4 / Faculty Development
6 / Sweet Work Weeks
The Briar Wire Volume 11, Issue 3 | September/October 2025
Year Two of Sweet Briar’s Archaeology Field School Yields Valuable Insights For the second summer, students and faculty journeyed to Albania to participate in the Matohasanaj Archaeological Project as a part of the Sweet Briar’s archaeology and ancient studies program. Led by Assistant Professor Dr. Erin Pitt, the project is a professional research opportunity coupled with a field school. This year, Arin Armistead ‘25, Alyssa O’Quinn ‘26, and Bella Perdue ‘28 benefited from this unique hands-on program, learning excavation techniques, discovering artifacts, and exploring the region and other historical sites. This year’s cohort focused on expanding their understanding of the monumental building from the Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE) last year’s group discovered, hoping to understand the full extent of the building as well as possible additions or adjacent structures. While they used the majority of their efforts and time on the monument, they also investigated other areas within the fortress that suggested evidence of architectural remains, including opening
several small trenches where walls and worked bedrock suggested the areas had been used for housing, industrial purposes, and gates or entrances. Throughout the three-week project, the students worked with Dr. Pitt; the program’s co-director, Dr. Sabina Veseli; field director and adjunct instructor Mirgen Shametaj; and field supervisor Dr. Emily Glass, project officer for Archaeology Wales, to remove the latest soil deposits and rubble that had accumulated over the original floor surface of the monumental building. Each student was assigned a small feature or area that became the focus of their work and represented an important piece of their understanding of the later use and re-occupation of the building, including hearths/cooking surfaces, textile working areas, and post holes for later building phases. The three students were responsible for meticulous excavation, recording through photographs, illustrations, and information sheets, and a final writeup describing and interpreting their area.
The group’s hard work significantly expanded their knowledge of the later use and re-occupation of the site. They recovered an extensive building and occupation phase likely dating to the Late Antique (roughly 3rd-8th centuries CE) and Byzantine (330-1453 CE) periods, with evidence of both monumental building and public use, as well as daily industrial activities, specifically textile production. Their investigations also revealed an additional original entrance through the fortress’ massive defensive walls that was reworked and narrowed in a much later period. Since very little historical and archaeological information from this later period is known about these fortresses and this region in general, these findings are significant to the history of the area. “I am so proud to be able to offer an archaeological experience and field school as a component of Sweet Briar’s program,” said Dr. Pitt. “There is something very special about getting to do that fieldwork with your advisors and professors.”