The ancient past can sometimes seem so distant, but it is the responsibility of those who study the past to not only share results of their investigations, but also to do so in a timely and accessible manner. While some archaeological findings are hoarded until final publication due to proprietary concerns (or, sadly, sometimes never published at all), the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project takes another radical approach: making all raw excavation data publicly and freely available shortly after it has been brought to light. 

The Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project does this in partnership with Open Context, a digital publisher and archive of archaeological data. In this talk Prof. Ann Glennie (Classics Department, College of the Holy Cross) will introduce the site of Poggio Civitate, discuss the rationale behind the Project’s use of Open Context, and show how making data available through Open Context can promote accessibility, and thereby, more nuanced and diverse interpretations of the data.

Presenter: Jennifer Mulitello

Jennifer Militello is the current Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. She is the author of the hybrid collection Identifying the Pathogen, named a finalist for the 2024 FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize (forthcoming, 2025), The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021) and the memoir Knock Wood, winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize (Dzanc Books, 2019), as well as four previous books of poetry. Her work has appeared in numerous national journals in the U.S. and abroad. She has taught at Brown University, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the Rhode Island School of Design, and is currently a faculty member in the MFA program at New England College.

Learn more about the Big Thought Series →