Gabii Project 2011 field program - now accepting applications

The 2011 excavation season is closer than it might seem and the Gabii Project is now accepting applications from students and volunteers for the 2011 field program via its website.  The 2011 season will mark the fifth year of fieldwork at Gabii and we are excited to again bring students into the field and put them in contact with cutting edge methods and techniques in field archaeology. 

The program will run from June 19 until July 30, 2011.  Applications will be accepted online via the project's website (click on the '2011 application form' at left). The deadline for applying to the program is February 28, 2011; all qualified students are eligible to apply, not just those associated with the University of Michigan. Notifications of acceptance will be made by March 15, 2011, and accepted volunteers must submit their payment in full by April 1, 2011, 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 $4,600 (USD) in 2011.  It is not possible to receive academic credit 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. To apply: please complete the application form linked through the toolbar at the left and submit electronically. Please complete all fields.  Then, please be sure to ask two professional recommenders (who know you either from an academic setting or a prior fieldwork experience) to send letters on your behalf to Prof. Jeffrey Becker (gabiiproject-at-umich.edu - replace at with @) by February 28, 2011.

• Accommodation:
  • The Hotel Villa Mercede in Frascati, Italy, will serve as the Gabii Project's base of operations again in 2011.  The team will be accommodated there and will take their meals during the week at the Balubino restaurant.
  • 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 long hours in the hot sun is to be expected.  Average daytime temperatures will be in the range of above 90˚ F.
  • 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 teams 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 (usually once every 7 to 10 days) will help keep all team members up to speed on the progress of excavation work in the various areas of the site.

• Instruction:
  • The above-mentioned rotation on-site will be accompanied by various instructional opportunities from 'hands on' instruction in excavation techniques to small group instruction on archaeological materials and topography.
  • The 2011 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 optional weekend outings will be arranged where guided tours will be offered.  In 2010 weekend trips included the Forum Romanum and Palatine Hill as well as Ostia Antica.
    
• Atmosphere and Experience:
  
  • The Gabii Project is a large team (50+ 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.  Additionally, an excellent staff to student ratio guarantees close instruction in field methodology. 
  
  
  • n.b. Students accepted to the field program are encouraged to seek funding sources to support their participation as the Gabii Project does not offer need-based financial support. 
  • Possible sources include one's home department or institution, as well as to various competitive fieldwork fellowships like those administered by the Archaeological Institute of America and the Etruscan Foundation. 

For more information, please contact Prof. Jeffrey Becker  (gabiiproject-at-umich.edu - replace at with @).

Gabii Project presentation at Brown University

On Thursday, September 23, 2010, at 12:00 PM Jeffrey Becker and Jessica Nowlin will offer an informal presentation on elite infant tombs excavated at Gabii in 2009.  The talk will be part of the Brown Bag Series in Archaeology organized by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World.


The details: Jeffrey Becker and Jessica Nowlin (Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, Brown University)
Orientalizing Infant Tombs at Gabii: Discovery, Documentation, and Interpretation
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, Rhode Island Hall, Room 108.  The event is open to the public.


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Weeks III and IV at Gabii

The last two weeks have flown by us, scarcely leaving time to make a post on the blog!  We are in the midst of a heat wave here in Italy, but you would be hard pressed to tell considering how hard our team is working - they are undaunted by the heat.  The last two weeks have been exciting and quite busy.  We were fortunate to have Mario Torelli (Perugia) visit us on Friday, July 10 and it was great fun to show him around the site and benefit from his insights.  This week our colleagues from the Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton visited us to check various magnetic anomalies discovered during the 2007-2008 survey phase; we were also lucky to have several sets of parents and relatives of team members visit us, so Gabii has been a busy place.  But for the most part, we have been digging - and doing a lot of it!  Our Area B has finally emerged from the overburden of Roman tombs and occupation evidence is finally appearing.  Elsewhere on the site we continue to analyze various bits of evidence, including an in-depth examination of animal bones and the ongoing collection of environmental samples.  In all, we are extremely please with the progress we are making and look forward to the week coming up.

