Stockholm university

Students from Stockholm University participate in a summer school in Piazza Armerina

From July 3, until July 17, an international Summer School of Archaeology (ArchLABS – Archaeological heritage in Late Antique and Byzantine Sicily) is being held in the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina in Sicily, one of the most famous complexes in the Mediterranean as well as a UNESCO site (this year celebrates its 25th anniversary). One of the participants is Stockholm University. The project is made possible by the new Erasmus BIP initiative.

Photo: Isabella Baldini
Photo: Isabella Baldini

It’s an international project being carried out thanks to the support of the European Erasmus Bip (Blended intensive program) and involves students from the universities of Athens, Bologna, Cyprus, Krakow, Oviedo, Stockholm and the Peloponnese as well as professors. Stockholm University is represented in the summer school by professor Arja Karivieri and four students.  

ArchLABS Summer School has its centre of interest in the Villa del Casale, considered a particularly representative element of Mediterranean housing in the Late Antique period (4th-century AD). 

– Participants are engaged in an excavation in the western part of the famous complex, an area that has never been excavated before and that was probably used for service and storage functions, says Arja Karivieri, professor at the Department of Archeology and Classical Studies.

In the course of summer school, students not only learn the techniques of stratigraphic excavation, but they also apply digital documentation methods based on digital techniques for collecting and managing archaeological data. Lessons held by experts in archaeology, history and restoration take place daily at Palazzo Trigona, supplementing the practical activities.  

The aim is that this experience can constitute a training model of excellence, to be continued over time and also developed in terms of a broader awareness of the issues of archaeology and the preservation of the cultural heritage of Sicily. 

– It’s hybrid philosophy, which combines online training and practice in the field, which meets the challenges of the period after the COVID-19 pandemic and takes European cooperation in research and learning to the next level, says Arja Karivieri.  

About the project
The initiative, coordinated by professor Isabella Baldini at the University of Bologna, is organized as a pilot project of CISEM - Centro Interuniversitario di Studi sull'Edilizia abitativa tardoantica nel Mediterraneo, as an agreement with the Archaeological Park of Morgantina and the Roman Villa del Casale directed by Liborio Calascibetta.

Also collaborating in the project are specialists from the National Research Council in Rome (CNR), the Kore University of Enna, the Superintendency and the South Florida University (USA), the latter specializing in digital technologies applied to archaeology.