Tell 'Acharneh is an impressive 77-hectare mound situated in the Orontes Valley of Western Syria. The site was occupied for many centuries in antiquity, and is believed to be ancient Tunip, a city known from ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Hittite inscriptions. Its most impressive occupation was during the Iron Age in the 8th century BC, when the site was heavily fortified with an outer enclosure wall and sloping ramparts. The city was destroyed around 721 BC during the campaigns of the Assyrian king Sargon II. It remained abandoned until the time of the First Crusade at the beginning of the 12th century, when it appears to have served as a Frankish military garrison and observation station. Funded by SSHRC, the excavations at Tell 'Acharneh are being conducted by a joint Canadian expedition comprising team members from Laval University and the University of British Columbia.
Monte Polizzo is a commanding hill-top site (725.9m asl) in the Trapani province of western Sicily, some 6 km. northwest of the town of Salemi, the excavation's base. The excavations were part of the Sicilian-Scandinavian Archaeological Project and focussed on Monte Polizzo's cultural development and interaction with neighbouring Phoenicio-Punic, Greek, and native sites. UBC worked alongside Stanford University on the acropolis, where houses and a ritual area were uncovered.
Mytilene is the most important city now and in antiquity of the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Since 1983 teams from UBC under the direction of Caroline and Hector Williams have been carrying out the first systematic investigation of the town which was home to the poet Sappho and the sage Pittakos. Excavations on the seaside acropolis within a sprawling Genoese castle of the 14th century have revealed a late classical/Hellenistic sanctuary to the fertility goddess Demeter as well as a burial chapel of the ruling medieval dynasty, the Gattelusi; near the North Harbour another excavation recovered a multi-period site that included a Turkish vampyre, a Roman tavern/brothel and part of the city's classical defensive wall.
Between 2004 and 2007 Dr. Thomas Hikade was co-director with Dr Renée Friedman from the British Museum at the important site of Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt. Their work there was funded by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2005-2007). The ancient site of Hierakonpolis (ancient Nekhen) lies approximately 80km south of modern day Luxor near the modern village of Kom el-Ahmar. The ancient town itself is located in the agricultural floodplain roughly 400 m from the desert’s edge. Due to the importance of the site and the richness of finds, excavations and surveys have been carried out in the region of ancient Nekhen for more than 100 years.
Since 1988 the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies has conducted a training excavation at the Lunt. Work has been concentrated on a newly opened area (20m x 38.25m) in the north-western part of the fort. It has been discovered that the western rampart followed a similar sinuous course to the one on the east, making the fort unique in Britain and without any true parallel throughout the Empire.
Located on the southernmost point of Asia Minor opposite Cyprus, Anemurium flourished as a small Roman town from the first through the seventh century C.E. U.B.C.'s investigation of the site, begun in 1970, uncovered much of the civic centre, including three public baths, theatre, town hall (basilica) and council chamber, as well as several early Christian churches and selected tombs in the city's spacious cemetery. Many of the buildings were adorned with colourful mosaic pavement and wall paintings which have required careful conservation. From the pottery, glass, coins, including examples minted locally, and the numerous minor objects found during excavation, the U.B.C. team was able to shed much light on the daily lives of the inhabitants.
Tell 'Acharneh is an impressive 77-hectare mound situated in the Orontes Valley of Western Syria. The site was occupied for many centuries in antiquity, and is believed to be ancient Tunip, a city known from ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Hittite inscriptions. Its most impressive occupation was during the Iron Age in the 8th century BC, when the site was heavily fortified with an outer enclosure wall and sloping ramparts. The city was destroyed around 721 BC during the campaigns of the Assyrian king Sargon II. It remained abandoned until the time of the First Crusade at the beginning of the 12th century, when it appears to have served as a Frankish military garrison and observation station. Funded by SSHRC, the excavations at Tell 'Acharneh are being conducted by a joint Canadian expedition comprising team members from Laval University and the University of British Columbia.
Monte Polizzo is a commanding hill-top site (725.9m asl) in the Trapani province of western Sicily, some 6 km. northwest of the town of Salemi, the excavation's base. The excavations were part of the Sicilian-Scandinavian Archaeological Project and focussed on Monte Polizzo's cultural development and interaction with neighbouring Phoenicio-Punic, Greek, and native sites. UBC worked alongside Stanford University on the acropolis, where houses and a ritual area were uncovered.
Mytilene is the most important city now and in antiquity of the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Since 1983 teams from UBC under the direction of Caroline and Hector Williams have been carrying out the first systematic investigation of the town which was home to the poet Sappho and the sage Pittakos. Excavations on the seaside acropolis within a sprawling Genoese castle of the 14th century have revealed a late classical/Hellenistic sanctuary to the fertility goddess Demeter as well as a burial chapel of the ruling medieval dynasty, the Gattelusi; near the North Harbour another excavation recovered a multi-period site that included a Turkish vampyre, a Roman tavern/brothel and part of the city's classical defensive wall.
Between 2004 and 2007 Dr. Thomas Hikade was co-director with Dr Renée Friedman from the British Museum at the important site of Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt. Their work there was funded by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2005-2007).
Since 1988 the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies has conducted a training excavation at the Lunt. Work has been concentrated on a newly opened area (20m x 38.25m) in the north-western part of the fort. It has been discovered that the western rampart followed a similar sinuous course to the one on the east, making the fort unique in Britain and without any true parallel throughout the Empire.
Located on the southernmost point of Asia Minor opposite Cyprus, Anemurium flourished as a small Roman town from the first through the seventh century C.E. U.B.C.'s investigation of the site, begun in 1970, uncovered much of the civic centre, including three public baths, theatre, town hall (basilica) and council chamber, as well as several early Christian churches and selected tombs in the city's spacious cemetery. Many of the buildings were adorned with colourful mosaic pavement and wall paintings which have required careful conservation. From the pottery, glass, coins, including examples minted locally, and the numerous minor objects found during excavation, the U.B.C. team was able to shed much light on the daily lives of the inhabitants.
