Chersonesos is an ancient city founded nearly 25oo years ago on the southern portion of the Crimean Peninsula next to Sevastopol. The  Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICA) at University of Texas at Austin in collaboration with National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos has been undertaking archaeological and conservation research at the site since the mid 1990s.  As part of the on going work, the site was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 2013.

Sarah was employed as a research assistant at Chersosnesos for several summers over the course of her masters (2006-2008) and worked on conservation, exhibition installation and site interpretation projects. Additionally,  for her masters dissertation, she completed a pilot study of the feasibility and sustainability of using RTI as an imaging tool at the site by recording several objects held within the archive and then interviewing local specialists and students regarding the technology and digital outputs (2007)*.

SITE INTERPRETATION

During the 2008 field season, Sarah collaborated with Erin Tyson, Chris Cleere and Dr Adam Rabinowitz in order to develop a site interpretation plan for the south region of the site, relying heavily on review of current interpretation practices and material use. The findings of that work were published in the annual report:  see Tyson, E, Duffy, S., Rabinowitz, A & Cleere, C (2011) ‘Making Sense of the South Region: Design and Implementation of a Site Interpretation Project’ in The Study of Ancient Territories Chersonesos & Southern Italy: Report for 2008-2011, 54-62.

CONSERVATION & EXHIBIT INSTALLATION

Throughout her time at Chersonesos, she worked with a team of conservation specialists  on various projects (e.g. artefact conservation, environmental testing & site stabilisation). Sarah also assisted with the installation of the Chersonesos Packard Lab exhibition of Hellenistic material that includes ancient grave stones and the Chersosnesos Oath. Although her research in the years since has taken her in a slightly more digital direction, she am still involved with architectural & archaeological conservation projects.

* Duffy, S (2008) Innovative Technology & Ancient History: Exploring Polynomial Texture Mapping of Larger Objects at Chersonesos, Ukraine.  Unpublished Master’s Thesis, UT Austin.