Kevin appears quiet, but when he speaks, every word delivers laughter in its wake. The twenty-year-old University at Buffalo Classics Major, focusing on Mediterranean Archaeology and entering his junior year, has a deep notice of and care for other people. Whether it is in making others laugh or in his attention to social and political issues across the world, Kevin’s often introverted nature is the opposite of coldness or callousness—he can often be found up late with his new friends, faces illuminated by the dancing flames of candle-light, or sitting and truly listening to those who speak to him. Likewise, Kevin consistently pushes himself and values the needs of those around him: On site, he is at the ready to lend a helping hand and to jump into the fray whenever he has the ability, working diligently as he pulls special finds, spotted with his careful eye, from the ground without a single complaint (unless it is for the sake of comedic relief). He identified this dynamic as being a “mixture of having a group of people…that you have to watch out for, but they’re also watching out for you…[so you must] also rely on yourself to a certain extent”—celebrating the autonomy that excavation brings while having an eye for the bigger picture in which everyone is interconnected.
Academically, this care and understanding of embeddedness once manifested itself in his original major, political science. Although Kevin switched his trajectory to Classics recently because it is better suited to his strengths and he felt that he had a strong enough foundation in the former, he finds importance and cross-over in both fields of study: “One is…looking at the past and seeing…what happened and why it happened and how, and the other is [looking at] what is happening now and what should happen in the future and how to…achieve that”; however, according to Kevin, looking to the past, in fact, opens the doors to insights on further action. Thus, his tracing of “how oppressed groups… are fighting for their rights” in the contemporary moment finds an academic parallel in his preferred period of study, the Julio-Claudian dynasty and end of the Roman Republic. Regarding this “period of change…for the whole area,” Kevin sees studying the continuity of pre-Roman identities in a similar vein to his attention to suppressed populations since, as Rome conquered its neighbors, “the [conquered]
cultures still…remain[ed].” For this ethics-bent student, uncovering the IMPERO site of Podere Cannicci, situated in this period and shedding light on the Romanization of the Etruscan landscape, is the perfect means to be a part of the information gathering process that he finds to be crucial to the study of history and the reclamation of narratives of bricolage, allowing him to participate in “further expanding the knowledge that we already have[, which is]…important because…in order to understand something, you need as much information as you can get.” Therefore, even though he finds himself attracted to a variety of subject matter as “a fan of [being a]…jack of all trades,” this paradigm draws him to studying a the religions, lifestyles, and governments of different peoples in particular.
Further, in this attention to the continuity of lived life, Kevin finds himself fascinated with cities. On one level, he has an appreciation for architecture in and of itself; on the other, “cities…are…the culmination of a lot of human influence…and it’s interesting to see how…that turns into structures.” He, therefore, was especially fond of the trips that the IMPERO Team conducted, following our directors across streets worn by the tread of generations of footsteps and past buildings bearing the traces of their inception and the labor conducted within them. Podere Cannicci itself, however, likewise attested to the suitability of Mediterranean Archaeology to Kevin’s specific interests: Having participated in a field school at the University at Buffalo in the past, he found that the Native American archaeology conducted there “was more focused on the artifacts themselves” rather than the structures due to the latter’s relative invisibility or absence—The IMPERO Project and archaeology in this region at large, in contradistinction, allow Kevin to bask in his passion for architecture and permit him to better imagine the daily lives of the people of the past. Since he had only ever travelled with his family or on a school field trip to Washington D.C., this unique excavation experience has brought Kevin to a realization of the Mediterranean’s potential, expanding his horizons more academically than socially since “[his] friendships at home are similar to what [he had] here.”
Thus, being a part of the IMPERO Project was an adventure of landscape for Kevin and a solidification of his ability to render the new simultaneously exciting and familiar: As he travelled through Florence with fresh friends with ease or grinned when van rides became roller-coasters on unpaved roads, Kevin’s love of the exhilarating and the humorously over-the-top became increasingly evident as the season progressed. As we leaned back against the bench in the courtyard of Monteverdi, his fast smile and nod of the head betrayed his mischievousness and desire to see a wider world: Turning not long after he described the “funniest crime” that embodies his ultimate fantasy adventure, he told me of his love for deserts, particularly frozen wastes, explaining in response to whether he would voyage to Antarctica that, “if it was possible, then definitely.” As he looked off toward the line of trees and the gravel road leading toward the sun, Kevin’s mysteriousness danced across him—inviting those around him not only to laugh but to wonder and to discover the depth of his personhood beneath his surface.
