Byzantine archaeology is a rapidly developing area with profound implications for the future of the subject. But there is very little infrastructure in North America: no established chairs, few other posts in Byzantine arcaheology, few graduate programs, little available field training, very few jobs advertised for Byzantine archaeologists. Even creating opportunities for an exchange of views is difficult, with a result that scholars find it hard to cross the political boundaries; few archaeologists work in both Greece and Turkey, for example. Excellent work by the American Research Centers abroad, and by their umbrella body CAORC, have attempted to fill this gap, but are now themselves under financial pressure. This meeting in a series of conversations on Byzantine archaeology at Dumbarton Oaks seeks to establish why Byzantine archaeology struggles to maintain a profile in Mediterranean studies, what is needed to restore that profile, and how such efforts can be funded and supported.
13-14 January, 2012
