Digs 2006: Odyssey’s Annual Roundup

Uncover ancient timbered dwellings in Roman Britain, sketch prehistoric rock art in Italy, piece together pottery sherds in Greece and Spain—with the help of our annual Digs issue, you can travel back into the ancient world.

On pages 44–45 we provide a detailed chart listing excavation opportunities for volunteers in the territory we cover: the Mediterranean region and Near East (as well as some places where peoples from these regions settled). We also talk to a dig director, Bulgarian archaeologist Bojan Dumanov (p. 40), whose excavation of a Late Roman fortress at the lovely Bulgarian site of Gorno Nova selo welcomes volunteers.

Unfortunately, many big digs in Egypt, Turkey and other archaeology-rich countries do not use volunteers. So, by specific request, we include a list of excavation opportunities in Jordan and Israel (p. 43), for the latter country has been a pioneer in this regard.

Our expanded digs section includes a list of study-abroad programs (p. 41) and offers a brief glance—in what we call the Fact Sheet (pp. 38–43)—at each country we cover, listing some of the more important archaeological features. After all, if you can’t join a dig, you can at least visit a site. Finally, in this issue’s Past Perfect (p. 28), the British children’s author Mary Chubb (1903–2003) recounts her experiences excavating at Tell el-Amarna, in Egypt, where she uncovered a statue depicting one of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s daughters. Enjoy!

Fact Sheet: Country by Country

Albania

Travel: Significant crime in the capital city of Tirana; unexploded ordinance in the region bordering Kosovo.

Archaeology: Greco-Roman and Byzantine ruins.

Don’t miss! The Greco-Roman ruins of Apollonia, settled by Greeks in 588 B.C.; Butrint, Greco-Roman city with Greek ruins from the 6th-century B.C.; 13th-century A.D. Ottoman town of Gjirokastra.

Did you know? Albanians refer to their country as “Shqiperia,” or Land of the Eagles.

Algeria

Travel: U.S. State Department warns that travel in Algeria remains dangerous.

Archaeology: Neolithic paintings; Punic, Roman and early Islamic ruins.

Don’t miss! Tassili N’Ajjer National Park, 8,000-year-old cave paintings; Timgad, forum and amphitheater built by Trajan in 100 A.D.; Tipasa, 2nd-century A.D. Roman ruins.

Did you know? Sand dunes in Algeria’s desert reach as high as 1,400 feet.

Bulgaria

Travel: Easy travel; the country is served by four international airports.

Archaeology: 3rd-century B.C. Thracian ruins, 2nd-century Roman ruins, medieval Christian churches and monasteries.

Don’t miss! 3rd-century B.C. Thracian tombs in Sveshtari; beehive-shaped Thracian tomb at Kazanlak; Plovdiv’s 2nd-century A.D. Roman amphitheater; 10th-century A.D. Rila monastery.

Did you know? More than a tenth of the country’s people are ethnic Turks.

Croatia

Travel: Safe and easy travel, but landmines have yet to be removed from remote areas.

Archaeology: Roman and early Christian ruins.

Don’t miss! Split’s 3rd-century Palace of Diocletian; 4th-century A.D. Basilica complex in Porec.

Did you know? The earliest mention of “Croatia” (Horoathos) appears in two Greek inscriptions dating to 200 A.D. and found on the Crimean peninsula.

Cyprus

Travel: The island is divided between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; the “Green Line” between the two nations is a mined buffer zone, though it is now easy to travel from one to the other through designated border crossings.

Archaeology: Bronze Age and Phoenician sites, 4th-century B.C. Egyptian Ptolemaic structures, and extensive Roman and Byzantine ruins.

Don’t miss! Paphos, Roman capital, with mosaics; Salamis, 1st-century A.D. Roman city; Kourion, 2nd-century A.D. Greco-Roman theater; Troodos Mountains, Byzantine churches.

