Recent News

November 2005 -- The 2005 Excavation Season is now available online. You can read the preliminary report, or access the data collected from the following two trenches: BZ North, and BZ South. We have also made available a collation of the past five years of excavation within Section BZ North.

The classification system for Agora materials has been greatly reorganized, especially for images within the Architecture and Topography hierarchy. You can now browse images By Area, By Monument Type, By Object Type, or By Period (currently Byzantine and Turkish remains).

The finds database has been expanded and now includes information for approximately 150,000 objects found at the Agora. A significant addition has been the inclusion of our Amphora Stamps and Seals category (over 15,000 records). Although these records are currently being edited to fit with the Agora's database system, we are making them available in their current form. You can browse these records by Stamp and Seal type or search for individual records by their SS number (i.e. SS 2148, SS 4021, or SS 9405).

Our image collection has also been expanded and now includes approximately 28,000 images.

November 2004 -- The excavations section has been updated with a preliminary report for the 2004 excavation season (including new object photography).

A new section has been added to the website covering all significant Agora Publications. The new Athenian Agora Short Guide in Color can now be downloaded in PDF format (two versions are currently available: an English version, and a Greek version). The publication section also includes more information on the popular Athenian Agora Picture Books series. You can now download PDF versions of many of these books, including the newly released revised edition of Mabel Lang's popular Athenian Citizen: Democracy in the Athenian Agora.

The photography database has been updated with thousands of new images, including a large section from the personal slide collection of Homer Thompson. The plates from John Kroll's monograph The Greek Coins have also recently been scanned and the images are now available to the public.

The finds database has been expanded and updated and now contains over 100,000 records. Many new records have been added to the sections on architecture, inscriptions, and sculpture. Architecture fragments can now be browsed using a thematic hierarchy.

November 2003 -- The 2003 Excavation Season is now online. You can read the preliminary report, see the group photo, or access the data collected from the following four trenches: BZ North, BZ South, EL, and BE. This new information includes 244 features, 1534 images, and 388 new finds (including object photography).

We have also made available higher resolution color images of our popular slide sets. These are useful for teaching purposes and include objects on display in the Museum of the Stoa of Attalos and from our study collections. The sets are arranged thematically as follows: The Athenian Citizen, Household Pottery, Ancient Portraits, Gods and Heroes, Early Burials, Models, Classical Sculpture, Ancient Birds, Red Figure Pottery, Black Figure Pottery 1, Black Figured Pottery 2, Amphoras, Dark Age Pottery 1, and Dark Age Pottery 2.

November 2002 -- The site now includes information for the 2002 excavation season (group photo). We have added complete excavation records for three trenches this year: Handler, Scahill, and Gawlinski. An initial report for the 2002 season is available as well as a short article on a Roman Imperial Portrait found during the summer. A new, cleaner plan for the current excavation area, digitized by Marcie Handler, is also now available online.

The online Agora database has been updated with thousands of new records and images, such as a higher resolution scan of the balloon photo taken of the Agora in the 1970s, new images of Agora coins, and several X-Rays performed on a Mycenaean Bronze dagger and knife.

The Burials section of the Architecture and Topography hierarchy has been completely reorganized and updated.

May 2002 -- The website has moved to Athens and has been updated with many new resources.

The object catalog at the Agora is now online. You can search for objects by their inventory number (P 24113), by their published number (AV 30.1407 for Agora Volume 30, number 1407), or by their section number ([SA] 2414 for Sigma Alpha 2414 -- use brackets and beta code for Greek text). You can also search for plans and drawings by their PD number (PD 1197).

In Architecture and Topography, you can find a extensive collection of over 8,000 outdoor photographs organized by area and theme.

We have now made available an archive of high-resolution Plans and Drawings dating from the 1930s to the present.

The QTVR tour of the Agora has been completely redesigned. The new format is friendlier to slower internet connections and allows you to easily jump to a particular location in the Agora (such as the Temple of Hephaistos). The tour also allows you to generate searches into the Agora online material simply by clicking on various features or buildings.

A new part of the Resources section is a digital archive of artifact records from the history of excavations in the Agora, organized by object typologies. At the moment, Black and Plain Pottery, Red Figured and White Ground, Hellenistic Pottery and Wheelmade Table Ware and Greek Coins are available.

There is also a new interactive Site Guide, organized by major monuments and features, with excerpts from "The Athenian Agora Site Guide" and links to related photography.

Finally, preliminary excavation summaries for the past few years are now online. We are currently testing a method for recording all our excavation data digitally in the field. You can see examples of this for two trenches from the 2001 excavation season where supervisors in Section BE and Section BZ used laptop computers and digital cameras to record the excavation of Mycenaean chamber tombs, a Byzantine house, and much more.