested to see the relationship between our excavation area and portions of the city excavated by the Soprintendenza in Rome a decade ago.

Joining us on-site will be over 40 student volunteers who hail from a host of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. They will participate in all aspects of our fieldwork, including finds analysis, environmental processing, zooarchaeological analysis, and digital modeling and topography.

We are looking forward to an excellent season. Watch this blog space for more updates as the season progresses and also watch our student blog for the diggers’ points of view.

 

Gabii Project at ASMOSIA X

Jason Farr (Ph.D. candidate, IPCAA, University of Michigan), will present a paper on his ongoing research into the local tufo at Gabii - lapis Gabinus - and its exploitation by means of quarrying in the late republican and early imperial periods. Farr's dissertation research seeks not only to better understand this tufo type, but also to explore connections between the Gabine quarries and the construction industry in Rome and Latium. Farr's paper, "Lapis Gabinus: new evidence for quarrying at Gabii", will be presented in Rome at the ASMOSIA X (Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones In Antiquity), conference. This international conference takes place in Rome, from 21 to 26 May 2012, and is hosted by the Università di Roma 'La Sapienza'. Farr's talk is scheduled to for 09.00am on 23 May in the session entitled "THEMATIC SESSION III: Provenance identification II: (other stones)". The conference website is here.

Terrenato to present AIA lecture in Winnipeg, Manitoba

On February 12, 2012, Nicola Terrenato will present a lecture entitled, "The Gabii Project Excavation in Central Italy: The Mystery of the ‘Lead Burrito’" for the local society of the Archaeological Institute of America in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. At the center of the talk is an unusual lead sarcophagus excavated at Gabii in July 2009. 

The abstract of Terrenato's talk is here.

The event will be held at 3.00pm at the University of Manitoba 
University College 237, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

For information on the society, the lecture, or other questions about this event, contact the Winnipeg society of the AIA.

Gabii Project at the Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome

On July 8, 2011, at 18.00, the occasion of the presentation of the new volume Regional Pathways to Complexity: Settlement and Land-Use Dynamics in Early Italy from the Bronze Age to the Republican Period by Peter Attema, Gert-Jan Burgers, and Martijn van Leusen (Amsterdam, 2011) will provide the occasion for a presentation by Nicola Terrenato on the recent work of the Gabii Project under the title "The Gabii Project: Recent discoveries and perspectives".

The event is open to the public.

Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome

Via Omero 10/12

00197 Rome, Italy

For more information, contact the Gabii Project (gabii.project (at) gmail (dot) com). For information on the venue or directions, please contact the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome <archeo@knir.it>.

Nowlin presents at "Death, Decay, and Discovery"

J. Nowlin

Jessica Nowlin, Ph.D. student in the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University and a member of the Gabii Project's topography team, will present a paper as part of the upcoming symposium "Death, Decay, and Discovery: An interdisciplinary workshop on taphonomic approaches to understanding burial practice" on April 9, 2011. The workshop, organized by Brown University post-doctoral fellow Allison Davis, brings together mortuary archaeologists and taphonomists to discuss the utility of these approaches in answering larger archaeological questions. Nowlin's paper, "More than Pretty Pictures: The Use of Three-Dimensional Modeling in the Documentation of Funerary Remains" concentrates on the use of digital photogrammetry at Gabii for modeling funerary contexts. In 2009 Nowlin's work on digital models of sensitive  sub-Geometric elite tombs at Gabii has resulted, in part, in the forthcoming publication of said tombs in J.A. Becker and J. Nowlin. 2011. "Orientalizing Infant Burials from Gabii, Italy." BABESCH 86:9-21. 

Gabii Project: 2010 field program

The Gabii Project announces its 2010 field program!

The Gabii Project will again offer a field program for students and volunteers in 2010; the program will run from June 20 until July 31, 2010.  Applications will be accepted online via the project's website and the deadline for applying to the program is January 31, 2010; all qualified students are eligible to apply, not just those associated with the University of Michigan. Notifications of acceptance will be made by March 1, 2010, and accepted volunteers must submit their payment in full by March 25, 2010, in order to secure their spot.  The cost for the 6-week program, inclusive of room and board, insurance, equipment, and local transportation, will be $4,500 (USD).  Academic credit is not offered for participation in the field program.  The information below outlines some of the basic details of the field program; more complete information can be found on the project website.