Did you know? “Cyprus” comes from the Latin word cuprum (copper); ancient Cyprus supplied copper throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

Egypt

Travel: Some countries, including Australia, urge their citizens to forego travel to Egypt; terrorist bombings targeting tourists have occurred at a number of southern Sinai resorts.

Archaeology: Pre-pharaonic and dynastic periods to the Roman, early Christian and early Islamic periods.

Don’t miss! Giza’s 3rd-millennium B.C. pyramids and Sphinx; Deir el-Bahari, Queen Hatshepsut’s mid-2nd-millennium B.C. cult temple; Theban temples at Karnak and Luxor built between 2055 B.C. and 395 A.D.; the royal New Kingdom (c. 1504–1069 B.C.) necropolis at the Valley of the Kings; 13th-century B.C. seated colossi of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel; temple of Edfu (246–51 B.C.); Pompey’s Pillar, erected in 97 A.D. in Alexandria.

Did you know? Ancient Egyptians in search of relief from toothache pain ate fried mice!

France (Mediterranean coast)

Travel: Good climate year-round.

Archaeology: Prehistoric caves, Roman ruins.

Don’t miss! Lascaux II, with facsimiles of prehistoric paintings found in Lascaux caves, and other prehistoric sites in the Dordogne region; Roman ruins in N”mes; Arles, with its 1st-century A.D. amphitheater.

Did you know? Marseilles, founded by Greek settlers in 600 B.C., was originally called “Massilia.”

Greece

Travel: Best to visit in late spring, when temperatures are mild and before summer tourists arrive.

Archaeology: Thousands of sites: 2nd-millennium B.C. Mycenaean remains, 5th-century B.C. classical remains, 4th-century B.C. royal Macedonian tombs, Byzantine churches, Christian monasteries.

Don’t miss! The restored Minoan Palace of Minos at Knossos on Crete; Athens’s Acropolis, Agora, Roman Forum and Archaeological Museum; 5th-century B.C. Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion; Delphi, home of the oracle; Epidaurus’s late-4th-century B.C. theater; the island of Delos, with its 4th-century B.C. Temple of Apollo and mosaic-filled houses; the 4th-century fortified city of Messene; the royal tombs of Macedonia’s 4th-century kings uncovered at Vergina; the 7th-century A.D. Byzantine churches of Ayia Sofia and Ayios Dimitrios in Thessaloniki; 14th-century monasteries in Thessaly, including the famous Roussanou Monastery in Meteora.

Did you know? Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games in 1896, after a lapse of 1500 years. (The ancient games were banned by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosios I in 393 A.D.)

Iran

Travel: U.S. State Department warns of potential for harassment or kidnapping.

Archaeology: Elamite (3500–700 B.C.) ruins, Achaemenid (522–331 B.C.) cities and tombs, Zoroastrian funerary towers.

Don’t miss! Persepolis, 2,500-year-old citadel; Naqsh-i-Rustam, 5th-century B.C. Achaemenid tombs; Bisitun, 2,500-year-old trilingual relief carving of Darius the Great; Pasargadae, Cyrus II’s 6th-century B.C. capital; Susa, 4th-millennium B.C. Elamite settlement; Yazd, Zoroastrian Tower of Silence (funerary site) and Fire Temple.

Did you know? The first legally available American pop album on sale in Post-Revolutionary Iran was the greatest hits of the band Queen, whose lead singer, Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara) was born to Iranian parents.

Iraq

Travel: The ongoing war precludes travel.

Archaeology: Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian cities; 2,000-year old Parthian ruins; early Islamic monuments.

Don’t miss! Ur, 4,000-year-old ziggurat and royal cemetery; Nippur, late 3rd millennium B.C. ziggurat; Nineveh, 7th-century B.C. Assyrian capital; Hatra, 1st-century A.D. Roman temple; Cteseiphon, 3rd-century A.D. Sasanian audience hall and great arch; Samarra, 9th-century A.D. Great Mosque with spiral minaret.

Did you know? Mesopotamia, consisting of modern Iraq and parts of Syria, means “Land Between the [Tigris and Euphrates] Rivers.”

