Sardis & The Practice of Medieval Archaeology, workshop with Eurydice Georgantelli (Harvard University), Harvard Art Museums, Somerville Research Facility, April 4, 2019, 10:00 am–12:00 pm

Sardis, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, has been central to the story of antiquity and the emergence of coinage. As part of Alexander the Great’s empire, the Seleucid kingdom, and later the Roman and the Byzantine empire, the city thrived as an important administrative and ecclesiastical center until its destruction in the early 7th century CE. Systematic excavations of the site since 1958 by Harvard and Cornell Universities, as well as a comprehensive research and publication program, have illuminated aspects of its landscape, built environment, social and religious topography, and material culture. Ongoing conservation and site development projects have begun to transform Sardis into an open-air archaeological museum. In this workshop, we will introduce participants to archaeological theory and praxis, focusing in particular upon the tools and techniques employed by the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis to uncover the city’s rich past.

Eurydice Georgantelli is Lecturer on Art History and Numismatics in the Department of History of Art + Architecture at Harvard University. A specialist in the arts of South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Georganteli has published and taught on such topics as late antique and medieval art and numismatics, archaeology, portable antiquities collecting, cultural heritage and storytelling. She uses archaeological evidence, written sources and the changing patterns in the geography of transport to trace economic and cultural exchange in late antique and medieval Europe and the Middle East.

The workshop is capped at 15 participants. Advance registration for the workshop and the shuttle bus to the Sardis Office in Harvard’s Somerville Research Facility is required.

This event is part of the 2019 Harvard Medieval Material Culture Series: The View from the Trenches: Archaeology and Medieval Studies Today. In its fifth iteration, the annual Harvard Medieval Material Culture Series is intended as an interdisciplinary research forum for the study of the middle ages. This year the theme is Medieval Archaeology.