Staff and Contact Information
The Agora Excavations offices are located within the ancient Agora archaeological site, on the upper floor of the Stoa of Attalos. The offices in the Stoa of Attalos are open Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 2.30 pm. The offices can be reached by telephone (+30-210-3310963), by fax (+30-210-3310964), by email (), or by regular post at the following address: Athenian Agora Excavations, American School of Classical Studies, 54 Souidias Street, GR-106 76 Athens, Greece.
Director of Excavations
The director of the Athenian Agora Excavations is Prof. John McK. Camp II who can be contacted at the following addresses:
September-January
Department of Classics
Randolph-Macon College
Ashland, VA 23005
U.S.A.
Fax: (804) 7527231
January-August
American School of Classical Studies
54 Souidias Street
GR-106 76 Athens, Greece
Telephone: +30-210-3310963
Fax: +30-210-3310964
Records Office
The records office is responsible for general excavation records, for example excavators’ notebooks, cataloguing and storage of finds, files of mounted photographs, negative lists, publication references. The Records office is also responsible for general correspondence, orders for photographs, assistance for scholars publishing Agora finds and visiting scholars wishing to study already published material from the site. For further information, please contact either Jan Jordan (Secretary) or Sylvie Dumont (Registrar) at .
Photography and Archives
Photography is an excellent medium to record and illustrate quickly and objectively the archaeological record. Archaeological photography can be broadly divided into two categories; record photography of the actual excavations and object photography.
Stored in the Agora excavation photographic archives are several hundred thousand negatives and images that document work since 1931. Traditionally archaeological photography has been shot with black and white film, but color photography and more recently digital imaging are increasingly being used.
Photographs and slides can be ordered for study, lecture and publication purposes by contacting us. Orders are sent immediately after payment is made. Charges for postage and handling are also added.
Craig Mauzy
e-mail:
fax: +30 210-331-0964
Photographic Department
Agora Excavations
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
54 Souidias
GR 106 76 Athens
Greece
Architecture and Illustration
The primary task of the Architect is accurately surveying and drawing structural remains as they appear in the excavation to produce a durable three-dimensional record of what has been found. The superimposition of many generations of buildings, ancient to modern in as much as eight meters of archaeological context inevitably requires the dismantling of later structures to reveal earlier ones, consequently the drawn architectural record assumes a unique importance as a record of the evolving human built environment of Athens. A remarkably small group of people have shouldered the responsibility of this task since 1931, the giants among them are John Travlos who worked in six decades, and William Bell Dinsmoor, Jr. who recorded from the mid-sixties until his death in 1988.
The job of the Illustrator ranges from the preparation of accurately-dimensioned records of artifacts to the drawing of reconstructions. While photography produces facsimiles of what is, or may be, visible to the naked eye, drawing is a composite of measured points and marks that permit the reconstruction of profiles and poorly preserved decoration not detectable by a camera.
For further information, please contact Richard Anderson (Emeritus Architect) or Anne Hooton (Illustrator) at .
Conservation Department
The Conservation Department is responsible for the cleaning, reconstruction and restoration of artifacts from the annual excavation, and for the care of the collection housed in the Stoa of Attalos. Conservation respects the integrity of the object by using reversible treatments and materials, i.e. those that may be undone or removed in the future.
The conservation laboratory is run by conservator Karen Lovén, who is employed year round. Conservation student interns from around the world often join the lab for shorter or longer periods of time throughout the year to get hands-on experience and practical conservation training as part of their graduate-level degree requirements of their various universities.
Each summer, during the excavation season, the Conservation Department runs an internship program consisting of two conservation student internships. The internships give students an opportunity to treat freshly excavated archaeological finds and to participate in an active on-site conservation laboratory. Interns are also introduced to the re-treatment, preventive and long-term care of archaeological collections.
Students in graduate level university programs may apply for internships by sending a letter of interest, two letters of recommendation, and a CV to:
Karen Lovén
email:
fax: +30 210-331-0964
Conservation Department
Agora Excavations
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
54 Souidias
GR 106 76 Athens
Greece
Amphoras and Amphora Stamps
The Agora contains an important research collection of transport amphoras, the plain clay jars used for storing wine, oil, and other foodstuffs in antiquity. These are important artifacts for understanding the ancient economy, especially because there are often stamps impressed on amphora handles that reveal the place of origin of the materials they contained. The development of the collection and its recording was conducted under the inspiration of Virginia Grace, a member of the original Agora staff of 1931 who continued to work at the site until her death in 1994.
Requests for information concerning the Agora’s amphora and amphora stamp collection should be sent directly to Dr. Carolyn Koehler or Dr. Philippa Matheson at the following addresses:
Dr. Carolyn Koehler
Department of Ancient Studies
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore
Maryland 21250, USA
Fax: (401) 455 1027
Email:
Dr. Philippa Matheson
43 McKenzie Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 1K1 Canada
Email:
Information Technology
Our goal is the creation of a single integrated and coherent digital archive of all the archaeological resources at the Athenian Agora: from databases of antiquities, photographs, and architectural plans and drawings, to current excavation data, reports, and publications. This digital archive is searchable and accessible from anywhere and freely available to the public.
For further information, please contact Bruce Hartzler at .