Israel

Travel: U.S. State Department urges citizens to defer unnecessary travel to the West Bank.

Archaeology: Prehistoric caves, Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites, Bronze Age sites, Iron Age sites, ancient synagogues, Islamic period sites, Crusader fortresses.

Don’t miss! Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, City of David; Masada, Herod’s royal citadel; Herodion, Herod’s 1st-century B.C. palace-fortress; Beth Shean, Roman and Byzantine remains; Ashkelon, Philistine city; Akko, second millennium B.C. settlement and last Crusader bastion; Megiddo, Bronze Age city of “Armageddon”; Caesarea, 2,000-year-old port city; Sepphoris, 1st-century A.D. Roman theater, 3rd-century A.D. mansion with exquisite mosaic floors.

Did you know? After the death of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weitzmann, in 1952, Albert Einstein was asked to run for president; he declined.

Italy

Travel: Hot summers in the south.

Archaeology: Thousands of sites: Paleolithic sites, Greek colonies, Etruscan and other Italic settlements, Roman ruins, Byzantine churches.

Don’t miss! 7th-century B.C. Etruscan tombs in Cerveteri and Tarquinia; Sicily’s Greco-Roman ruins at Agrigento, Syracuse and Taormina; Rome’s Pantheon, Colosseum, Forum and Trajan Baths; Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.; 5th-century A.D. mosaic-filled churches erected by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric in Ravenna.

Did you know? Most Roman legions were made up of about 5,300 men.

Jordan

Travel: Jordan welcomes tourists.

Archaeology: Roman cities, biblical sites, early Christian churches, Nabatean settlements, and 7th-century A.D. Islamic tombs.

Don’t miss! Beidha, 9,000-year-old Neolithic village; Petra, 2,000-year-old, rock-cut Nabatean city; Jerash, 1st-century A.D. Roman city with Temple of Zeus, theaters, hippodrome and baths; Amman, 2nd-century A.D. Roman theater, odeon and nymphaeum; Madaba, Byzantine mosaic map.

Did you know? The Jordanian capital, Amman, was once called Philadelphia (after Philadelphus II, a third-century B.C. Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt).

Lebanon

Travel: U.S. State Department urges citizens to engage in only necessary travel to Lebanon.

Archaeology: Phoenician, Greco-Roman, early Christian and Islamic sites.

Don’t miss! Baalbek, 2,200-year-old Temple of Bacchus and Roman-era Temple of Baal/Jupiter; Tyre, 1st-millennium B.C. Phoenician cemetery, with Roman aqueduct and baths.

Did you know? Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East that does not have a desert.

Libya

Travel: U.S. State Department lifted its travel ban to Libya in February 2004, yet logistics remain difficult.

Archaeology: Numerous Greco-Roman sites.

Don’t miss! Leptis Magna, Roman provincial capital established in 23 B.C.; Sabratha, 3rd-century A.D. Roman amphitheater; Cyrene, 6th-century B.C. Greek Temple of Apollo and amphitheater, enlarged after the Romans annexed the city in 96 B.C.

Did you know? The highest temperature on the surface of the earth was recorded in 1922 in Azizia, Libya: 136.4¡.

Malta

Travel: Easy travel; avoid the oven-hot summers.

Archaeology: Prehistoric temples.

Don’t miss! Ggantija, Tarxien, Mnajdra and Hagar Qim: 4,000- 5,000-year-old megalithic temples; Hypogeum at Saflieni, 4,500-year-old underground temple.

Did you know? Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet.

Morocco

Travel: Pleasant spring and fall seasons.

Archaeology: A dozen major Roman and early Islamic sites, as well as medieval walled cities.

Don’t miss! Volubilis, a Roman city with mosaics; Marrakesh, 12th-century A.D. Koutoubia mosque; Fez, the first Islamic town in Morocco, founded in 790 A.D., and its walled, cobblestone medieval quarter.

Did you know? Marrakesh’s Djem-el-Fna market square features storytellers, musicians, acrobats and herbalists—and the delicious smell of roasting meat.