• Accommodation:
• The Hotel Villa Mercede in Frascati, Italy, will serve as the Gabii Project's base of operations.  The team will be accommodated there and will take their meals during the week at the Balubino restaurant, while lunches will be provided on-site.
• Volunteers will be accommodated in shared rooms (2 to 4 people per room) with a private bathroom.
• Convenient local train service links Frascati to downtown Rome and regional buses provide other transportation options.
• Work on-site:
• Volunteers will work on site 7:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday.  Applicants should note that this is a labor-intensive program and be aware that working in the hot sun is to be expected.  Applicants must be in good health, have passed a recent physical examination, and provide up-to-date records of current inoculations.
• Volunteers will work in small team supervised by experienced excavators.  Additionally, the field program will expose participants to all facets of fieldwork, including working with ceramics and other archaeological materials, environmental sampling, flotation, topography, conservation, and documentation.
• Regular site tours will help keep all team members up to speed on the progress of excavation work.
• Instruction:
• The above-mentioned rotation on-site will be accompanied by various instructional opportunities from 'hands on' instruction in excavation technique to small group instruction on archaeological materials and topography.
• The 2010 field program will include a lecture series (averaging 1 lecture per week) on topics related to the methodology field archaeology and to the archaeology of Central Italy.
• Several weekend outings will be arranged where guided tours will be offered.  In 2009 weekend trips included the Forum Romanum and Palatine Hill as well as Ostia Antica.
• Atmosphere and Experience:
• The Gabii Project is a large team (75-80 people) effort.  Teamwork is the key to our success, but the working conditions can be intense.  The successful applicant will be ready to work as part of a large team and welcome the opportunity to work and learn cooperatively.
• The combined experience of the Gabii Project’s multi-national staff offers volunteers the opportunities to learn and practice some of the latest and most cutting edge techniques of field archaeology.

For more information, please contact Prof. Jeffrey Becker, the Managing Director (gabiiproject (@) umich.edu)

Gabii Project: 2010 staff recruitment

The Gabii Project is Seeking Supervisors and staff members for the 2010 field season

The Gabii Project is an international archaeological initiative focused on the excavation of the ancient Latin city of Gabii located 18 km east of Rome, Italy.  After two seasons of survey and study, a 5-year campaign of excavations began in June 2009 under the direction of Professor Nicola Terrenato of the University of Michigan.  The dates of the season for staff members are June 13 through August 7, 2010; staff members must be available for the duration of the excavation season.


We are seeking experienced excavation staff members to serve as trench supervisors and assistant trench supervisors; we are also seeking specialist staff for the field laboratory, including those with experience in illustration and conservation.  The ideal candidate will have completed a field school program and have at least one prior season of fieldwork experience.  Experience with stratigraphic excavation, Harris matrices, and GIS applications is a plus; while not a requirement, the ability to communicate in Italian would also be advantageous. 


In some cases the project will be able to subsidize the cost of room and board for staff members and, in exceptional cases, may be able to subsidize travel costs for certain staff members. Necessary equipment and daily transportation to and from the site will be provided for excavation staff.


Staff members must be in good health, have passed a recent physical examination, and submit documentation of current and up-to-date inoculations.  Staff members must also be committed to working as part of a large team and providing leadership and guidance for students in the field. Staff members must also have a current passport, valid until at least October 2010, allowing for entry into Italy.


If you are interested in submitting an application for a staff position with the Gabii Project, please send a cover letter, current curriculum vitae, and a letter of reference from someone familiar with your fieldwork experience and credentials to:


Prof. Jeffrey Becker

Managing Director, The Gabii Project
c/o Department of Classics
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West, Togo Salmon Hall 706
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada  L8S 4M2

jabecker@mcmaster.ca or gabiiproject@umich.edu


The application deadline is December 1, 2009.  Electronic submissions are encouraged.  Arrangements may be made for informal interviews either at the AIA/APA meetings in Anaheim, Ca., in January 2010 or via other means.

Third week comes to an end ...

Again it is Saturday evening in Frascati. A number of the Gabii staff spent the day in the field, both excavating and surveying. In all, the third week of this year's campaign at Gabii was a great success, with good weather allowing significant progress at the site. In our 'Area C' we begin to see the emergence of architectural remains, and throughout we are amazed at the formation of the site of Gabii after its destruction, as an unbelievable amount of silt has accumulated over time atop the ancient layers. As these remains emerge from their silty realm, we feel we are beginning to at least glimpse some possible phases at the site, but of course it remains premature to speculate about any dates. The trajectory of Gabii's urban history is, until now, so dimly understood that in all likelihood there are many new - and possibly even unexpected - chapters to be written. So as we press forward into the fourth week of work, we have an eye on understanding what we have been working on this season as well as an eye toward inserting this new material into the overall context of Gabii

The challenges of week two

The second week at Gabii in the 2009 season was full of challenges. First, the celebration of a major holiday in Rome (the saints' day of Peter and Paul) kept us from working on Monday, and then torrential rains on several successive afternoons did their best to hamper us the rest of the week. One particularly rough storm on Wednesday 1 July was unbelievable - wind, hail, torrential downpours - and made such a mess of the site that we could not work the following day. We did learn that there is tremendous downslope erosion at Gabii, explaining a good deal about deposition at the site. We used Thursday to work on documentation and talk with the team about topography and GIS (thanks to the Topo team for a great presentation) and to work on practicing the Harris matrix. Friday saw us back at the site, cleaning up after the rains.

