Photo caption: Marble feet. Antioch Excavation Collection, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, A-005746

This exhibition explores the ancient city of Antioch-on-the-Orontes (modern Antakya, Türkiye) and the legacy of its 1930s excavation. Drawing on artifacts, archival photographs, field notes, and film footage from the original dig, it reunites objects from five museums and uncovers the complexities of excavation, collection, and preservation.

Excavating Antioch follows artifacts on their long journey from archaeological sites near Antakya to museums across North America and Europe, inviting visitors to consider how archaeological knowledge takes shape over time—how it's uncovered, preserved, and continually reinterpreted. Each object carries its own layered history, stretching from its creation in antiquity to its excavation and dispersal to the ongoing research happening today. Together, these stories show how collaborative scholarship keeps reshaping our understanding of the ancient Mediterranean.

Curated by Dr. Nicole Berlin and developed with Dr. Elizabeth Molacek, Excavating Antioch: The Archaeology of an Ancient City highlights the results of a multi-year research project with Wellesley College students and archaeological partners Dr. Banu Özdilek and Dr. Onur Tıbıkoğlu. New provenance research was made possible through partnerships with the Baltimore Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks, the Harvard Art Museums, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Princeton University Visual Resources Collection and Department of Art and Archaeology, and the Worcester Art Museum. 

Join us Friday, September 25, for a symposium featuring leading scholars whose research builds on the exhibition's themes of archaeology, cultural heritage, and the lasting legacy of the Antioch excavations.

Excavating Antioch: The Archaeology of an Ancient City is curated by Dr. Nicole Berlin, Associate Curator of Collections. This exhibition is funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Museum Travel Alliance, and Dumbarton Oaks. Excavating Antioch is presented with support from the Wellesley College Friends of Art; the Maryam and Edward Eisler/Goldman Sachs Gives Fund on Art and Culture in the Near, Middle, and Far East; the Kathryn Wasserman Davis '28 Fund for World Cultures and Leadership; the Barbara E. Sweeny '26 Art Conservation Fund; and the Art & Cultural Program Fund.