Portugal

Travel: Temperate all year, though summer forest fires have recently created hazards.

Archaeology: Prehistoric rock art, Roman and early Christian ruins

Don’t miss! Prehistoric drawings, some dating to 22,000 B.C., in the C™a Valley Archaeological Park; Conimbriga’s 2nd-century A.D. Roman baths, city walls, forum and villas, as well as its 6th-century Christian basilica.

Did you know? Lisbon’s devastating 1755 earthquake revealed a hidden world of Roman bridges and houses beneath the city’s downtown shopping area.

Romania

Travel: Cold winters.

Archaeology: Roman forts and towns dating to the first and second centuries A.D., early Christian ruins

Don’t miss! 1st- to 2nd-century A.D. Roman fortress town of Halmyris, with tombs of the Christian martyrs Epictetus and Astion; Trajan’s victory monument at Adamclisi, erected in 109 A.D., and the medieval painted churches of southern Bukovina.

Did you know? The Romanian basketball player Gheorghe Muresan is the tallest man (7’7″) ever to play in the NBA (for the Washington Bullets and New Jersey Nets).

Saudi Arabia

Travel: U.S. State Department urges all citizens to defer non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia.

Archaeology: Early Islamic sites, Nabatean tombs.

Don’t miss! Mecca, 4,000-year-old Ka’aba (closed to non-Muslims); Medain Saleh, 2,000-year-old Nabatean rock-cut tombs.

Did you know? King Faisal abolished slavery in Saudi Arabia in 1962.

Spain

Travel: Year-round, though July and August can be hot and tourist-heavy.

Archaeology: Carthaginian, Greco-Roman and Islamic ruins.

Don’t miss! Prehistoric cave paintings in Altamira dating to 17,000 B.C.; 3rd-century B.C. Carthaginian, Roman and Moorish remains at Salamanca; two-tiered Roman aqueduct in Segovia, built in 50 A.D.; Merida, founded as the Roman city of Augusta Emerita in 25 B.C., with its large amphitheater, theater and circus; Granada’s Alhambra citadel-palace, built by 14th-century A.D. Moorish kings.

Did you know? The world’s oldest working lighthouse, in La Coruna on Spain’s northwestern Atlantic Coast, was built by the Romans in the 1st century A.D.

Syria

Travel: Due to the ongoing war in neighboring Iraq, it is not advisable to travel to Syria at this time.

Archaeology: Hundreds of Assyrian, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic and early Christian ruins.

Don’t miss! Damascus and its 8th-century Great Mosque of the Umayyads; Palmyra, 1st-2nd century A.D. Roman city with colonnaded streets, temples and cemeteries; Aleppo’s 10th-15th-century A.D. Citadel, built on ruins dating back to the 10th-century B.C.; Bosra’s 2nd-century Roman theater.

Did you know? All pet hamsters are descended from a single female wild golden hamster and her litter found in Syria in 1930.

Tunisia

Travel: Avoid harsh summers, especially in the Sahara region.

Archaeology: Roman-era cities, Punic remains and early Islamic monuments.

Don’t miss! Punic Carthage’s Tophet, (9th-2nd century B.C.), cemetery for sacrificed children; Roman Carthage, 2nd-century B.C. baths and villas; Kerkouane, 6th-century B.C. Punic settlement; Dougga, 2nd-century A.D. Roman city; El-Djem, 3rd-century A.D. amphitheater; Djerba island, remains of ancient Jewish synagogue.

Did you know? In the desert towns of Matmeta and Bulla Regia, people live in underground houses for protection from the searing summer heat and freezing winter nights.

Turkey

Travel: Mid-summer in the interior is extremely hot.

Archaeology: Hundreds of accessible, rich sites dating from the Neolithic period through the Hittite, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods.

