UNEARTHING THE PAST SINCE 1900
  • BECOME A MEMBER
  • RENEW
  • GIVE NOW
  • SEARCH
  • ONLINE PORTAL
  • American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)
  • About
    • WELCOME FROM ASOR OFFICERS
    • FACTS & FIGURES—ASOR
    • MISSION, BYLAWS, & STRATEGIC PLAN
    • HISTORY OF ASOR
    • COMMITTEES
    • POLICIES
    • FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
    • ASOR’s Honors and Awards
    • AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTERS
    • CONTACT US—ASOR
  • INITIATIVES
    & PROJECTS
    • ASOR CULTURAL HERITAGE INITIATIVES
    • ASOR-AFFILIATED ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS
    • ASOR ARCHIVES
    • ONLINE RESOURCES
    • ASOR PUBLICATIONS
    • LEVANTINE CERAMICS PROJECT
    • WOMEN OF ASOR MAP
  • ANNUAL
    MEETING
    • REGISTRATION
    • HOTEL RESERVATIONS
    • Annual Meeting Schedules
    • SPONSOR & EXHIBIT
    • ASOR Online Library
    • HONORS & AWARDS
    • ANNUAL MEETING SCHOLARSHIPS
    • PAST & FUTURE ANNUAL MEETINGS
  • MEMBERSHIP
    • INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIPS
    • INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
    • ONLINE RESOURCES
    • MEMBER DIRECTORY
    • FY24 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
    • ASOR LEGACY CIRCLE
    • FRIENDS OF ASOR
    • Friends of ASOR Webinars
  • FELLOWSHIPS
    & GRANTS
    • SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FIELDWORK PARTICIPATION
    • GRANTS FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS
    • RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS FOR MEMBERS
    • MEMBERSHIP & ANNUAL MEETING SCHOLARSHIPS
    • ASOR-AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTERS FELLOWSHIPS
    • OTHER FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS
  • PUBLICATIONS
    & RESOURCES
    • BULLETIN OF ASOR
    • JOURNAL OF CUNEIFORM STUDIES
    • NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY
    • MAARAV
    • NEWS@ASOR
    • THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY
    • ASOR Online Library
    • LEVANTINE CERAMICS PROJECT
    • BOOK SERIES & MONOGRAPHS
    • EARLY CAREER MEMBER RESOURCES
  • NEWS &
    EVENTS
    • PAST ASOR NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH
    • NEWS@ASOR
    • THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY
    • LIFETIME HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
    • FY24 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
  • WAYS TO
    DONATE
Aerial view of the island of Motya, Sicily, Italy.

 SHARE

 
 
 
 
 

NEWS@ASOR E-NEWSLETTER

ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY E-NEWSLETTER

PAST ASOR NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH

ASOR LEGACY CIRCLE MEMBERS

LIFETIME HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

FY24 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

ASOR ANNUAL MEETING

2024 Dana Grant Report: Modeling Punic Space at Motya

Jason Herrmann, University of Pennsylvania and Paola Sconzo, University of Palermo

Ancient Motya (modern Isola San Pantaleo, Sicily, Italy), founded in the late 8th century BCE by Phoenician wayfarers, was a significant hub in the central Mediterranean, serving as a crucial point of contact between Carthage and Sicily at the city’s height in the 5th century BCE. Unlike many other Phoenician-Punic urban centers, Motya has remained largely undisturbed by subsequent occupations, offering archaeologists a rare and valuable opportunity to study Punic urban planning in its original context.

Since 2017, we have been conducting comprehensive geophysical surveys on the island for the Space and Identity at Ancient Motya project. Our goal is to map the layout of the city’s structures and to use their configuration to interpret Motya’s social organization and expressions of ethnic identity. This project is a collaboration between the University of Palermo and the Penn Museum and operates as a subproject under the University of Palermo Archaeological Mission to Motya, with the support of the Superintendency for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Trapani.