Gabii Project 2010 - reflections on the first week

The first week of 2010 fieldwork at Gabii has flown by -- and in such a quick fashion that week two is half over and we are just now composing this update! In all, the first week on-site was fantastic - the weather was good (cooler than average) and the progress in terms of work was excellent (certainly above average!). We are pleased both to see a lot of new faces on this year's team, but also to welcome back numerous familiar faces; old and new team members are bonding well together and are giving work on-site a great atmosphere.

The first day dawned a bit cool, and was sprinkled with spots of drizzle. This did not stop us from bringing everyone to the site, signing out equipment, and taking tours of our own work site and the larger area of ancient Gabii. Students saw both the temple of Iuno and the excavated area that belongs to the Soprintendenza in Rome. Inside our own area we recapped the 2009 field season by exploring the various features brought to light and also observing various new features exposed by natural erosion and also our enlargement of the excavation area. We discussed with the team this year's excavation strategy and the key points we hope to address. These include further investigation of the road system identified by geophysical survey in 2007 and 2008 and further work on architectural remains on our Area B and Area C, wherein we see Imperial phases and their post-abandonment layers and for which we hope to construct a broader narrative in terms of phases of use (and disuse).

As the week progressed, the weather warmed up decently, but was pleasant. Italy's wet spring has produced a bumper crop of wildflowers and it almost seems a shame to weed them out of the excavation area. We all spent a good deal of time this first week cleaning the site and beginning to understand the newly expanded areas A and C. This cleaning, though a bit tedious, is a great opportunity for the team to begin to gel and already signs point toward a great and productive season with a great group.

Pre-season preparations for the 2010 season

This week has been a busy one on the ground here in Italy as preparations for the 2010 excavation campaign are in full swing. The list of chores is long - from purchasing supplies, reorganizing the logistics area, cleaning - but each task completed brings us closer to the beginning of what promises to be an exciting season in the field. During the last few days we have been expanding the limits of two of our excavation areas with the careful help of a mechanical digger and a dump truck. By scraping away some topsoil the directors are able to verify the subsurface situation in terms of preserved archaeology and, thus far, the indications of some interesting new features are beginning to emerge. We are looking forward to the arrival of the field staff on 13 June - just more than one week from today!

Gabii at "Archaeological Survey and the City"

The upcoming Laurence seminar organized by Prof. Martin Millett and the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge will feature two talks related to the work of the Gabii Project. The seminar, under the title "Archaeological survey and the city", brings together panels of archaeologists involved in archaeological survey in the ancient Mediterranean. The seminar runs from May 24th through the 27th 2010.

Both of the Gabii related papers will be offered on May 25th.

• Nicola Terrenato. "Survey and the Orthogonal city. At the intersection of scholarly traditions".

• Steven Kay (BSR/APSS). "Geophysical survey of the city of Gabii, Italy".

Fiat/Chrysler Scholars at Gabii

The Gabii Project is pleased to announce the creation of the "Fiat/Chrysler Scholars" program to support the participation of University of Michigan students in the fieldwork at Gabii. These "Fiat/Chrysler Scholars" will have the opportunity to participate firsthand in the exciting fieldwork at Gabii and take part in cutting-edge archaeological research. We are grateful to the Chrysler Foundation and Fiat SPA, who have each made a gift of $25,000 to The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) at the University of Michigan. The directors of the Gabii Project have selected the first group of "Fiat/Chrysler Scholars" and we look forward to updating you on their experiences at Gabii in 2010.

The 2010 Fiat/Chrysler Scholars from the University of Michigan are:

• Lauren Bennett (majoring in Latin)
• Bailey Benson (majoring in Anthropology and Classical archaeology)
• Ivan Cangemi (PhD student in Classical art and archaeology)
• Jason Farr (PhD student in Classical art and archaeology)
• Cynthia Kazanis (majoring in Anthropology and Classical archaeology)
• Melissa King (majoring in Communication Studies and History of art)
• Samantha Lash (majoring in Classical archaeology)
• Michael Pry (undeclared)
• Camille Reynolds (majoring in Classical civilization)
• Jessica Ryan (majoring in Classical archaeology and Classical civilization)