This submission is written by Skylar Morgan, a junior at Tulane University studying Anthropology and Classical Studies with a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Skylar serves as a collections intern for Tulane's Middle American Research Institute (M.A.R.I) and is a member of various clubs across campus.

This summer I was one of two Tulane students who participated in the Pompeii I.14 Project, a five-week excavation in Pompeii, Italy. The project, led by Classical Studies Professor Allison Emmerson, examines urban life within the ancient city of Pompeii. In 79 CE, Mt. Vesuvius covered Pompeii in ash. Although two-thirds of the city has been cleared of that material, less than 5% of the city is excavated below the 79 CE level, with most excavations focusing on public or elite spaces. The goal of Pompeii I.14 is to uncover more “underwhelming” areas to better understand the stories of people who lived in less affluent areas.

Our work included almost every aspect of the excavation process. In the mornings, we would actively dig in our trenches while identifying and labeling different finds — like animal bones, ceramics, and charcoal. We learned how to look for soil changes and identify different soil textures and colors to pinpoint the time period. One of my favorite aspects of the project was the emphasis on excavators learning every aspect of fieldwork. Instead of excavating the whole day, we spent our afternoons working with the digital data team and training in finds processing and ceramics.

Dr. Emmerson organized the project so weekends were free time to explore the Bay of Naples, rest from the long work weeks, or conduct research. Most of my weekends consisted of immersing myself in Italian culture, and exploring beaches, restaurants, and archaeological sites. Outside of exploring the modern city of Pompeii, I also had the opportunity to conduct research in the ancient city — looking at mosaics and their use of protection over buildings. The opportunity to excavate at Pompeii was an amazing experience and I will forever be grateful to have participated in the project.

Tulane students Laura Malagrino (bottom left) and Skylar Morgan (bottom right) pose with other team members after hiking to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. Photo credit Ana Maria Nunez.

Student excavators Skylar Morgan, Ali Schwartz, Grace DiNapoli, and Noah Kreike-Martin looking at a particularly interesting find from the day. Photo credit Ana Maria Nunez.

Relive the fun of Wave Weekend 2024 with our highlight reel and slideshow, featuring all of the revelry from our annual Catch Up with the Dean event, game day tailgate, and more!
 

 

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Dr. Demetrius Williams (African American Religious History & Intro to the New Testament) was the professor that had the greatest impact on my career.  He was my first professor of color whom I could easily relate to.  He is a very well-educated minister and gifted scholar who helped shape my career path as a minister, social worker, community activist, and entrepreneur.

In discussing favorite professors, among the best was Robert Strong, Political Science department.  His writing assignments contributed to skills I use every day in my career, but his real impact on my life was cultivating my interest in twentieth century American foreign policy – which has absolutely nothing to do with my career – but remains a part of my life through the books I read to this day.  And the books he assigned still sit on my shelves, dog eared, highlighted, annotated, and occasionally reread.

I took a creative writing course with Professor Eric Trethewey that I think served me well, for a few reasons.  First, as a practical matter, writing is essential to my litigation practice, and that course was probably my first foray into really focusing on the importance of good writing and the skillset necessary to be a good writer.  Relatedly, it opened me up to thinking in a more critical way, while also focusing for the first time on reading poetry and some of the great books, something I had not done really begun to do until that point—and that I’m still working on!

The moment I stepped onto Tulane's campus, I knew it was the place for me.  My most memorable class at Tulane was 'The History of Louisiana'. No school can provide the opportunity to learn about something like the diverse blend of cultures that led to traditions, such as Mardi Gras, and then to experience it as well.

As a proud graduate of Tulane University, staying involved with the alumni community allows me to give back to the institution that helped shape my personal and professional journey. Serving on the National Alumni Board gives me the opportunity to connect with fellow alumni, contribute to the growth and development of the university, and support future generations of Tulanians. Tulane’s commitment to innovation, community, and academic excellence continues to inspire me, and I am honored to play a role in advancing its legacy.

