History unearthed in first U.S.-Greek dig in Thebes

April Line, Bucknell University news, 12-11-2012

The first open lecture on the Thebes Excavation at Ismenion hill drew an excited crowd. The project is the first-ever joint Greek-American archeological dig at the site. The night began with Stephanie Larson, associate professor of classics, thanking student volunteers and highlighting some of their important finds from the past two seasons, which included beads, coins, and a sequence of letters on a clay rooftile that could have easily been missed. For each of the last two summers, Larson and fellow Associate Professor of Classics Kevin Daly have led groups of students to Thebes, Greece — cooperating with the Greek government and Ephorates of Antiquities to run this excavation.

Thebes is an unsung haven of significance in the field of antiquities. While it has long been suspected that Thebes’ civic and religious contributions have yet to be fully understood, the dig at the Ismenion hill, in cooperation with the 9th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the 23rd Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, will go a long way to defining the historical and cultural contributions of this major ancient Greek city-state. The team has already made a number of finds that signify Thebes’ importance in the classical world. One of the first projects the Bucknell team tackled was generating a consistent, electronic topographical map of Thebes.

Περισσότερα: http://bucknell.edu