The Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition participated in the salvage campaign in the Fourth Cataract of the Nile occasioned by the creation of the reservoir behind the Merowe Dam, which occurred in 2008. Excavations and surveys were carried out at the gold-working site of Hosh el-Geruf and on the island of Umm Gebir, and all 111 tombs at the cemetery of al-Widay were excavated. Work at the latter site completely clarified the pottery chronology of the Old Kush II (ca. Egyptian Middle Kingdom) and the Old Kush III (Classic Kerma) times, and also clarifies the culture and time period of...

The Domitian villa, located in the comune of Sabaudia (LT) in Italy is a majestic, long living, roman imperial residence that occupies a peninsula of 46 hectares facing from east the Lake of Paola. This villa, as important and articulated as the Adrian’s one, is a case study of considerable value both from an archaeological and methodological point of view. The first documented excavations at the Villa were undertaken during the papacy of Innocent XIII (1721-1724). This work, conducted by Mons. Collicola...

“Excavations in the South Region of Chersonesos, 2001-2006: A Multidisciplinary Approach” will be a multi-authored publication coordinated by Dr. Adam Rabinowitz...

The Madrague de Giens wreck is one of the major milestones of nautical archaeology. 

For ten years (from 1972 to 1982) a team of maritime archaeologists began what constituted the first large scale, truly scientific, underwater excavation carried out in France. Situated on the Giens peninsula on the southern Mediterranean coast of France, the excavation soon revealed what seems to be the remains of a large merchantman sunk around 70-45 BCE. Eleven campaigns were then necessary to fully document the extensive remains (35,10 m in length, 9m in width) of this...

The city of Pompeii  was sealed in 79 A.D. by the eruption masses of Vesuvius at the Gulf of Naples in southern Italy. Thanks to this catastrophic event, Pompeii offers a unique set of data for the study of the urban fabric, various aspects of daily life and the economy and socio-ecology of an ancient city. This particular potential had been used by an interdisciplinary research project, which focused between 1997-2002 on one specific building lot. Works by the German Archaeological Institute in Rome and various partners included the documentation of standing structures and...

Located on a natural terrace on the western bank of the Euphrates, Mari (Tell Hariri, Syria) is a new city established in the Syro-Mesopotamian region around 2900 BC. Its privileged location makes it one of the most important Near Eastern cities of the 3^rd and 2^nd millennia. Among the great discoveries from this site, we can mention the exceptionally well-preserved architecture of the Grand Palais Royal (GPR) and the epigraphic documentation found in this palace (15,000 cuneiform tablets). Yet only a few texts depicted the...

The town-site of Yer Kurgan is situated in Kasan District, Qashkadaryo Viloyati, Uzbekistan. It is the second largest in Sogdiana (its area 170 hectares, i.e. 420 acres). Due it is unusual history, Yer-Kurgan is the only significant Sogdian site were the late antique strata can be easily reached. It has crucial importance for our understanding of the formative stages of Sogdian history, from the very moment when Sogdians got involved in Trans-continental trade to the time when they became the Masters of the Silk Road. On all other Sogdian town-sites early strata are covered by...

The spectacular ruins of Old Kandahar, in south Afghanistan, lie a little to the west of the modern city of the same name. A massive packed clay citadel is surrounded by a large enclosure of eroding mud brick fortifications running across the agricultural plain, up the slopes and along the sharp grey spine of the Qaitul ridge. During a brief period of peace in the 1970s the site was extensively excavated by a British team sponsored by the Society for Afghan Studies (then Society for South Asian...

The ancient town of Edfu is situated on the west bank of the Nile, halfway between Luxor and Aswan. Two names, Behedet and Djeba, are attested for Edfu for the Pharaonic Period. There is evidence for the former from the Old Kingdom onwards. Djeba, however, has its earliest attestation in the Middle Kingdom. This is probably also the origin of the Coptic name, which is Etbo. In the Ptolemaic Period, the town was called Apollinopolis Magna. In ancient times, Edfu was the capital of the 2nd Upper Egyptian nome and thus played an important role within the region. The...

Underwater archaeology in Israel began in 1960 and, already then, traces of submerged settlements were discovered. The first research took place in 1969, when the Neve-Yam site was exposed by a winter storm. Subsequently, during the early 1980s, a research project aimed at locating, excavating, salvage and research of submerged prehistoric settlements was established by E. Galili. Six decades of research has revealed 17 submerged prehistoric sites, containing...

The island of Thasos in northern Greece was colonized by the inhabitants of Paros island at the beginning of the seventh century BC, around 680 BC. Constructed during the 6th century BC, the military harbour of Thasos is in a...