Giorgio BuccellatiArchaeologyEducation Teaching The Institute Field projects Reports on field projects Interpretation Preservation Community archaeology Theory and digital analysis CV and institutional links Page background |
 Within the Palace walls in 1999 at the transition from quilt draping (background) to shaped tarps (foreground) |
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Last updated: February 2021 Back to top EducationMy early studies of archaeology were with Michelangelo Cagiano de Azevedo and Aristide Calderini, also briefly with Roberto Paribeni, at the Catholic University of Milan, where I was studying classical antiquities (1954-58). My main interest at the time was for the texts of the classical tradition, and so the study of archaeology served especially as a companion for philology and history. But an important dimension I derived from those years was a sensibility for a descriptive and stylistic analysis of the architecture and of the objects, seen as both documents for historical analysis and as works of art.In 1960 I began courses in Near Eastern archaeology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with Pierre Delougaz and Helene Kantor (and Marilyn Kelly, who was to become my wife, as their assistant). But it was at the suggestion of Thorkild Jacobsen that I was offered my first opportunity for field work – as epigraphist at Nippur in the 1962 season. The director was Carl Haines, and the chief archaeologist was Donald Hansen. Through the two of them I was exposed to a very matter-of-fact appreciation of the profound stratigraphic intuition with which they followed the equally intuitive work of the many shirgatis who were working with us. The situation was very tense in Iraq at the time (I left by mid January 1963, and Abd el-Karim Qasim, then prime minister, was killed in an uprising on February 8). We were quite isolated, with hardly any visitor (two memorable ones were Adam Falkenstein and Kurt Bittel). As a result, the four months of very close contact with Carl and Don were even more intense because of the isolation: I had a full immersion in field supervision and ceramic analysis, besides working on the relatively few texts that were found that year (which I then published in 1969). In 1966 Marilyn and I were married, and Marilyn organized a survey in the Palmyrene that suited our joint interests in the Amorites, and introduced me to survey techniques and to the beauty of the Syrian steppe. After the month we spent in Palmyra, and a long trip in Iran and Egypt, we went together to Nippur where we worked under the direction of James Knudstad. It was for me an exposure to another way of doing field work with Jim's admirable stratigraphic instinct, but still along the lines of my 1962 experience. In addition, this time I was responsible for the darkroom, which gave me a hands on experience on photographic documentation. In 1968, my third year at UCLA, Maurits Van Loon offered me the opportunity of joining him in the excavations at Korucutepe. James Sackett, my colleague at UCLA, offered me the possibility of benefitting from a UCLA Ford Foundation grant, which allowed me to take students to the field. Institutionally, it was a joint expedition, with Marilyn being in charge of ceramic analysis. But personally it meant for me a confrontation with a different kind of field work, with the standard type of control and documentation. I also owe it to Maurits to have shared with me his skills at managing a large staff: by osmosis, I was learning abut the task of directing a large project. Back to top The InstituteAt the same time, I became involved in plans for establishing an Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. I was in both the Division of Humanitiest through the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and the Division of the Social Sciences, through the Department of History, and as a young faculty member I had developed good relationships with senior faculty in both divisions, particularly with Marija Gimbutas and Pierre Delougaz on the one side, Clement Meighan, Walter Goldschmidt, James Hill and James Sackett on the other.My experience as a go-between was my main qualification for bringing to conclusion the process of establishing the Institute, and then to serve as its first Director from 1973 until 1983. My main goal was to have it serve as an intellectual home ground for great diverse talents, and the intense interaction with each and every one of them was the occasion, for me personally, to develop a finer and more articulate sensitivity for the discipline than I could have ever had otherwise. So the insitutional commitment served as a strong catalyst in my intellectual life as well. The goal was met, and my initial statement, as quoted in the current Institute website, is still valid today:
Back to top Field projectsFollowing my earlier field experiences, I undertook to organize a number of independent field projects.In 1972, Marilyn and I conducted a reconnaissance in southern Iraq, with the idea of looking for a site where to start a UCLA field project. We had settled on Dilbat, which we intended to excavate in conjunction with Giorgio Gullini who had established a first class Italian Institute for Archaeology in Baghdad. The Iraqi authorities had given their agreement in principle, and Gullini came to Los Angeles to finalize plans. He was with us in early 1976, just at the time when our son Federico was born. Later in the same year, I went to Baghdad with one of my UCLA graduate students, Michael Desrochers, to bring some equipment and to make final arrangements, when the Iraqi authorities abruptly changed their mind, and did not issue the excavation permit. With a quick change of course, and with the help of Yasin al-Khalesi, we were able to redirect our efforts to Syria, where Marilyn and I started work at Tell Ashara, ancient Terqa in the fall of 1976. Clement and Joan Meighan of UCLA were with us, and helped us set up the organization of the project. In 1977, Jim Knudstad joined us as architect, and I continued to learn from his wonderful stratigraphic sense that had so impressed us in Nippur in 1968. After eight years in Ashara, we began to look for a different site in the northern part of the Jezirah. Mario Liverani and Ismail Hijara were with us at the time, and it was with them that we undertook several trips to the north. After briefly considering Tell Fekheriya, we settled on Tell Mozan, where we began excavations in 1984. I put my full energy in this project, from a pragmatic point of view (aiming to create ideal working conditions within a well equipped research environment) as well as intellectually (with the development of a "grammatical" approach to the excavations). I had set myself the goal of making it possible to live for longer periods of time at the site, so that research could go hand in hand with the excavation itself. In the process, I became more and more aware of the need to preserve not only the archaeological, but also the natural, landscape, that had remained untouched around Mozan in contrast with the semi-industrial development that had occurred around other sites. In 2010 I drew up a proposal for an Urkesh Eco-archaeological Park, some fifty square kilometers in extension. This met with an uncommonly enthusiastic response on all sides, so as to become a parallel acitivity to the excavations proper. Here, too, the intellectual returns are great: by focusing on the modern situation I have come to identify more easily with the ancients' perception of their environment. In 2011 war broke our in Syria, and it became impossible for us to continue excavations at Tell Mozan. This led me to increase my involvement in community archaeology. While working on the excavations of Terqa and Urkesh I also became involved in other side projects: the excavations at Qraya (until then unknown, and rich of Protoliterate material); the excavations at Ziyada (as part of the Syrian salvage project on the Khabur); a reconnaisance in the Caucasus (where we thought we might start excavations to obtain a better appreciation of potential links between Mozan and this distant hinterland). I went back to Georgia in 2017 and 2018 as a guest of the Italian Ca' Foscari Expedition, under the direction of Elena Rova, with whom my wife Marilyn was collaborating. Back to top Teaching: Supervision of doctoral dissertations in archaeology
Reports on field projects
Interpretation
Preservation
Community archaeology
Theory and digital analysis
Page backgroundThe image used as the background for this page is the scan of a sherd's exterior surface from the excavations at Mozan (the same used for the Urkesh website). |