From start to finish, an excavation season on Tulane University’s Pompeii I.14 Project takes precisely five weeks: 24 days for digging and recording below the floors of the Roman city, followed by one day to refill all the trenches, re-establishing the original floor level and making the site once again safe for the millions of tourists who visit each year. The success of that short period, however, is made possible by work across the entire year. As project director, I spend the fall writing reports and coordinating publication of the preceding season, as well as applying for the necessary funding to secure our work for another year. In the spring, I finalize the staff — approximately 40 professional archaeologists, graduate students, and undergraduates from Tulane and other institutions — and coordinate logistics that range from where we will open new trenches, to how we can most effectively incorporate emerging technologies, to which local deli will deliver the most nutritious lunches to the work site. As the spring semester winds down, the project launches into high gear, with everyone convening in the small modern town alongside the ruins that becomes our home for almost two months.

The Pompeii I.14 Project is a collaboration between Tulane and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, conducted under the purview of the Italian Ministry of Culture. We focus on reconstructing the lives of the city’s lower classes, which included a significant enslaved workforce. We are excavating a building complex located near the ancient amphitheater, with hopes to expand to the larger neighborhood in coming years. When Pompeii was destroyed by the volcano Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, our site — in the city block labeled by the modern address system as Region 1, Insula 14 — was used for various commercial and industrial functions with, by Roman standards, a decidedly low-status bent. In the first two years of the project, we’ve identified businesses such as sit-down and carry-away dining establishments, a variety of shops, and a workshop manufacturing reed mats and baskets. By digging below the floors of the eruption phase we are able to piece together life in the centuries preceding the disaster. Pompeii, after all, existed as a city for nearly 700 years before the eruption, and the plateau on which it is located was inhabited centuries before that.

The lower classes are always more difficult to access archaeologically than the elite. Not only did non-elites own fewer objects, but also their belongings were more likely to be made of materials that do not survive over time, such as wood, leather, fabric, and wicker. Our approach, therefore, brings together interdisciplinary, humanistic research with the sciences and cutting-edge technologies to recover as much information as possible from the excavation site. The data we collect varies widely, from the large-scale construction history encoded in the building’s walls and floors to stories told by small-scale artifacts — from the broken bits of ceramics, metal, and glass that we recover and study by the thousands each year, to the remains of food scraps less than a millimeter in size. Undertaking such a detailed analysis can reveal incredible insights; the recent find of a black peppercorn within a cesspit associated with the restaurant, for example, reveals that the food served there included expensive flavorings, suggesting a menu far from the simple breads and gruels long imagined to sustain the Roman masses. Grown on the western coast of India, the peppercorn likewise attests to the massive and cosmopolitan trade network in which Pompeii’s residents participated.

In addition to our research goals, we aim for the project to contribute to a more just future for Mediterranean archaeology, which remains among the least inclusive of liberal arts disciplines due especially to the high costs of travel for fieldwork. Our team includes undergraduate excavators from Tulane and other universities, whom we select via a competitive application and interview process. A recent study has shown that archaeological fieldwork in the Mediterranean costs an average of $5,000–6,000 a summer for an undergraduate, a price that immediately limits participation. Much of my effort throughout the year, therefore, is spent securing funding for the team’s living expenses, allowing a diverse group of students to participate at no or very little cost. Thus far, the work has been supported by a range of grants from Tulane—the Lavin Bernick Faculty Research Grant, COR Research Fellowship, School of Liberal Arts Faculty Fellowship, Mellon Assistant Professor Grant, and the Ernest Henry Riedel Fund in Classical Studies, as well as external grants from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation and the Rust Family Foundation. I am currently applying for larger governmental grants and am interested in collaborating also with private patrons.

