June 29, 2010
Doug Minor
(603) 656-6184
About 75 miles northwest of Rome, a group of 20 Saint Anselm College students and faculty are braving heat and snakes to excavate what they believe is an Etruscan religious sanctuary.
The five-week annual excavation, led by professor David George, Ph.D., began in 2006 with seven Saint Anselm College students. Their original inclinations — that the site was a Roman villa — changed with discoveries of various ceramic pieces. The team, including students from other colleges, is documenting their trip with blogs, photos, and a map on their Web site, digumbria.com.
Saint Anselm professor Linda Rulman is responsible for documenting the dig, chemistry professor Mary Kate Donais is involved with chemical and mineralogical analysis, and classics professor Matthew Gonzales is a trench supervisor. Others involved in the dig are Claudio Bizzarri of the University of Camerino, co-director of the dig, field director Silvia Simonetti, and laboratory supervisor Francesca Bellagamba.
Follow the group at http://www.digumbria.com.