There were some positive developments this week, including good progress in environmental sampling, work on the U.S. zero finds, and the exsposure of some stratified layers, including more mysterious bedrock cuttings. So we move on to week three hoping for calmer weather and steady progress ... hopefully Iuno will allow it.

A beautiful start to digging Gabii

After torrential rains last weekend, June 21st dawned as a beautiful day - a perfect one, in fact, for working in the field. And now, we have completed the first full week of fieldwork at Gabii. Staff and students arrived on site for an initial orientation and equipment checkout, along with a tour both of the new excavation area and other parts of Gabii that have been the focus of past excavations. During our various tours members of the group reacted to Gabii's impressive topography, as well as the extent of what was once the walled city. For 2009 a sector of the slope of the crater of Castiglione has been chosen as the focus of investigations, with three areas defined within that zone. Surprisingly, perhaps, these three areas each present a varied and different picture and, at least preliminarily, seem to represent different points in the occupational history of the site. While it is too early to speak of chronology or interpretation, it does seem safe to say that the excavation of these three sectors will offer up a new and so far relatively unknown story about Gabii's urban history. And we are so glad to have so many staff members and students here to help tell that story. prepared, and hopefully we are ready to tackle the archaeology there.

Staff arrives at Gabii

The staff of the Gabii Project is beginning its work on site tomorrow, in preparation for the field season and the arrival on site of the full team on 22 June 2009. This week the staff faces various challenges - from the mundane chores associated with setting up work spaces and equipment to the more engaging tasks of discussing excavation and documentation methodology and the beginning of digital data collection at Gabii. We expect to have more news to share in this space very soon, so stay tuned.

Gabi topsoil survey

As preparations for the start of excavations at Gabii have been underway, we'd like to share news of the recent survey of the topsoil layers at Gabii by the project's new friend and colleague, Stuart Elton. Stuart spent a week in Gabii and Frascati and used a metal detector to survey the topsoil layers as they were being removed to expose the main excavation area. The survey was worthwhile in the end and we thank Stuart for doing such a great job at it.

And they're off....!

Happily, work at Gabii for 2009 has begun! Since 14 May, work on site has been underway. Thus far, activities have been fairly mundane, including delimiting the entire excavation area and preparing for the installation of the perimeter fence. Once the fence is set, excavation huts and facilities will be put in place and in just a few days the first layer of top soil will be cleared.

Gabii Project website goes live

The Gabii Project is pleased to announce the launch of its new website where, among other content, you will find information about the 2009 fieldwork program for students.

Core-sampling and surveying 2007 and 2008

Work at Gabii in 2007 and 2008 has concentrated on a survey of the former urban area within the line of the ancient city walls. Today the site of Gabii, contained within the Parco Archeologico di Gabii, is abandoned, as it has been for many centuries at this point. The site is largely given over to tall grasses and vegetation, making for extremely favorable survey conditions. Our project adopted a survey strategy that included the use both of magnetometry and core-sampling, both manual and mechanical. The former method of course aims at the detection of sub-surface features, particularly architecture, while the latter method was employed in order to help gauge the stratigraphic depth of the site along certain axes, thus creating a stratigraphic profile. Surprisingly, no integrated site-plan of Gabii exists, and this constitutes a prime objective for the Project at this stage.

The magnetometry survey was carried out by our colleagues from The British School at Rome, led by Stephen Kay. Beginning in summer 2007, the magnetometry survey will continue into autumn 2008 by which time at least some 30 ha of the site will have been surveyed. The preliminary results of the survey by the BSR team suggest an interesting urban layout with numerous features of interest preserved beneath the soil. As the team now filters the data this information will prove extremely useful in the development of an excavation strategy.

The other prong of our survey approach has been the use of core-sampling with manual augurs. Working along two principal axes imposed on the site, this approach yielded a great deal of information about the stratigraphic sequence at Gabii. The sampling was conducted within the already delimited archaeological area and also to the south of the modern via Prenestina on private property that is now used as a landing strip for ultra-light aircraft. Throughout the core-sampling the team carefully collected data on the preservation of archaeological layers and also sought to understand the geological profile of the site to the extent possible; in other words, to determine where the anthropic layers (man-made) ended so as to assess the stratigraphic depth of the preserved deposits at Gabii. To this point the results of this second arm of the survey look to be promising. In 2008 the core-sampling team was composed of Marcello Mogetta, Jason Farr, Elizabeth Robinson, Carlo Virili, and Jeffrey Becker.

Taken together, data from magnetometry and core-sampling will provide great help in further pursuing the archaeology of this important ancient city.

The Gabii Project

Welcome to the excavation blog for the Gabii Project, an archaeological initiative focused on the survey, excavation, and study of the ancient Italian city of Gabii, situated some 13 km. to the east of Rome. The Gabii Project is a multi-institution, international effort, currently spearheaded by Nicola Terrenato of the University of Michigan with collaboration from Boston University, the University of Perugia (Italy), the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per il Lazio. This blog will be a forum for posting information about the progress of our work and the results of our research. We hope you will come back soon for further updates.