Find A Dig

Find A Dig

Participating on an archaeological excavation is a unique and exciting way to experience history firsthand. For almost two decades, BAS has been connecting volunteers with the opportunity to participate in some of the most exciting archaeological excavations in the Near East. A wide variety of people take part in our featured digs, and individuals of many different ages, backgrounds, and cultures have come together to share the thrill of discovery.

Frequently, participants return with much more than just wonderful memories. Many of our volunteers have forged lifelong friendships—some have even met their future spouses while in the field!

Dozens of archaeological digs throughout Europe and the Middle East are looking for volunteers this summer to help them excavate history. Whether you’re interested in the worlds of Kings David and Solomon, want to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and the apostles, or search for the heroes of the Trojan War, we’ve got an archaeological dig for you. For each dig, we provide an in-depth description including location, historical and Biblical significance, and what the goals are for the season. You can also learn all about the dig directors and professors who will lead your summer adventure.

CURRENT DIGS

Israel

Abel Beth Maacah 
Apollonia-Arsuf
Ashdod-Yam
Azekah 
Bethsaida Excavations Project
‘Einot Amitai
Ein el-Jarba
El-Araj 
Hippos-Sussita 
Jezreel
Khirbet al-Ra‘i 
Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa 
Khirbet el-Eika
Khirbet el-Mastarah
Khirbet Majduliyya 
Kiriath-Jearim 
Kursi Beach 
Legio
Manot Cave
Mt. Zion 
Shikhin/Asochis 
Tel Achziv
Tel Akko 
The Tel Bet Yerah Archaeological Project
Tel Beth Shemesh
Tel Burna 
Tel Dan
Tel Dor
Tel Eton
Tel Gezer Water System
Tel Hadid 
Tel Hazor 
Tel Kabri 
Tel Megiddo
Tel Qedesh
Tel Shiloh 
Tel Shimron 
Tel Tsaf 
Tell es-Safi/Gath 
Tell Halif
Tell Keisan 
Tiberias
Timna 

Jordan

Abila of the Decapolis 
Dhiban
Khirbat al-Jariya
Khirbat Ataruz
Khirbat Iskandar 
Khirbet Safra 
Petra Garden and Pool Project
Tall el-Hammam
Tall Jalul

Egypt

City Of The Dead
The Fayum Field School

Turkey

Antiochia ad Cragum
Boncuklu

Cyprus

Idalion

Ancient World Mapping Center Wall Maps

Wall Maps Published in 2011 Now Re-Issued

November 28, 2018 in Publication

The seven large Wall Maps produced by the Center and published by Routledge in 2011 have gone out of print, and the rights have reverted to the Center. We are pleased to make all seven available digitally (Map 6 now incorporating small corrections). It is possible to print from these files. The series is openly licensed under Creative Commons by 4.0.

• View all seven maps both from a distance and up close. • Designed for use, not by specialists, but by students new to antiquity and by their instructors in introductory courses. • Clear, uncluttered presentation of places and features most likely to be encountered at this entry level. • Familiar English forms for names are normally marked (except on Map 7). No accompanying text or gazetteer. • Locator outline shows the scope of each map in relation to others in the set, incorporating the boundaries and names (abbreviated) of the modern countries covered.

Dimensions (in inches) are for the entire map, width x height. All maps are plotted on 300dpi satellite images in the public domain; landscape is returned to its ancient aspect. Inks/color palette: red, green, blue.

1. (70 x 50) Egypt and the Near East, 3000 to 1200 BCE. Scale: 1:1,750,000. Available here.

2. (70 x 50) Egypt and the Near East, 1200 to 500 BCE. Scale: 1:1,750,000. Available here.

3. (66 x 48) Greece and the Aegean in the Fifth Century BCE. Scale: 1:750,000. Available here.

4. (65 x 35) Greece and Persia in the Time of Alexander the Great. Scale: 1:4,000,000. Available here.

5. (70 x 58) Italy in the Mid-First Century CE. Scale: 1:775,000. Available here.

6. (65 x 50) The World of the New Testament and the Journeys of Paul. Scale: 1:1,750,000. Inset “New Testament Palestine” (Scale 1:350,000). Available here.

7. (75 x 56) The Roman Empire around 200 CE. Scale: 1:3,000,000. Available here.

Starting Next Week: MOOC: Biblical Archaeology: The archaeology of Ancient Israel and Judah, Aren Maeir

[First posted in AWOL 16 September 2018, updates 29 November 2018]

Biblical Archaeology: The archaeology of Ancient Israel and Judah, Aren Maeir

Join me for an introductory course on biblical archaeology of ancient Israel and Judah during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-586 BCE). 

In this course, we will use cutting-edge, inter-disciplinary archaeological research to explore the fascinating field of archaeology, the history of this era, and it’s “players”(e.g. Israel, Judah, Philistine, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Aram, Moab, Edom, ancient Egypt etc.).