Don’t miss! Catalhoyuk, the world’s largest town in 7,000 B.C.; Hattusas, the early second-millennium B.C. Hittite capital; Troy; Gordion, 9th-century B.C. capital of the Phrygian kingdom, with King Midas’s burial tumulus; Nemrut Dag, with 1st-century B.C. colossal carved heads; the Asklepion at Pergamum; Ephesus; the Hagia Sophia church in Istanbul, built by the emperor Justinian in the 6th century A.D.

Did you know? Turkey’s tallest mountain, Mt. Ararat, the legendary resting place of Noah’s Ark, is nearly 17,000 feet high.

Yemen

Travel: U.S. State Department urges all citizens to defer non-essential travel to Yemen.

Archaeology: Sabaean (1000 B.C.-400 A.D.) and Himyarite (100 B.C.-600 A.D.) incense-trade settlements; unexcavated Bronze Age strongholds.

Don’t miss! Sana«a, multi-storied houses dating from the 11th century A.D.; Marib, Sabaean-era dam and temple.

Did you know? Many people identify biblical “Sheba,” as in the Queen of Sheba, with “Saba” (“Sabaean”).

Excavating the Balkans

An Odyssey Interview

Bulgarian archaeologist Bojan Dumanov received his Ph.D. from Sofia University and has dug at Troy and on the Greek island of Samothrace. Now, however, he has returned to his native country to excavate a Late Roman fortress at Gorno Nova selo. We caught up with him between seasons.

Archaeology Odyssey: What attracted you to archaeology?

Bojan Dumanov: I have always been interested in ancient cultures. Archaeology is a way to ask fundamental questions: Who are we? Where do we come from?

AO: Bulgarian archaeologists have made amazing discoveries in recent years—Thracian gold, royal tombs. Why this explosion of activity?

BD: I don’t think there’s been an “explosion” of activity. For years we lived behind the Iron Curtain, and Bulgarian scholars worked without being noticed.

AO: What have you found at Gorno Novo selo?

BD: The ancient fortress near Gorno Novo selo was part of the defensive system of the Roman Empire from the fourth to the sixth century A.D. Such Roman forts were initially entirely military, but they tended to develop into fortress towns, with local people and Roman soldiers settling around the site. This was the case at Gorno Novo selo. Last season we determined the stratigraphical sequence of the site, which was destroyed in the mid-fifth century and then again in the late sixth century.

AO: What times of year do you excavate?

BD: The excavation season is determined by students’ availability, in the summer, though the mild mountain climate in Gorno Novo selo would permit work from early April through late autumn.

AO: What do archaeologists hope to find in Bulgarian expeditions in coming years?

BD: More than in the West, the Balkan lands have seen periods of sudden destruction. This may mean that occupation levels and artifacts from destroyed sites were preserved from their “very last day.” I expect interesting discoveries from Late Roman sites, when Bulgaria lay in the proximity of the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople.

Study Abroad Programs

Academic Programs International in Syracuse, Sicily, offers classes in archaeology, art and architectural history, and classical studies, as well as language courses at all levels. Class trips may include excursions to Agrigento, the Aeolian Islands, Palermo and Rome.

CONTACT: Academic Programs International, tel: 1-800-844-4124; email: api@academicintl.com; Web site: www.academicintl.com

Austin Peay State University (Tennessee) Study Abroad in Greece is based in Chania, Crete. Students take courses in Greek art and archaeology and modern Greek, and visit 45 sites and museums, receiving seven hours of academic credit.

CONTACT: Timothy Winters, tel: 931-221-7118; email: winters@apsu.edu; Web site: www.apsu.edu/winterst/abroad

Centro Koin combines language instruction and archaeological studies in its two-week program in Ortobello, Italy, with frequent excursions to local archaeological sites.

CONTACT: Angelo Gianni, tel: 0583-493-040; email: angelo@koinecenter.com; Web site: www.koinecenter.com

College Year in Athens gives students the chance to study Greek archaeology, history and Modern Greek in three different locations—Athens, Paros, and Santorini.