My work in Pompeii is often met with surprise; research at the site has been ongoing for nearly 250 years, and many think the city must have given up its secrets long ago. That idea could not be further from the truth. Pompeii represents a unique archaeological laboratory, offering a range of data simply unmatched by any other Roman city. As long as we continue approaching it with new questions, new methods, and new perspectives, there will be no limit to what it can teach us about our shared human past.  

Discover more about the Pompeii I.14 Project

Explore a virtual rendering of the Pompeii site using this multimedia tool:



Listen to Professor Allison Emmerson discuss the last regular day in Pompeii on the HISTORY This Week podcast:

 
Watch archeologists prepare for a day of excavating at the Pompeii site:

As a chemistry major and Arabic minor, Lily Sahihi never imagined that her two passions would intersect. “Arabic and STEM have both played huge parts in my life, but I usually think about them in very separate contexts,” she shared. “Having the opportunity to combine these two studies into interdisciplinary research is something I never expected but I’m incredibly grateful to explore.”

During a class on Arabic root forms, Middle East & North African Senior Professor of Practice Bouchaib Gadir mentioned the similarities between Arabic and DNA in stem cells. “That seed was planted in my head, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Lily continued. She pulled out her notes from Arabic and biology classes and started forming connections. That day she reached out to Professor Gadir, explaining how she thought the concept had potential and the two applied for a research grant through Tulane’s Center for Engaged Learning & Teaching, which covered the cost of research materials and provided a student stipend.

After being notified that they received the grant, Dr. Gadir began to create short lessons and explanations on the semantics of the Arabic language as it relates to the stemming of roots, while Lily took that information and amalgamated it with research on stem cells and amino acids.

The research looks to draw parallels between the way that Arabic words are formed and the formation and functions of amino acids present in stem cell DNA. In Arabic lexicology, the “root” of a word is made up of three letters that create a core meaning. Prefixes, suffixes, and clitics (short forms of words that cannot stand alone and must be added to other words) are then added to form more specific nouns and verbs. For example, by taking the root k-t-b and adding vowels and suffixes, the words kitab (كتاب), which means book, katib (كاتِب), which means writer, maktaba (مَكتَبة), which means library, and many others can be formed. All of these words ultimately share the same root, and their meanings can be attributed to having to do with writing.

The ultimate base of the biological side of the research surrounds the fact that RNA is made up of a series of codons, which are created by a sequence of three nucleotides. This research also mainly focuses on stem cells, which, in their embryonic form, can divide into most or all cell types in an organism. The genetic makeup of these cells dictates what they will become, using a series of transcription factors that signify if certain genes (segments of DNA) will be active or inactive.

These genes are transcribed into RNA, which is made up of series — or three-letter nucleotide groupings known as codons. Each nucleotide is made of a ribose molecule, a phosphate group, and either adenine, guanine, cytosine, or uracil. The codon that three nucleotides form specifies the production of an amino acid. Each of the 20 amino acids that could be produced has a sequence of three nucleotides, along with specific traits and characteristics. Similar to the way Arabic roots dictate a core meaning, three nucleotides dictate an amino acid, and similar letter pairings and patterns also show noticeable similarities in the functions of their respective amino acids.

“Lily’s innovative research is grounded in critical thinking,” Professor Gadir said. “The skills she has developed, such as enhanced analytical abilities and the capacity to identify connections between different domains, are vital for engaging with diverse frameworks.”

The goal of this research is to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of both topics in such a way that research on each may contribute to the theorization of both. It also may contribute to the creation of new and novel models of genetic coding.

There are many nuances to this research including new studies of Arabic lexicology that suggest that some words that share two letters of the root share striking similarities in meaning, regardless of the third letter. This is furthered by looking at the amino acids that only share the same sequence of two letters and their functions.

“Lily's project embodies the goals of interdisciplinary research initiatives that seek to merge STEM disciplines with a liberal arts education,” Professor Gadir shared. “Her work highlights the importance of integrating various fields to gain a deeper understanding of complex issues.”