The collaborative research internship at Antiochia is intended to expose St. Olaf students to archaeological methodologies as well as the cultural heritage, the history, and field practices employed by ancient historians when studying ancient cultures. The 2023 season will focus on the Early Christian and Cilcian Pirate/Imperial Roman community at the site of Antiochia ad Cragum in Antalya province, southern Turkey. Historically, Antiochia with its harbor possibly served as one of the havens for the Cilician pirates who operated from these shores and preyed upon shipping and coastal communities of the eastern Mediterranean during the first half of the first century BCE. Pompey the Great ended the pirate scourge in 67 with a naval victory at nearby Korakesion (Alanya). No traces of Antiochia’s pirate past survive among the remains visible today. The emperor Caligula ceded control of Rough Cilicia to a client-king of Rome, Antiochos IV of Kommagene, for a brief period in CE 38 before summarily deposing him; Antiochus was then restored to power in CE 41 by Emperor Claudius. He ruled continuously until CE 72, during which period he founded the city named after himself. After Antiochus was removed by Vespasian in 72 CE, the city, along with the rest of Rough Cilicia, fell under direct Roman rule as part of the enlarged Province of Cilicia. The city appears to have reached its greatest extent during the later Roman Empire, from the third century on.
Staff:
Dr. Michael Hoff, Antiochia Research Project Director and Primary Investigator (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
Dr. Timothy Howe, Antiochia Research Project Director, Acropolis Project Director, and St. Olaf Internship Supervisor (St. Olaf College)
Dr. Rhys Townsend, Temple Project Director (Clark University)
Dr. Asena Kızılarslanoğlu, Ceramics Research Director (Kastamonu University, Turkey)
Dr. Frank Russell, Acropolis Project Associate Director (Transylvania University)
Dennis Murphy, Aqueduct Survey Director (NASA, Lockheed-Martin, retired)
Mary Howe, Acropolis Project Associate Director, St. Olaf Internship Co-Supervisor (St. Olaf College)
Internship Objectives:
The intern will demonstrate the ability to:
- Excavate, process and record archaeological material
- Prepare geo-referenced data for upload to Geographic Information System (GIS)
- Lay out an excavation unit
- Accurately draw artifacts and map architectural remains
- Clean, catalog, and preserve recovered artifacts
- Recognize ceramic typologies of the Eastern Mediterranean region
- Create publication quality photographic data
Assessment:
The internship will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Good citizenship and active participation (25%).
- interns must participate actively as responsible, self-starting members of the Acropolis research team. This means being on the site every day, doing lab work and and data entry, going on field trips, attending lectures, doing a weekly blog entry, taking part in discussions, doing some independent reading, and completing and assigned duties.
Site Blog (5%).
- On a weekly basis, each intern will contribute to the official St Olaf Antiochia 2015 Field School Blog. Contributions will contain both text and photos and will be professional in tone and content. All contributions will be reviewed by Tim Howe for approval before final posting.
Field notebook, daily excavation update, and weekly site report (25%).
- Each intern will keep a site notebook containing detailed notes describing, day by day, what has been found in the student’s unit; that is, what soils have been encountered, what features and artifacts identified, etc. Sample notebook entry
- Each day, a different intern, selected by the leadership team, will provide a summary of previous work, based on the notebook about the excavation unit his or her research team is digging.
- Each week, usually on Fridays, the entire excavation team will go around the site as a group and each intern will give a report based on the notebook about the excavation unit he or she is digging.
Final Field Practicum (25%).
- The Field Practicum is an individual practical demonstration in which each intern performs field procedures including, but not limited to, identification of artifacts, identification of soils, and identification of features. The practicum will conclude with a 8 minute oral assessment and interpretation of the historical and cultural significance of artifacts and features in site. Practica will be held during the final week of excavation and should be seen as a summative experience.Site Report (20%)
- Each intern will write a final site report (5-7 pages) interpreting the historical context of the artefacts and features unearthed in his or her unit. This paper will be formal in nature and will conform to all standard stylistic conventions regarding bibliography and citation.