Special focus will be given to complex relationship between archaeology, history and the bible, and how modern research interfaces between these different, and at times conflicting, sources. In particular, how can archaeology be used to understand the biblical text – and vice a versa.

The course will combine short video lectures with extensive illustrative materials, on-site discussions at relevant archaeological locations, display 3D images and discuss relevant archaeological finds.

In addition, it includes interviews with leading researchers in the field, both to discuss specific aspects, finds and sites, as well as to present different sides of debated issues.

What you'll learn

• How Archaeologists work
• Recent archaeological discoveries and findings
• The archaeology and history of ancient Israel and Judah
• The meaning of Biblical Archaeology and its relationship with the Hebrew Bible
• How to determine if archaeology - and biblical archaeology - is a potential career for you

• 
  Length: 8 weeks
• Effort: 3 to 4 hours per week
• Price: FREE 
  Add a Verified Certificate for $49 USD
• Institution: IsraelX
• Subject: History
• Level: Introductory
• Language: English
• Video Transcripts: English

Maps, GIS Data, and Archaeological Data for Corinth and Greece

Maps, GIS Data, and Archaeological Data for Corinth and Greece

We present this collection of modern and historical maps, GIS data, and resource links for archaeologists, novice cartographers, and experienced GIS users. Original material, redistributed copies, and modified versions are offered under Creative Commons licensing. Feel free to copy, share, remix, transform, and build upon the maps and data as long as the source and changes are documented and they remain free. Download links may be found for both high resolution TIF images and Shapefiles covering the Corinthia and beyond. Those who wish to finish the readymade maps with an image editor like Photoshop may click the links beneath each thumbnail map. Others with GIS skills to construct their own dynamic maps should see the GIS Data section. Sources for the data as well as other good open data resources are further down the page.

Readymade High-res Basemaps with Layers (click links to download)

	Greece Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 500m contours. Layers: administrative (national boundary, periferiesand Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient major settlements, railways, rivers, and roads.
	Peloponnese, Attica, and Southwestern Aegean(1:1,000,000) Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 200m contours. Layers: administrative (periferies and Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient places, railways, rivers, and roads.
	Attica and the Northeastern Peloponnese Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 200m contours. Layers: administrative (periferies and Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient places, railways, rivers, and roads.
	Corinthia (1:250,000) Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 100m contours. Layers: Ancient City Walls, administrative (periferiesand Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient places, railways, rivers, and roads. Scale bar.
	Bioitia (1:333,333) Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 200m contours. Layers: administrative (periferies and Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient places, railways, rivers, and roads. Scale bar.
	Crete (1:750,000) Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 250m contours. Layers: administrative (Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient places,  rivers, and roads. Scale bar.
	Attica (1:250,000) Two hi-res Geo-Tif basemaps: Color and B&W w/ 100m contours. Layers: Ancient City Walls, administrative (periferiesand Kallikrates demes), land cover, modern cities, Pleiades ancient places, railways, rivers, roads, and urban area. Scale bar.
*see the GIS data section for Greece for the data sources.
Corinth Archaeological Data and Basemaps by American School of Classical Studies at Athens are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

GIS Data

The archaeological data, basemap, shapefiles, and optional layer files (see bottom of page for use of layer files) can be downloaded and assembled into a dynamic map using GIS software. The Corinth material is our work. It is followed by redistributed copies and modified versions of regional data with sources noted.

Download

Corinth archaeological data: cover the Corinthia, the ancient city of Corinth, or the central archaeological site (WGS 84, zone 34N). We will add to these shapefiles when possible.

• City walls: line shapefile for the Classical and LR city walls.
• Monuments: these are non-adjacent overlapping polygons circumscribed around the subject with place/monument names attached.
• Sites: point file with archaeological sites and few museums in the Corinthia. Also in Google Earth KMZ.
• Central archaeological area, ca. 325 B.C.E: line file plan of the monuments of the main site just before the construction of the South Stoa.
• Peirene state plan: new topographical survey of the Peirene Fountain completed in 2006.  Dangerous and unsurveyed areas were supplemented by Hill's drawings.
• Classical houses: Buildings I-IV were resurveyed for Corinth VII.6
• Underground water system: new survey data used to 'rubbersheet' Hill's plan of the Peirene underground tunnels.

• Sacred caves: a group of ten caves (points) in the Corinthia and beyond, assembled from various sources noted in the data.

• Surface geology with layer file: polygon shapefile of central portion of the Corinthia.

