The San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project
Report on 2022 Excavation and Mason Field School
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Johnson Center, Meeting Room C
The study of archaeology is growing at Mason!
After two years of delayed fieldwork due to the pandemic, in summer 2022 archaeological research returned to action in many parts of the world. Mason students took full advantage of the opportunity by attending the San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project for a study abroad course led by Dr. Jamie Aprile (adjunct professor of Anthropology at Mason) and colleagues from Baylor University in Texas and Anderson University in South Carolina. Students engaged in hands-on training in archaeological field methods by working side-by-side with project specialists on excavation and basic artifact analysis at the central Italian site of San Giuliano where a medieval community (ca. 1100 CE) was built over an Etruscan settlement whose looted cemetery (7th- 5th centuries BCE) surrounds the habitation plateau. We also had the pleasure of hosting a film crew from the Discovery Channel program, Expedition Unknown, which featured San Giuliano in their episode, “Finding Italy’s Lost Empire,” that premiered on August 31. Despite the summer heat, we put in long hours to discover a medieval cemetery near a previously excavated building and a possible Etruscan burial tumulus!
Join Dr. Jamie Aprile and student alumni from the program to learn more about our 2022 discoveries and 2023 goals at a public lecture next week!