View of Motya
Fig. 1. Motya was situated on an island in the Marsala Stagnone in western Sicily. By the 5th century BCE, the fortified city of Motya covered the entire island and was connected to the Sicilian mainland by a causeway, now submerged and visible in the foreground of the above image.
Students and team members on the boat to site.
Fig. 2. Many students and team members were housed on the Sicilian mainland and traveled by boat to and from Motya daily for fieldwork.

Thanks to the support of the ASOR Stevan B. Dana Grant, our multidisciplinary project was able to continue with the assistance of an international team of eleven students from the University of Palermo and the University of Pennsylvania. These students contributed to both the geophysical survey and the ongoing excavations carried out toward two primary objectives. The first was to expand the geophysical survey coverage beyond the areas that were accessible for magnetic gradiometry in previous years. To this end, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical soil resistance helped to document subsurface features where vegetation or other surface conditions made magnetic gradiometry unfeasible.

Our second goal was to further investigate ambiguous features observed in the magnetic gradiometry that required additional clarification. One area of particular interest was a depression in the northeast sector of the island where magnetic data were inconclusive. Here we employed GPR, a technique that measures how radio waves are reflected off changes in the textures of buried materials. Preliminary results show that, unlike the rest of the island, this area was not covered with streets and houses during Motya’s urban expansion, suggesting that it was reserved for some special purpose.

Excavation of Motya's fortification wall.
Fig. 3. Excavation continued in protected contexts adjacent to the Motya’s fortification wall where early 6th and 7th century contexts are preserved.
Team members in pit revealed by magnetic gradiometry data.
Fig. 4. Features observed in the geophysical data from previous seasons were verified through test excavations, including a deep pit that was visible in the magnetic gradiometry data and seemed to date to the early 6th and 7th centuries BCE. From left: Prof. Giuseppe Minunno, Helen Wong and Sarah Maria Messina.

We were also interested in determining the depths of key features across the island to aid the development of a digital reconstruction of the ancient city and landscape. For this, we combined GPR with electrical soil resistance, a method that measures the ease with which an electrical current travels in sediments, to measure the depth of streets that had been previously mapped in the magnetic data. Unlike magnetic gradiometry, GPR and electrical resistance data allow for precise estimation of the depths of the observed features, providing critical information for reconstructing the ancient city’s layout.

We thank ASOR and the Stevan B. Dana project grant for enabling broad student participation in our 2024 field season. Because of this support, we have been able to come closer to a complete map of Motya’s ancient urban plan with geophysical survey and have been able to verify some of the features we observed in the geophysical data through excavation. This information, supported by data from aerial surveys, surface collection, and legacy excavations is enabling us to develop detailed interpretations of the use of space for multiple phases of the life of ancient Motya, and establish a strong foundation for future work on this island site.

Team members conducting ground-penetrating radar survey
Fig. 5. Ground-penetrating radar surveys were carried out on areas where we wanted to confirm our interpretations of the magnetic data or where other geophysical surveys would not be effective because of the surface conditions. From left: Helen Wong and Mary Elizabeth Alexander.

Learn more on the project’s website.

Follow the Mozia Project and UPenn’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials on Instagram.

Read about applying for a 2025 ASOR Project Grant. 

BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE

  • 2025 Call for Vice President
  • Fieldwork Report: Christos Theodorou
  • Message from ASOR’s Board Chair
  • Fieldwork Report: Ofelia Tychon

Latest Posts from @ASORResearch

asor_research

Initiating and supporting research of the history and cultures of the Near East and wider Mediterranean world.


Ofelia Tychon, a 2024 Katherine Barton Platt Field
Ofelia Tychon, a 2024 Katherine Barton Platt Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient, excavated with the Rural Landscapes of Iron Age Imperial Mesopotamia Project near Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Read about Ofelia’s exciting experience excavating in the Assyrian heartland by clicking the link in our bio.


Join the Classical Association of Scotland online
Join the Classical Association of Scotland online this summer to explore the world of ancient languages including Sumerian, Hurrian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, and more! Courses range in experience from beginner to advanced in both Latin and Greek. Registration closes May 28th! For more information, click the link in our bio.


