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James Robert McCredie
The Samothrace team mourns the passing of James R. McCredie, mentor, colleague, friend, and director of excavations in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods for 50 years. He was a giant of his generation. We, and the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, benefited from his sharp intelligence and keen intuition. JAMES ROBERT McCREDIE December 31, 1935…
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Water Under the Bridge? Questions and Challenges in the Central Ravine
By: Andrew Ward When it comes to major construction projects, the Classical world remembered attempts to control and channel water as keenly as more canonical architectural monuments. Archaic and Classical figures from the tyrant Polycrates to the Persian king Xerxes were either hailed for, or railed against, for the hubris of controlling water. By the…
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South Nekropolis Plan
Elsbeth Dusenbery devoted her research career to the excavation and publication of the nekropoleis near the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace. Her work appeared in Samothrace. Excavations Conducted by the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, volume 11, The Nekropoleis, published in 1998 by Princeton University Press.
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Octopi, Goats, and Bugs, Oh, My!
Even for those who have traveled to the island of Samothrace in past seasons, life on the island holds many surprises. Dominated by the towering peaks of Mount Fengari, the island’s rugged, mountainous landscape is contrasted by the azure blue sea that surrounds it. As one of our fellow teammates, Matthew, has remarked on several…
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To the Rescue! Excavating for Site Management
Excavation has a long and glorious history here on Samothrace. Antiquarians have visited the sanctuary since 1444, when Cyriacus of Ancona visited the Genoese nobility on the island and drew some of the sanctuary’s buildings. German, French, Greek, Austrian, and Czech teams have all completed excavations on the site; American excavations sponsored by New York…
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The Byzantine Mysteries
Commanding a majestic view of the central sanctuary, the Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike) would not have been left exposed to the elements up in her precinct. We believe that she was surrounded by a superstructure but what this building looked like, or even if it was roofed, remains a mystery. The superstructure appears to…
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The Topography of Sacred Space
Even a casual glance at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods will reveal that it is situated in a ravine so that the central sanctuary is flanked by one hill to the west and another to the east. How the topography of the landscape enhanced the Sanctuary’s effect on initiates and supplicants is less obvious.…
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Shading the Shellac: Drawing for Conservation
As conservators, we examine objects in all kinds of ways: we touch, we smell, we tap with bamboo skewers. But seldom do we actually draw the objects we treat. In general, high-resolution photography serves as our visual documentation. My classmate Kate Brugioni and I were delighted to discover that Samothracian objects often benefit from a…
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The “Archaeology” of Samothracian Archaeology
A key element in this season’s project of studying the architectural frame in which the Nike of Samothrace stood is the reconstruction of previous archaeological excavations in the area. Kirsten and I have undertaken this project of “excavating” the excavations of the 20th century. To begin this work, we read through the old excavation diaries…