CONTACT: College Year in Athens, tel: 617-868-8200; email: info@cyathens.org; Web site: www.cyathens.org

The University of Adelaide in South Australia, based in Antalys, Turkey, conducts a field-study program, “Pamphylia in Antiquity,” in nearby Greco-Roman cities and local museums.

CONTACT: Anne Geddes, tel: 61-08-8303-5226; email: anne.geddes@adelaide.edu.au

Digging in the Holy Land

Israel offers more opportunities for volunteer excavators than does any other country in the world. Now Jordan is increasingly following the Israeli model. We hope that other countries follow suit. Following is a list of dig opportunities in Israel and Jordan (for more information, see Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2006.)

Israel

Apollonia-Arsuf
DIRECTOR: Ilan Shachar
CONTACT: ilansh@netvision.net.il

Bethsaida
DIRECTOR: Rami Arav
CONTACT: Steve Reynolds,
sreynolds@mail.unomaha.edu,
402-554-3108

Hazor
DIRECTOR: Sharon Zuckerman
CONTACT: Sharon Zuckerman,
mssharon@mscc.huji.ac.il,
011-972-2-5882403

Hippos/Sussita
DIRECTOR: Arthur Segal, Michael Eisenberg
CONTACT: Michael Eisenberg,
hippos@research.haifa.as.il,
011-972-4824-9392

Megiddo
DIRECTOR: Norma Franklin
CONTACT: Norma Franklin,
megexc@post.tau.ac.il,
011-972-52-2291664

Tamar
DIRECTOR: DeWayne Coxon
CONTACT: DeWayne Coxon,
dcoxon@bloomingrose.org,
616-901-4153

Tel Dan
DIRECTOR: Nili Fox
CONTACT: Nili Fox,
nfox@huc.edu,
513-221-1875

Tel Dor
DIRECTOR: Andrew Stewart
CONTACT: Andrew Stewart,
astewart@berkeley.edu,
510-643-9040

Tel Kabri
DIRECTOR: Eric Cline
CONTACT: Eric Cline,
ehcline@gwu.edu
202-994-0316

Tel Kedesh
DIRECTOR: Sharon Herbert, Andrea Berlin
CONTACT: Sharon Herbert,
sherbert@umich.edu,
734-647-0446

Tel Tsaf
DIRECTOR: Yossi Garfinkel
CONTACT: Yossi Garfinkel,
972-2-5854591;
www.tel-tsaf.tk

Tel Zayit
DIRECTOR: Ron Tappy
CONTACT: Ron Tappy,
tappy@fyi.net,
412-441-3304 x2126

Tell es-Safi/Gath
DIRECTOR: Aren Maeir
CONTACT: Aren Maeir,
maeira@mail.biu.ac.il,
011-972-5318299

Tiberias
DIRECTOR: Yizhar Hirschfeld
CONTACT: Yizhar Hirschfeld,
011-972-2-5881512

Sepphoris
DIRECTOR: Zeev Weiss
CONTACT: Zeev Weiss,
zweiss@mscc.huji.ac.il,
011-972-2-5882422

Yotvata
DIRECTOR: Jodi Magness
CONTACT: Gwyn Davies,
daviesg@fiu.edu,
305-348-2974

Jordan

Khirbat al-Mudayna
DIRECTOR: P.M. Michele Daviau
CONTACT: P.M. Michele Daviau,
mdaviau@wlu.ca,
519-884-1970 x6680;
Elaine Kireb,
ekirby@uoguelph.ca

Kursi
DIRECTOR: Charles Page, Paul McCracken
CONTACT: Charles Page,
cpagejibe@aol.com,
731-697-8277;
Paul McCracken,
pauld@jine-edu.org,
205-602-4972

Ya’amun
DIRECTOR: Jerome C. Rose
CONTACT: Jerome C. Rose,
jcrose@uark.edu,
479-575-5208

Uncover ancient timbered dwellings in Roman Britain, sketch prehistoric rock art in Italy, piece together pottery sherds in Greece and Spain—with the help of our annual Digs issue, you can travel back into the ancient world.