The Gabii Project
Yale faculty and students are key actors in the ongoing Gabii Excavation Project outside of Rome. Since 2007, the Gabii Project has been excavating the Latin city of Gabii in order to study the formation and growth of a city-state that was, as neighbor and rival to Rome in the first millennium BCE, an important player in early Roman history. The Project’s research tackles big questions about the origins and evolution of urbanism in ancient Italy: from city planning to social stratification and the definition of elite and non-elite spaces and activities; and from the development of monumental civic architecture in the middle Republic to the abandonment and repurposing of the cityscape in the later imperial period.
Yale in Egypt
Under the aegis of “Yale in Egypt,” funded by the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Endowment for Egyptology, Yale currently has three archaeological projects in Egypt.
The City of the Baboon Project
Since 2022, the City of the Baboon Project has been excavating the city of Hermopolis Magna in middle Egypt, focusing on better understanding the organization and development of the urban fabric in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The Project’s work at the city center has brought to light new information about the construction and transformation of the early Christian basilica and its Hellenistic and Roman antecedents as well as the monumental complex around the so-called “Sphinx Gate”; meanwhile, excavations at the Temple of Ramesses II/Nero have shed new light on the dynamics surrounding the repurposing of sacred spaces in the Roman period, unearthing—most remarkably—the well-preserved remains of the eastern colossus.
Yale Monastic Archaeology Project (YMAP)
The project is organized under the executive direction of Stephen J. Davis. YMAP currently sponsors work at two centers of early Christian monasticism: the White Monastery near the town of Sohag and the Monastery of St. John the Little in the Wadi al-Natrun. The White Monastery project involves excavation and analysis of monastic remains; restoration and conservation of wall paintings; and architectural documentation of the main church. The Wadi al-Natrun project has conducted excavations of a monastic midden and a large mud-brick residence as well as archaeological surveys of almost one hundred other structures, including a central church.
Explore more on the project’s web page.
The Elkab Desert Survey Project
This project pursues digital survey and documentation of material in the Elkab Desert.