This month, Assistant Professor Nicola Aravecchia, who holds a joint appointment in Classics and Art History & Archaeology, has been immersed in his role as Archaeological Field Director at the late antique site of Amheida in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis. The work of the Amheida Project, which goes back to 2001 and is sponsored by New York University (ISAW) and Columbia University, has been documented in over 70 publications and on the the project’s website at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. This month’s work, along with spectacular views of the site, has been shared regularly on Twitter (@AmheidaProject) and Instagram (@amheida.project).
A major focus this season is the excavation of the crypt in the site of the fourth-century Christian church, which will be covered in the the next installment of the #Amheida series in ISAW Monographs. Among the team’s most exciting finds this month are several burials and potsherds containing Greek writing (ostraka).
The team on site includes Honorary Professor of Classics Roger Bagnall (former Director of the project) and Art History graduate student Harper Tooch. Professor Aravecchia and Harper (pictured above with Professor Bagnall) were able to spend this time in Dakhla thanks to an award from the Mark S. Weil and Joan M. Hall Endowment for Art History and Archaeology. We look forward to welcoming them all back to St. Louis for the semester and hearing their stories.
