Students plan dig near ancient Rome

An enthusiastic group of Classics students is trying to launch Concordia's first archeological project in Italy. They have drawn up a business plan for a dig in the Sabine region, near Rome, which will cost $1 million over five years, and already have a pledge for nearly half of that amount.

The student-run Eurisko Archeological Society has elicited a promise of substantial material support from the administrator of the Sabine district, where the project would take place. That expression of confidence earned approving interest from Concordia's own administrators, although no financial support has been pledged.

Eurisko is the brainchild of fourth-year Classics student Daniele Michi. He also co-founded the Concordia Undergraduate Fieldwork Association, which for several years has helped Concordia students organize and finance projects in other countries.

The group will launch a fund-raising campaign in October, and interest in the project in Italy is so strong, Michi said, that the work could begin as early as next summer.

"The site is not yet chosen," Michi said, "but we are hoping for a Roman town of the Sabine period or the late Republican period."

The whole region is rich in ancient artifacts, but the students know what they want. Excavating the handsome villa of a rich Roman would not be as rewarding as unearthing the modest homes and markets of a mixed community, which would tell the researchers much more about how ordinary people lived.

For three consecutive summers, researchers will excavate the site, and in the off-season, analyze their findings and publish them. After that, if the results justify it, they will organize another four- to five-year project similar to the first one. They are also developing an innovative software program that promises to dramatically shorten data analysis from 10 to 15 painstaking years to only three, Michi said.

So far, there are seven or eight active members of Eurisko, but there is room for six or seven more, and they need not be Classics majors. Some of the money raised in Eurisko's campaign will be spent to rent satellite time so that Geography students can do infrared mapping of the area. This will greatly speed the work by directing researchers to the most promising spots.

"Classics doesn't have a high profile in Canada, or even in the U.S., where there is more money, but it has so much to teach us about who we are and where we're going," Michi said. Western culture is so strongly rooted in the values and history of the ancient Greeks and the Romans that a solid grounding in the classics, including some knowledge of the languages, was essential for a true education well into the 20th century.

About one in five students who take introductory Classics courses express an interest in archeology, Sherwood has found. "But it costs money, and one thing that has kept interest down is that Concordia hasn't had its own project."

The CMLL Department is exploring the possibility of awarding three course credits to students who take part in the Sabine Project.

If you would like to help the Eurisko Archeological Society, please call Daniele Michi, at 276-2354, or the Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics, at 848-2310.