New articles published by Richard Hodges, AUR President

When AUR President Richard Hodges is not based in Rome at the helm of the University, he can often be found in a corner of the Mediterranean adding another excavation to his lengthy and esteemed list of digs. In the past couple of months, several articles by Professor Hodges reporting back on his excavations have been published in Archaeology magazines.

The first article was published in the September 2017 edition of Current World Archaeology, and here Professor Hodges reflects on the progress of excavations in Maremma, Tuscany, 35 years on from his first visit to the area. The area’s ancient settlements are well-researched and well-documented – thanks in part to earlier excavations by Professor Hodges himself – but on this occasion, the focus was on the area’s fortunes and failures in trade, politics and agriculture during the Middle Ages. Professor Hodges has been working on this ERC project in collaboration with Professor Giovanna Bianchi (Università di Siena).
 

Click here to read "Richard Hodges travels to Maremma".

The second article, “Placemakers”, is part of the January/February edition of Minerva magazine. This focuses on Professor Hodges’ other major archaeology project in Butrint, Albania. When Professor Hodges first worked on the site at Butrint, tourism was scarce in the area – and in the country as a whole. However, during the intervening years, the area has undergone a significant transformation, partly due to the archaeological site becoming a major tourist attraction. This led Professor Hodges to reflect on “placemaking”, the challenges faced by archaeologists who have the split responsibility of furthering the understanding of an area through their research, helping that area to use the findings to create an identity upon which to attract visitors, all at a sustainable level. You can read the article by clicking here, and you can read more about the project in Butrint by following this link, where you can also find some fantastic panoramic shots of the excavation. 
 

We look forward to catching up with Professor Hodges’ projects again soon!