Registration is NOW OPEN! Join our first-ever Frie
Registration is NOW OPEN! Join our first-ever Friends of ASOR tour in Chicago on September 18 and 19 for an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience. We will be kicking off our two-day jaunt with the grand opening of a special exhibit on Megiddo at the iconic Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, followed by walking tours, and day two will be full of visits to the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian galleries at the impressive Art Institute of Chicago and the renowned Field Museum of Natural History, home to the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Registration and details can be found at the link in our bio!


When the Assyrian king Sennacherib was assassinate
When the Assyrian king Sennacherib was assassinated in 680 BC, it launched a civil war amongst his sons. How did Esarhaddon come out on top? And what were the consequences for the Assyrian kingdom? Read Christopher Jones's article in today's issue of Ancient Near East Today by clicking the link in our bio.


Don't forget to join us TODAY at 7:00pm ET for our
Don't forget to join us TODAY at 7:00pm ET for our last FOA Webinar, "The Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace: Beauty, Power, and Presence in the Neo-Assyrian World, c. 865–705 BCE," presented by Dr. Amy Gansell. You can still register by clicking the link in our bio.
#FOAWebinars


Congratulations to the 2025 Project Grant and Rese
Congratulations to the 2025 Project Grant and Research Fellowship Awardees! This year’s awardees will conduct research and fieldwork in Iraq, Cyprus, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Libya. Click the link in bio to see a full list of the awardees. @dig_prehistory @reland.unipa @drsilviaamicone @kurdqaburstanproject @tellatchana


Our newest Annual of ASOR, Ethics in Archaeologica
Our newest Annual of ASOR, Ethics in Archaeological Practice from editors Sarah Costello and Sarah Lepinski, is now available for purchase at a discounted price for ASOR members. The volume raises contemporary ethical questions around race, gender, disability, climate change, and cultural heritage that are pressing and relevant to archaeology students and professionals worldwide. Learn more by clicking the link in our bio.


ASOR is pleased to announce 12 new field and publi
ASOR is pleased to announce 12 new field and publication projects have received ASOR affiliation since last summer. These projects cover sites in Italy, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Israel, and Cyprus. Learn more about these new ASOR-affiliated projects by clicking the link in our bio.


ASOR invites Roundtable Proposals for the 2025 Ann
ASOR invites Roundtable Proposals for the 2025 Annual Meeting. Roundtables are an ideal format for informal discussion on topics of general interest in the field, collaboration on publication projects or future member-organized sessions relevant to meeting attendees. Proposals of 250 words or less may be submitted by members and exhibitors attending the 2025 Annual Meeting in-person. Learn more and submit your roundtable proposal by clicking the link in our bio.


Join us for our LAST FOA Webinar of the season: "T
Join us for our LAST FOA Webinar of the season: "The Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace: Beauty, Power, and Presence in the Neo-Assyrian World, c. 865–705 BCE," presented by Dr. Amy Gansell on Wednesday, May 14th at 7:00pm ET. Nearly three thousand years ago, at the ancient site of Nimrud, a succession of ten Neo-Assyrian kings reigned in collaboration with their queens from the magnificence of the Northwest Palace, the seat of the empire. Too often overshadowed by the well documented legacy of Neo-Assyrian kings, this presentation illuminates the queens who reigned with them. Register for the free lecture by clicking the link in our bio.
#FOAWebinars


Disability has always been a part of human history
Disability has always been a part of human history, including in ancient Egypt. However, until recently the subject has rarely been studied in Egyptology or in a broader ancient world studies context. Read more about disability in Ancient Egypt in the newest ANE Today by Alexandra Morris by clicking the link in our bio.
#ANEToday


Make sure to join us TOMORROW at 2:00pm ET for our
Make sure to join us TOMORROW at 2:00pm ET for our FOA Webinar, "A Window on the Silk Road: Archaeology in Medieval Armenia," presented by Dr. Kate Franklin. You can still register by clicking the link in our bio. #FOAWebinars


Rubar Yavuz received a 2024 Eric and Carol Meyers
Rubar Yavuz received a 2024 Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Scholarship to excavate with the Tayinat Archaeological Project in the Amuq Valley, Turkey. Read about Rubar's experience excavating an Iron Age pavement at the site by clicking the link in our bio.


