In this publication Professor Hodges makes use of recent archaeological discoveries to advance a new thesis about the shift from the consumption economies of Antiquity to the emphasis on production in the Middle Ages. He looks in particular at evolving archaeological evidence for managing agrarian economies and how this shaped the evolution of the earliest medieval urban communities. The Christian Church had a particularly important role as an agent of change throughout western Europe during this period and the book explores this aspect as well.

• View the book cover: Dark Age Economics in PDF

Taking the ferry to the excavation.

In an article published in the latest edition of Current World Archaeology, Professor Valerie Higgins explores what you learn from participating in an archaeological excavation – and it is a lot more than learning to dig. The most valuable aspect is the international collaboration and learning to work with people who are different to you. On the field school at Butrint in Albania AUR students work alongside Albanian students and also, of course, socialise with them in the evenings and at weekends.

For the Albanian students the dig is also about a lot more than archaeology. For almost fifty years Albania was a closed Communist state where the ordinary citizens had almost no contact with the outside world. For them, discovering their heritage is about establishing their identity and reclaiming their history. There can be few places in the world where history and contemporary identity are more complicated or intertwined than the Balkans.

Preparing for conservation of the Ottoman Castle.

Employers tell us that too few graduates today are skilled in working in multicultural contexts. Spending the summer digging in Albania might just help to put that right.

• Date: April 18th, 2012
• Time: 6:30 pm
• Location: Auriana Auditorium

Butrint: at the Crossroads of the Mediterranean

The lecture will describe twenty years of excavations and research by the Butrint Foundation at this picturesque Graeco-Roman city on the Straits of Corfu in southern Albania. The making of the Butrint National Park will also be described as a pilot project in cultural heritage management in post-communist Albania. Situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, these excavations shed important new light on commerce and urban history in the Adriatic Sea region from the Bronze age to the Ottoman empire.

Richard Hodges is currently Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia as well as Scientific Director of the Butrint Foundation. He is President-elect of The American University of Rome.

• Professor Daria Borghese spoke about the ‘fig-leaf campaign’, the cover-up of pagan nude statues which offended Counter-Reformation sensibilities;
• Professor Paul Gwynne was interviewed about the Sack of Rome in 1527 by Imperial troops;
• while Professor Valerie Higgins contributed on early Christian Art from the catacombs.

The series has been screened around the world and is regularly repeated on the various satellite History channels, with excerpts available on Youtube.

More links

• Museum Secrets Website
• Trailer for episode on the Vatican

Time and Cost

• July 1st to the 21st, 2012
• Cost: €2,000.00

Academic Program

• Beginning Archaeological Fieldwork (ARC 293)
• Intermediate Archaeological Fieldwork (ARC 393)
• Archaeological conservation (ARC 303)
• Total Credits: 3
• Butrint Field School Program 2012
• Butrint Student Testimonials

Syllabi

• ARC 293 Archeology Beginning
• ARC 393 Archaeology Intermediate
• ARC 303 Conservation

How to Apply

Please fill out the following form to begin the application process...

Photo Gallery

The course is open to students of all levels and credits are given in both Art History and Archeology. There is a pre-requisite requirement of a 100-level Art History or Archeology course, or prior permission of the instructor.

Begin the registration process for this course by filling out the form below.

Prof. Kerr trained as a professional conservator and holds an MA in Art Conservation from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is specialized in the conservation and restoration of early Italian Renaissance panel paintings and has an active interest in technical art history and materials research. Her work in museums and private collections has taken her to Italy, England, and the United States and her experience includes everything from the restoration of 2^nd century frescoes to Baroque ceiling paintings. In 2007 Prof. Kerr was awarded a Kress Fellowship to conserve Florentine cassoni (15^th century wedding chests) for the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and she was a contributing author in “Art Conservation and Authenticities: Material, Concept, Context” published in 2009. She currently lives in London and works as a consultant conservator.

Prof. Eowyn Kerr working on the restoration of a Florentine cassone panel.

Professor David Pollon presented a paper discussing the ‘The Challenges of Valuing Cultural Heritage’. He discussed the unique issues surrounding economic valuation of the intangible elements of cultural and other public goods. His paper reviewed the common methodologies used in analyzing historic sites, as well as his own case study work related to the ancient city of Butrint in Albania. The valuation of cultural heritage is of particular importance today as austerity programs in countries such as Greece and Italy will severely affect all aspects of public spending. Whether supported by government funding, private donors, or admission fees, the benefits generated by cultural goods must be measured to justify financial support and to help in determining sustainability.

Professor James Walston presented a paper in collaboration with Maja Gori on how archaeology, and specifically the Illyrian identity, is used in the Balkans as a foundation for national identity. They argue that the use of cultural heritage creates elastic identities which often go beyond the evidence contained in the archaeological heritage itself.

Professor Simone Quilici gave a paper co-written with Raffaele Sini (also an AUR professor) on the construction of the via Francigena pilgrimage route. This is an ancient route for Christian pilgrims from northern Europe to Rome that has been recently reconstructed as a “Great Cultural Route” by the European Council and provides an alternative to the “Camino di Santiago” which has almost reached its carrying capacity in terms of walkers.

Professor Pier Matteo Barone’s paper covered the use of geophysics in the development of non-invasive techniques  to locate excavation sites and  to monitor conservation requirements and the state of preservation of monuments. Recently Ground Penetrating Radar has become the most important  physical technique in archaeology with very high vertical and horizontal resolution. It has been successfully applied both to archaeological and for diagnostic purposes in historical and monumental buildings.

The conference was unusual in that it brought together many different types of people who normally have little opportunity to interact and exchange ideas. The delegates included academics, heritage managers, digital heritage specialists, army officers, architects, police officers, tour operators, film producers, conservators, museologists, economists, archeologists, art historians and anthropologists. We hope to repeat the conference in the future – when we have recovered from this one!

Prof. Pollon

Prof. Quilici

Prof. Barone

This is only one of two major events on cultural heritage being held in Rome in November. Our neighbors, the American Academy in Rome will be hosting a conference on “Saving Cultural Heritage in Crisis Areas” which will include papers on heritage protection in war zones, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and also areas hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. AUR professor, Valerie Higgins, will chair a session at this conference and, returning the compliment, American Academy trustee and former fellow, Prof Brian Rose will chair a session at our conference.

Please note – students are welcome at the conference ‘Our Future’s Past: Sustainable Heritage in the 21st Century’ but space is limited because we have more than fifty speakers. If you wish to attend you must reserve a space through the website.

More Links:

• Conference Poster in PDF: Our Future’s Past: Sustainable Heritage in the 21st Century

For more on this Summer’s Butrint experience, visit the Archeology & Classics department blog.

The 3 credit field program offered by AUR includes Archaeology Practicum, an introductory excavation course covering all the basic skills required to find, excavate and record archaeological remains, and Archaeological Conservation Practicum, an introduction to practical conservation techniques in the field.

Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Albania where an Anglo-Albanian project has been working since 1994 to research the ancient city and develop the site as a tourist resource and training center.