Daily Work Schedule (M-F):
5:30 AM Depart from Dig House
6:00 AM Breakfast
6:30 AM Start of Work
10:00 AM Break
10:30 AM Return to Work
1:00 PM Lunch
2:00 PM Return to Dig House
4:00 PM Artifact Analysis, Processing, Interpretation and Lab Work
7:00 PM Dinner at Dig House
7:30 PM Discussion
Readings Before Arrival:
Contextual Background on Antiochia
Archaeological Methods, Ethics and Techniques
T. R. Hester et al., (2009), Field Methods in Archaeology, 69-112.
T. R. Hester et al., (2009), Field Methods in Archaeology, 235-252.
Discussions and Practica:
Discussions happen in the evening, after the 7:30 pm dinner at the Dig House and will be no longer that one hour. All Practica will take place on site, during work hours. Please note: all discussions, presentations, site tours and practica are mandatory. Note Further: all readings must be completed before the practicum or discussion to which they have been assigned.
WEEK ONE
Friday, 12 July, ARRIVAL
Saturday 13 July
rest day
Sunday, 14 July: no meals at the Dig House
rest day
WEEK TWO
Monday 15 July
Catch up on Readings Day
Field Trip: Selinous 5 pm
Tuesday, 16 July
Practicum
“Measurements, Record-keeping, Notebooks and Locus Sheets,”
“Tools, Techniques and Trenches,”
Review T. R. Hester et al., (2009), Field Methods in Archaeology, 59-112
Post Dinner Discussion:
“Settled Landscapes: Humans, Plants and Animals,”
Wednesday 17 July
Practicum
“Soils, Stones and Stratigraphy,”
Review: T. R. Hester et al., (2009), Field Methods in Archaeology,235-252.
Thursday, 18 July
Daily Work
Friday, 19 July
Daily Work
Site Tour
Group Swim at “Pirate Cove”
Saturday, 20 July Field Trip: Gazipasa Highland Festival
Sunday, 21 July Free Day: no meals at the Dig House
WEEK THREE
Monday, 22 July
Post Dinner Discussion
“Housing and Houses, Roman Style,”
Tuesday, 23 July
Daily Work
Wednesday, 24 July
Daily Work
Practicum
“Excavating objects: pottery, coins, walls and wall-like features,”
Thursday, 25 July
Ministry Workshop
No excavation work
Friday, 26 July
Daily Work
Site Tour
Group Swim at “Pirate Cove”
Saturday, 27 July: Free Day: lunch (1.00) and dinner (7.00) at the Dig House
Sunday, 28 July: Free Day: no meals at the Dig House
WEEK FOUR
Monday, 29 July
Daily Work
Post Dinner Discussion
“Mediterranean Geology and Seismology,”
L. Mordechai (2024). “Historical Seismology,” in A. Izdebski and J. Preiser-Kapeller, eds. A Companion to the Environmental History of
Byzantium. Leiden: Brill, 162-78.
Tuesday, 30 July
Daily Work
Wednesday, 31 July
Daily Work
Thursday, 1 Aug
Daily Work
Friday, 2 Aug
Daily Work
Site Tour
Group Swim at “Pirate Cove”
Saturday, 3 August Field Trip: Sapadere Canyon
Sunday, 4 August Free Day
WEEK FIVE
Monday, 5 August
Daily Work
Post Dinner Discussion
“Ancient and Modern: the politics of archaeology,”
M. Shanks (1996), “Archaeology, Classics and Contemporary Culture,” in Shanks, Classical Archaeology, 167-180.
Gur, A. (2011), in Gur, “Political Excavations of the Anatolian Past: Nationalism and Archaeology in Turkey,” Controlling the Past, Owning the Future: The Political Uses of Archaeology in the Middle East, 1-38
Tuesday, 6 August
Daily Work
Wednesday, 7 August
Daily Work
Post Dinner Discussion
“Drawing Conclusions—so you worked on a dig in Turkey…. What can you do with that?”
Thursday, 8 August
Daily Work
Friday, 9 August
Daily Work
Site Tour
Group Swim at “Pirate Cove”
Saturday, 10 DEPARTURE
You must be logged in to post a comment.