Dr. Sheridan has served as director of the St. Stephen's project since its inception in 1994. Her research foci include analysis of ancient diet and disease w/particular interest in childhood health/adaptability, occupational stress, and female reproductive status.  Other projects in the Near East have included analysis of remains from Qumran, and from the Late Bronze/early Iron Age site of Tel Dothan. She has also worked on populations from Sudan (Nubians) and the American Southwest (Hohokam). [homepage]

Dr. Haak studies the minor prophets using the early texts and archaeology of Israel/Palestine.  He has traveled extensively in the Near East, participating in numerous digs and directing the summer abroad program for Augustana College.   He joined the project this Fall as student fieldtrip coordinator, leading outtings to the Byzantine site of Scythopolis (Beit She'an), the monasteries of Martyrius, Gerasimus, and Euthymius, the port city of Caesarea, and a two-day trip to the Galilee.  He likewise joined the group for a hike thru the Wadi Kelt to Choziba.

Dr. Blakely has worked extensively in the ancient Near East.  He is currently director of the Tel Hesi publication program, and will begin renewed excavations at the site this summer.  He also dug at Caesarea, and will lead the field trip to this site.  Dr Blakely will provide the students with a perspective in anthropological archaeology for the region.

Dr. Cobb specializes in Islamic history.  Current tradition holds that St. Stephen's monastery was razed between 614 and 638 AD with the Persian conquest.  Dr Cobb will be scanning the arabic literature of the period to learn more about the history of the monastery at the end of the Byzantine period to provide greater clarity on the temporal range of the St. Stephen's occupation.

Rev. Driscoll has been involved with the St. Stephen's project since 1997, when he added his expertise of liturgical practice to the study of daily activity patterns and asceticism.  His research interests include 9th century Carolingian liturgy in Western Europe.  He lectured this summer on Eastern Orthodox liturgy in Byzantine Palestine, and guided the students to numerous pilgrimage sites on the Mount of Olives and in the Old City of Jerusalem.    [homepage]

Dr. Lev Tov is a zooarchaeologist working on collections from Tel Miqne/Ekron and Hazor.  He analyzed the small cache of non-human skeletal remains found commingled with the human bones at St. Stephens as well.  Click here to see Justin's zooarchaeological analysis of the animal bones.  This summer he will teach zooarchaeological techniques to the Field School.

Dr. Magness consulted on the identification of the material culture at St. Stephen's commingled with the human remains.  She published the authoritative text on the region's Byzantine ceramic chronology, as well as dozens of articles on Byzantine archaeology.  She has excavated several sites in the Mediterranean region, presented over a hundred lectures on her research, and serves on the board of numerous institutes/foundations related to Near Eastern archaeology and Classics.  This summer, she lectured on Roman/Byzantine archaeology in Jerusalem, and led the students on a tour of sites from this period in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Dr. Powell is a bioarchaeologist specializing in the natural history of ancient disease, with particular interest tuberculosis, leprosy, and the various forms of treponematosis.  She will direct a detailed paleopathological survey of the Byzantine St. Stephen's collection, and provide a week-long workshop on ancient diet and disease for the Field School.

Dr. Schurr helped temporally place the St. Stephen's collection using fluoride analysis, and has instructed several "Osteology" classes in archaeological chemistry methods.  His principle research interests include the dynamics  and evolution of chiefdom and tribal societies, with specializations in archaeologial chemistry, mortuary analysis, and geophysical methods. [archaeology fieldschool homepage]

Professor Spencer gave a lecture on the history of Israel/Palestine, providing an important temporal depth for the students' research.  Students drew upon information from this lecture throughout the course at numerous archaeological site visits, and in discussions about the current social/political situtation of the region.

Professor Van Gerven is a physical anthropologist whose work has included long-term analysis of a Medieval Nubian skeletal collection, exploration of an Andean site in Peru, and study of a large Hohokam collection from the American Southwest.  He is likewise known as an outstanding lecturer, counting among his numerous teaching honors the Presidental Teaching Award for the State of Colorado.  Related to St. Stephen's, he helped seriate and age the subadult remains and apply pubic symphysis aging techniques to the adult segment of the collection.

Jaime began her work with the project by helping organize the library holdings and acquire new materials.  She continued in the Spring 1999 in a collaborative "Directed Research" project on pilgrimage, and then in the summer 1999 in Jerusalem.  Her expertise in dental anthropology proved particularly useful for the group research project on diet reconstruction using a variety of dental traits.