ISAC Sponsored Projects
ISAC Sponsored Projects
Excavation in Antiochia ad Cragum, Turkey
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From left: aerial photo of excavation site, Katie Brown, excavation group.
From left: Dr Tony Keddie, Hanna Lents, Gary Wallin, Lara Boleslawski, Katie Brown, Jamie Gunderson.
Summer of 2024, Dr. Keddie, with the assistance of department alumna Dr. Jaimie Gunderson, ran an archaeological field school and study trip in southern Turkey for AMR students. They opened excavations at a building known as the “East Church” at the site of Antiochia ad Cragum, a cliffside site overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Students received training in archaeological field methods and some GIS and photogrammetry, and on weekends they toured Roman and Byzantine archaeological sites all over southern Turkey, including the major pilgrimage centers of Saints Thecla, Philip, and Nicholas and the site of one of the most recently discovered ancient synagogues. The excavation season was very successful: with the help of Turkish workpeople and volunteers from other universities, our incredibly energetic UT team cleared between 1 and 2 meters of wall collapse, roots, and fill from the entire building and began stratigraphic excavations in two key areas; among their most important finds, they discovered the longest Greek inscription ever found during excavations in Antiochia (Katie uncovered it—see pic). Their excavations revealed that the building began as a monumental public structure in the Roman period before undergoing transformations in late antiquity that seem to have made it a church of unusual form. They also found that the building was still being used and renovated in the 700s and beyond. Dr. Keddie will bring a team of UT grads back to the building next year to resume excavations of this fascinating building.
The UT Papyrology Project in the John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester
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From left: Jordan Swanson, ISAC sponsored student group, Rikki Liu, and Lara Boleslawsky
In May 2024 Dr. Geoffrey Smith and a group of UT graduate students from Religious Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Classics worked on a collection of ancient manuscripts in the Rylands Library at the University of Manchester. They spent several days examining the Coptic “Limbo” Papyri, approximately 1200 neglected Coptic manuscripts that have remained in a state of “limbo” over the years. They worked to decipher handwriting, identify texts, and piece together small fragments of ancient books. They made some exciting discoveries, including magical texts, collections of well-known Christian writers, and even a couple copies of biblical texts. The manuscripts are now being prepared for conservation and imaging by the staff at the Rylands Library.
The UT Papyrology Project
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Since 2013, ISAC has sponsored several trips to Oxford University, where under faculty supervision students work directly with ancient manuscripts in the Oxyrhynchus collection.
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This past summer, students had the following experiences:
I returned to the Weston library at Oxford to continue working on a Coptic fragment containing a conversation between Jesus and Andrew from an unknown text. I was able to use our department's digital microscope not only to take images of magnified letter forms, but also to use the microscope's ultraviolet light to make previously invisible ink significantly more visible.
I worked towards transcribing an Egyptian oracle, preserved on a fragmentary papyrus sheet from the 3rd century CE, in hopes of publishing a new edition. The prophetic text recounts the devastation caused by foreign kings and foretells their eschatological destruction.
I had the opportunity to closely examine papyrus fragment P.Oxy. XXXI 2603, a highly stylized Christian letter of recommendation from the fourth century CE. The ability to work with this fragment, in conjunction with access to other archival material in the Oxyrhynchus collection, has enabled me to further develop my research on letter of recommendation rhetoric in the Pauline corpus, particularly in 2 Corinthians 3.
Ostia Synagogue Mapping,Archaeology, and Preservation Project.
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UT-OSMAP is a long-term archaeological project directed by Professor Emeritus L. Michael White under the auspices of the Superintendency of Archaeology for Ostia Antica, the ancient port city of Rome. After completing multiple successful seasons leading undergraduate and graduate students in excavations of Ostia’s synagogue complex, Dr. White is now preparing the final reports for publication.
The Early Manuscripts Electronic Library
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Through a donation of the Stokes Imaging Cradle (developed in Austin, TX), ISAC contributed to the EMEL project in its early days. Since then, the project has expanded, shedding new light on these fragile, early writings.