Academically, this care and understanding of embeddedness once manifested itself in his original major, political science. Although Kevin switched his trajectory to Classics recently because it is better suited to his strengths and he felt that he had a strong enough foundation in the former, he finds importance and cross-over in both fields of study: “One is…looking at the past and seeing…what happened and why it happened and how, and the other is [looking at] what is happening now and what should happen in the future and how to…achieve that”; however, according to Kevin, looking to the past, in fact, opens the doors to insights on further action. Thus, his tracing of “how oppressed groups… are fighting for their rights” in the contemporary moment finds an academic parallel in his preferred period of study, the Julio-Claudian dynasty and end of the Roman Republic. Regarding this “period of change…for the whole area,” Kevin sees studying the continuity of pre-Roman identities in a similar vein to his attention to suppressed populations since, as Rome conquered its neighbors, “the [conquered]
cultures still…remain[ed].” For this ethics-bent student, uncovering the IMPERO site of Podere Cannicci, situated in this period and shedding light on the Romanization of the Etruscan landscape, is the perfect means to be a part of the information gathering process that he finds to be crucial to the study of history and the reclamation of narratives of bricolage, allowing him to participate in “further expanding the knowledge that we already have[, which is]…important because…in order to understand something, you need as much information as you can get.” Therefore, even though he finds himself attracted to a variety of subject matter as “a fan of [being a]…jack of all trades,” this paradigm draws him to studying a the religions, lifestyles, and governments of different peoples in particular.
Further, in this attention to the continuity of lived life, Kevin finds himself fascinated with cities. On one level, he has an appreciation for architecture in and of itself; on the other, “cities…are…the culmination of a lot of human influence…and it’s interesting to see how…that turns into structures.” He, therefore, was especially fond of the trips that the IMPERO Team conducted, following our directors across streets worn by the tread of generations of footsteps and past buildings bearing the traces of their inception and the labor conducted within them. Podere Cannicci itself, however, likewise attested to the suitability of Mediterranean Archaeology to Kevin’s specific interests: Having participated in a field school at the University at Buffalo in the past, he found that the Native American archaeology conducted there “was more focused on the artifacts themselves” rather than the structures due to the latter’s relative invisibility or absence—The IMPERO Project and archaeology in this region at large, in contradistinction, allow Kevin to bask in his passion for architecture and permit him to better imagine the daily lives of the people of the past. Since he had only ever travelled with his family or on a school field trip to Washington D.C., this unique excavation experience has brought Kevin to a realization of the Mediterranean’s potential, expanding his horizons more academically than socially since “[his] friendships at home are similar to what [he had] here.”
here.”
Thus, being a part of the IMPERO Project was an adventure of landscape for Kevin and a solidification of his ability to render the new simultaneously exciting and familiar: As he travelled through Florence with fresh friends with ease or grinned when van rides became roller-coasters on unpaved roads, Kevin’s love of the exhilarating and the humorously over-the-top became increasingly evident as the season progressed. As we leaned back against the bench in the courtyard of Monteverdi, his fast smile and nod of the head betrayed his mischievousness and desire to see a wider world: Turning not long after he described the “funniest crime” that embodies his ultimate fantasy adventure, he told me of his love for deserts, particularly frozen wastes, explaining in response to whether he would voyage to Antarctica that, “if it was possible, then definitely.” As he looked off toward the line of trees and the gravel road leading toward the sun, Kevin’s mysteriousness danced across him—inviting those around him not only to laugh but to wonder and to discover the depth of his personhood beneath his surface.
Text by: Elisabeth Woldeyohannes
Photo by: Emma Ramacciotti
Interconnected Mobility of People and Economy along the River Ombrone 