Corinth orthophotos, DEMs, and other products: produced from low level aerial photos in Agisoft Photoscan.
	Corinth Archaeological Site, Scale 5cm pixels, UTM zone 34N Orthophotomosaic, GeoTif 169 Mb DEM (digital surface model), GeoTif 331 Mb 1 m contours, SHP 56 Mb
	Peirene, Scale 5mm pixels, UTM zone 34N Orthophotomosaic, GeoTif, 236 Mb
	Korakou, UTM zone 34N Orthophotomosaic 2015, 3cm pixels, GeoTif, 338 Mb DEM (digital surface model), 50cm pixels, GeoTif, 2 Mb 25 cm contours from 2002 survey, SHP, 1.3 Mb XYZ points from 2002 survey, TXT, 19 Kb State plan from Blegen 1921, GeoTif, 700 Kb Orthophotomosaic from 1962 aerial photos, GeoTif, 6 Mb

Historical maps of the Corinthia: These raster images are rubberheeted and georeferenced to modern control points in UTM, zone 34N. Each zipped file contains a TIF and a TFW world file.
	Francesco Morosini map of central Corinthia, 1687: 720Mb, Dated on Christmas day several months after his army made it's "fortunate shot" destroying the Ottoman powder magazine (the Parthenon) during the seige of Athens. It was drawn with south oriented to the top and split over six linen sheets. In this file it is reoriented north to the top and reassembled in one image before georeferencing. Ancient features, contemporary buildings and roads, fountains and springs, fortifications and towers, and topographic features are highlighted on this map. The area to the east of the Isthmus still has quite a bit of distortion.
	Pierre Peytier map of Ancient Corinth, 1829: 122Mb, a small but accurate survey by the Morea Expedition shows that the lines of many roads in the village remain unchanged.

Greece shapefiles with optional layer files: Coverage is the entire country or greater (various UTM). Sources and versions noted below. The layer files are optional, created by us, to enrich the visualization of the data.

• Ancient Place Names and Layer File (Pleiades): points, 6Mb. This modified version was translated from Pleiades original CSV to a shapefile.
• Ancient Theaters (geodata.gov.gr): 43 points, 4Kb. This ia a modified version in which Corinthian theaters were appended to the original file.
• Cities in English and Greek (geodata.gov.gr): points, 4Kb
• Cities in Greek (Geofabrik/OSM): points, 425Kb
• Coastline lines (Geofabrik/OSM); lines, 319Mb
• Coastline water polygon and Layer File (Geofabrik/OSM): polygons, 15Mb. For this modified version, we clipped the file to include the waters just beyond the borders of Greece.
• Modern administrative boundaries (geodata.gov.gr): Greece, line 8Mb; Kapodistrias plan 1997, polygon 6Mb; Kallikratis plan 2011, polygon 6Mb; Peripheries 2008, polygon 3.6Mb
• Natural Features like inland hydrology and forests with Layer File (Geofabrik/OSM): polygons, 12Mb
• Points of Interest (OSM): over 156,000 points in CSV format includes amenities, shops, historic, transportation, natural, etc.: edited file, 3.2Mb, and original 'flat' download, 3Mb. Geofabrik has convenient POI as well but the site far fewer points and less associated data.
• Railways and Layer File (Geofabrik/OSM): lines, 900Kb
• Roads and Layer File (Geofabrik/OSM): lines, 78Mb
• Rivers and Layer File (geodata.gov.gr): lines, 2Mb
• Settlements in English (geodata.gov.gr): points, 217Kb
• Urban Atlas cities (EEA): polygons, 185Mb, includes Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Iraklion, Larisa, Volos, Ioannina, Kavala, Kalamata (zones >100,000 pop.)
• Waterways and Layer File (Geofabrik/OSM): lines, 5Mb
• Corine Land Cover Inventory from 2000 and Layer File (geodata.gov.gr): polygons, 99Mb

Basemap, contours, and ASTER DEM: Coverage is 36-39 degrees latitude and 20-26 degrees longitude. ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA. Bathymetry derived from EMODnet data

• Basemap.zip,118 Mb and BasemapWIthBathymetry.zip, 326 Mb: intended as a backdrop for the shapefiles on this page. The file is a zipped GeoTiff with a world file (.tfw) generated from the DEM below with naturally colored visualization (similar to the color maps at the top of the page) based on elevation, slope, and hillshade to provide a pleasant and informative background for other data. It retains the resolution of the original data which is nominally 1 arc-second or about 30 m per pixel, though actually less.
• Contour lines at 50 m interval and Layer File: lines generated from DEM, 15Mb
• Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Layer File: raster, 88Mb.  Mosaic from 1 degree x 1 degree DEMs.
• The European Environment Agency also has some very nice 1 arcsec (~30m) base maps derived from SRTM and ASTER GDEM.
• BathymetryDEM.zip, 929 Mb, from EMODnet data.

*Note that the rivers and place name data may seem repetitive but each dataset has strengths and weaknesses.

*Greek names encoded with ISO 88597 and may not display properly in ArcGIS. Default encoding for ESRI must be set on Windows via "regedit" as per this ESRI support page.

And see AWOL's Roundup of Resources on Ancient Geography