Since Summer 2022, Darian Totten, Associate Professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies, has been leading a team of undergraduate and graduate students on a six-week long excavation of Sipontum, a Late Antique and Roman site located in the commune of Manfredonia, in Italy鈥檚 Apulia region.
CLAS 349: Archaeology Fieldwork: Italy, brings together students and scholars from 9I制作厂免费 and the Universit脿 di Foggia, a collaborative Italo-American initiative that started back in 2008, as Totten was pursuing her dissertation research on the economic connections in Roman and Late Antique Southern Italy.
After joining an excavation team in 2008 led by Professor Giuliano Volpe, head of the Archeology Department at the Universit脿 di Foggia, Totten became fast friends with her now colleague, Dott. Roberto Goffredo, one of the field directors and a former student of Volpe鈥檚, who had just finished his dissertation.
鈥淩oberto and I worked very well together,鈥� says Totten. 鈥淲e decided that once I had completed my PhD and my career launched, we would find our own project and be the Principal Investigators.鈥�
Thus began their international partnership. Since their meeting, Totten and Goffredo collaborated on the Salapia Exploration Project, a field survey and geophysical prospection of the area of the Monte di Salpi adjacent to the Salpi Lagoon in Northern Puglia.听
鈥淓xcavating Sipontum is a natural complement to the Salapia Exploration Project because these were two ancient cities on opposite ends of the same lagoon ecosystem,鈥� says Totten. 鈥淲e wanted to explore if and how the human-environment relationship affected the health of urban settlement in wetlands and do that in a comparative way.鈥�
The Field School
CLAS 349: Archaeology Fieldwork was conceptualized as a field school, an important experience to train students with little to no experience in archaeology on how to dig, collect artifacts and perform laboratory methods.
During the six-week dig, students take part in the physical work of excavation on site. Tasks range from pickaxing a layer, shovelling/wheelbarrowing dirt, drawing and documenting archeological contexts, collecting and processing finds, lab work, washing ceramics found on the site, and articulating walls. Throughout the process, students meticulously document every step of the excavation, documenting, sorting and interpreting finds from the site.
Field work is labour-intensive and with 8-hour work days, most students tell Totten that they鈥檝e never worked so hard in their lives. But that hard work is always met with students recognizing the value of the labour and effort they dedicated to the dig.
For example, when Nikolay Parvanov, MA2 student in Classical Studies, encountered a complex set of layers, cuts, and fills, he was ready to embrace the challenge.
鈥淭here was one day when we took over one hundred elevations in a single afternoon because we had to document a layer with several cuts and their fills,鈥� Nikolay says. 鈥淪o, in general, I would say that I learned a lot about documentation and careful meticulous excavation.鈥�
Students rotated roles regularly, giving everyone a chance at working on different skills. The excavation work is complimented by weekly seminars on assigned readings, as well as guest lectures by faculty from the Universit脿 di Foggia, such as a lecture by Dr. Vincenzo Valenzano, a medieval pottery specialist from Foggia.
Culture and Community in Manfredonia
One aspect of the field course is the integration of community engagement.
鈥淚t is central to any project that archaeology is not done in a vacuum,鈥� says Totten. 鈥淭hat the pasts we work so hard to bring to the surface have not just intellectual meaning and relevance to us as researchers, but also to the communities that live in the same landscapes and sometimes with the monuments built by earlier generations of residents in the places that we work.鈥�
Some challenges faced by archaeologists include illicit excavations, looting, and the sale of stolen artifacts on the black market, which creates the task of demonstrating to communities the value of their past beyond the profit of selling these artifacts.