Join us in Boston for ASOR’s 2025 Annual Meeting
Join us in Boston for ASOR’s 2025 Annual Meeting, November 19-22, at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza. ASOR has negotiated a discounted rate of $189 (plus tax), and the destination fee is waived for ASOR attendees. Don’t miss your chance to stay at this Boston landmark hotel at ASOR’s great rate – make your reservation online by clicking the link in our bio.


ASOR is celebrating its 125th anniversary, but the
ASOR is celebrating its 125th anniversary, but the celebration isn't complete without you, our members! Please fill out our short Call for Memories and send us your favorite ASOR-related anecdotes, memories, and photos to help us honor 125 years of being a flagship for archaeology, history, and cultural heritage in the Middle East and wider Mediterranean. We’ll be putting together a slideshow presentation of your favorite ASOR moments for our anniversary celebration during this year’s Annual Meeting in Boston. Click the link in our bio.


Read the latest fieldwork report from Brady Hill.
Read the latest fieldwork report from Brady Hill. Brady received a 2024 G. Ernest Wright Fieldwork Scholarship to excavate at the site of Kani Shaie in Iraqi Kurdistan. Read about his experience recording pottery in the "Lower Town" by clicking the link in our bio.


Make sure to register for our next FOA Webinar: "A
Make sure to register for our next FOA Webinar: "A Window on the Silk Road: Archaeology in Medieval Armenia," presented by Dr. Kate Franklin on Wednesday, April 30th at 2:00pm ET. To imagine the medieval Silk Road is to conjure up images of exotic commerce: camel caravans crossing wind-swept dunes, bustling city bazaars, silks and spices spilling from saddlebags. Drawing on textual, architectural and archaeological evidence, this talk explores the social lives of people living not in the city centers of medieval commerce, but in the places in-between, along the road. Sign up for the free lecture by clicking the link in our bio.
#FOAWebinars


Happy World Heritage Day! In honor of the current
Happy World Heritage Day! In honor of the current theme, “Disaster and Conflict Resilient Heritage – Preparedness, Response and Recovery,” today is a fitting day to explore ASOR’s free tutorials on documentation and mapping software for heritage protection. Knowledge is strength! https://www.asor.org/chi/chi-tutorials #WorldHeritageDay


Most of our approaches to identity in antiquity fi
Most of our approaches to identity in antiquity fixate upon a binary, constructed in modern scholarship. But individuals embrace multiple collective identities, whether social, ideological, or kin-related. So how should we approach the complexity of such identities in antiquity? Read the newest ANE Today by Aaron Burke by clicking the link in our bio.


ASOR was honored to welcome our Libyan colleagues,
ASOR was honored to welcome our Libyan colleagues, Dr. Mohammed Faraj Mohammed Al-Fallos (Chairman, Board of Directors, Department of Antiquities), Mr. Ashraf Mohammed Eletaeb (Director, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Mr. Rabi’i Yousef Milad (Advisor, Department of International Law and Treaties, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and Dr. Ahmad Emrage (Member, Board of Directors, Department of Antiquities) to our office in Alexandria on Monday for a presentation on ASOR’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives and a productive discussion on past and future collaborations to protect, preserve, and promote Libyan cultural heritage.

Following our meeting in Alexandria, we all shared a fascinating tour of the Library of Congress. Thank you very much to Dr. Muhannad Salhi of the African and Middle Eastern Division for an enlightening conversation about the long history of connections between the US and Libya, the contents and management of the Library’s collection, and the story behind the construction and decoration of the Library of Congress building. #CulturalHeritage #ASORCHI



Instagram

Stay updated with the latest insights, photos, and news by following us on Instagram!

Follow Us on Instagram

American Society of Overseas Research
The James F. Strange Center
209 Commerce Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

E-mail: info@asor.org

© 2023 ASOR
All rights reserved.
Images licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Contact Us
Membership
Give
Friends of ASOR
ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives
Terms of Use

COVID-19 Update: Please consider making payments or gifts on our secure Online Portal. Please e-mail info@asor.org if you have questions or need help.

Follow us on:
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
LinkedIn