Phase III Updates

Detail of a mosaic floor originally from a pool at Antioch and now installed in the library at Harvard Business School, depicting Tethys (with inscription) amid sea creatures within an octagonal frame. Stone and glass tesserae in lime mortar (now backed by modern concrete).

After a summer of visiting individual mosaic fragments in collections around the mid-Atlantic and New England, in Fall 2023 we initiated Phase III with a new team of student researchers bringing a variety of academic backgrounds to the project—from Near Eastern Studies to Neuroscience. After building a shared background on the site and its excavation history, researchers have begun to outline their individual workstreams, drawing from knowledge produced by students in earlier phases and their own academic formations. Projects include: an exploration of Dionysos at Antioch, a comparative analysis of the techniques that mosaic artists used to depict faces, analysis of the shipping data, an exploration of the myth of Europa, a study of non-figural mosaics and framing, an update to our Artstor metadata, an investigation of the sensory aspects of traversing mosaic floors, and an investigation of how American cities in the early 20th century used Antioch as a frame for thinking about urbanization. Dr. Nicole Berlin, curator at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, joined us to share insights from her upcoming exhibition about the archaeology of Antioch and we look forward to visiting Dr. Williams at Dumbarton Oaks later in the semester.