鈥淲e have had some interesting exchanges where either old men or their younger family members bring us bags of artifacts that they found or looted decades ago 鈥榮o we can study them鈥�,鈥� says Totten. 鈥淭his is difficult with so much time and distance and without any sense of archaeological context. However, we take this as an indication that we are getting through to people and the culture is changing.鈥�
Despite these challenges, students and researchers interact with locals daily and many students find the time to improve their Italian language skills, sample local cuisines and use their free weekends to travel within Italy. Totten also organizes a weekend group trip for the students to the Bay of Naples to see the Vesuvius and visit the site of Pompeii.
Over the years, Totten鈥檚 team has developed a special relationship with nearby landowner Antonio Rinaldi, who provides the team space on his farm for the storing of tools and findings during the field season.
鈥淗e loves our students,鈥� adds Totten. The dig coincides with the 鈥渇ioroni鈥� season, an Italian fig that proved to be a great hit with the students. 鈥淔or two weeks, Antonio arrives with a heaping basket of figs for the students. They are always so grateful because a team of 25 students frankly eats a lot of fruit. But they also feel the care and concern of Antonio and they appreciate that.鈥�
Discovery and Empathy in the Field
Although many students coming onto the project arrive with little to no experience in field work and excavation, their six-week long stay in Manfredonia affords them ample time to learn the necessary skills from Totten and her team.
鈥淚t is deeply satisfying to watch students who have had no experience in the field, by the end of the six weeks actually know how to engage archaeological methods,鈥� says Totten.
For Keona Gingras, U2 in Classics and Linguistics, CLAS 349 was a far cry from the 1-hour lectures she was used to. During her time on the dig, she was able to witness firsthand just how meticulous archeology can be. The importance of documenting each layer鈥� even small pits, potholes, and divots beside the wall needing to be photographed, sketched, measured鈥� was the biggest takeaway.
鈥淚t was an opportunity to build a great community with those I was digging with, and a great chance to act on what I鈥檝e learned so far in my degree,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e had a weekend trip to Pompeii, and everything I鈥檇 ever seen on a PowerPoint presentation was then in front of me.鈥�
An important part of the work on site is the documenting and interpreting of finds. Unexpected finds can also prove to be a surprising and important lesson in approaching one鈥檚 research through a different lens.
When Carys Foulds, a U3 student in Honours Classics, found a few infant burials in the room they were helping to excavate, the discovery inspired a deep sense of empathy within them.
鈥淚 think the most important research skill I developed when excavating a burial is greater empathy for past people,鈥� Carys says. 鈥淚n medieval Italy, infant mortality was very high, and so some historians have suggested that the loss of a child would not have impacted people then as much as it does now. But it's evident from the care put into very simple burials that such a loss would have impacted people greatly.鈥�
鈥淲hile "empathy" might not sound like a research skill, archaeology involves trying to interpret people's lives from what few things are left to us hundreds or even thousands of years later,鈥� Carys adds. 鈥淭his, in my mind, requires making an effort to imagine the world from an ancient person's perspective.鈥�
A Defining Experience for Students
Overall, despite the demanding work schedule and physical labor of excavating under the sun, students reflect fondly on their experience.
鈥淭he work is challenging in the best way possible,鈥� says Nikolay. 鈥淓ssentially, it made me feel invincible at times because of how much we accomplished. When there, I was entirely in the present moment because the whole experience was so very engaging, not to mention that I learned a whole lot about archaeology too and I improved my Italian quite a bit as well.鈥�
For Carys, the experience solidified their interest in classical archaeology and motivated them to think of their future studies within the field.
鈥淚'm planning to pursue more classical archaeology in my future studies,鈥� says Carys. 鈥淭he experience of doing archaeological fieldwork is so different from just reading about it. My experience at Siponto solidified my interest in pursuing more archaeology as I got to learn that I enjoy doing fieldwork.鈥�
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Application details and deadlines:
The 2025 Field course will run for six weeks from 18 May, 2025 to 28 June, 2025.
Applications for the Summer 2025 field season are due by Saturday 1 February 2025, and application details can be found here.
Please contact Professor Totten at darian.totten [at] mcgill.ca for questions regarding the application process.
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