Bucknell University professors and students will embark on a trip this summer — an archaeological dig in Thebes, Greece.

Two university professors and six students will participate in the first excavation of Ismenion Hill in nearly 100 years, according to an April 18 Bucknell news release. After receiving approval on March 29, the excavation will begin June 14, said Julia Ferrante, the senior news writer in the Bucknell Office of Communications. Ferrante said plans for this excavation have been in the works for more than a year.

The joint project between Stephanie Larson and Kevin Daly, two classics professors at Bucknell, and Vassilis Aravantinos, ephor of prehistoric and classical antiquities for the Greek region of Boiotia and director of the Thebes Archaeological Museum, received funding through a $350,000 grant given in installments over a span of three years, Ferrante said. Other scholars from the United States and abroad will join the excavation, she said.

The dig will occur during the next few years, said Tom Evelyn, Bucknell spokesman, because the professors will travel back to campus as well.

Three juniors and three seniors were among the students chosen for the excavation, Ferrante said. The majority of the students are classics majors, but there is an anthropology major as well, she said. Ferrante said the students were selected because of their exceptional work at the university. A couple of the students have worked with Larson and Daly before, Ferrante said.

Evelyn said the dig presents an opportunity for Bucknell students to do hands-on research in their fields of study.

‘Some cases, the students chosen are students who plan to go on to graduate school doing this kind of research,’ he said. ‘Some are students who have studied this area and this period before and can bring a certain level of expertise.’

The area being excavated is of particular interest because large portions of it have never been excavated before, Ferrante said. Despite its significance, there have only been two limited excavations within the boundaries of Ismenion Hill, Daly said in the news release.

Daly and Larson could not give further comment on the topic until the team publishes results on the excavation, Daly said in an email.

‘This new dig presents a further opportunity toward expanding our knowledge of the city and restoring Thebes to its proper place on the cultural map,’ Daly said in the release.

In the release, Larson said the research team knows for sure that Ismenion Hill is a place of significance.

‘To some degree, we are going to let the archaeology dictate where we dig and how we proceed,’ she said in the release. ‘While we do have some specific questions, we also want the soil to tell us its history.’

Evelyn said the dig presents an opportunity for the students and professors because the excavation site has an archaeological value to those who study the classics.

He said: ‘There is no better place to study the classics than in Greece on one of the sites where we know that significant finds will be made.’

medelane@syr.edu

Published on April 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani