From archaeology to cinema, Mellon grants support students' summer research

From an archaeological dig in the Republic of Macedonia to the role of music in Civil War films, Gettysburg College students will research a wide variety of topics this summer with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Katherine Haas will return to an ancient fortified urban settlement called Golemo Gradiste, where she served as site architect last summer, compiling field measurements to create a comprehensive map plan.

Haas, an anthropology major, said she hopes artifacts and other data will reveal more about "who the inhabitants of the site were, where they came from, what activities and occupations they participated in, and what was their group affiliation or ethnic identity."

Data from ground-penetrating radar will add a new dimension to Haas' work with Classics Prof. Carolyn Snively, whose work over the past decade has helped date the site to Late Antiquity, between 1,400 and 1,700 years ago. The dig is a cooperative project of Gettysburg College and the Museum of Macedonia in Skopje.