General Information







The Sanisera Archaeology Institute for International Field Schools organizes courses for students who come from all over the world to study abroad and who are interested in anthropology, bioarchaeology, digging graves and study human osteology.

This course is divided in two parts to excavate the Roman cities of Pompeii and Sanisera, where you can discover different forms of burial. In Pompeii you will have the opportunity to dig graves of different social status (nobility, soldiers and slaves) buried in graves of cremation or inhumation. Participants will also study casts of the dead people who died during the eruption of Vesuvius volcano. On the other hand, in Sanisera, students will excavate collective and individual tombs that keep their bones in excellent condition so that the student can learn osteology easily.

Part 1. Anthropology of the death at Pompeii (Naples, Italy)

The necropolis of Pompeii offers an extraordinary opportunity to study the people who inhabited the most researched and internationally renowned Roman Empire city, due to the disaster caused by the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius.

During 2015 will be scheduled a specialized intervention in bioarchaeology in three places with different types and forms of burials.

The first sector is located in one of the cemeteries next to one of the doors -Porta Nola- of the city walls of Pompeii. In this way, students will discover new tombs and objects to go into detail about social aspects, customs and rituals of its citizens.

The second intervention aims to dig with great detail the singular tomb of a famous character from Pompeii named Obellius Firmus, discovered in 1979. In the third action is intended to excavate a schola tomb in order to dig up cremation burials deposited in urns.

And finally, absolutely outstanding, another aspect also scheduled for this course will be the study of 15 casts of the bodies of dead people that have been discovered in Pompeii, people who died in terror while trying to leave the city during the volcano eruption in 79 AD. The victims were walking as they could in the darkness, helping each other, and unfortunately ended up falling suffocated by breathing ashes in a section of the street located close to the city walls.

The fieldwork focuses on funerary structures, specifically inhumation and cremation graves. Students will also participate in lectures on anatomy and skeletal pathologies, exercises and excursions related to the course material.

The organization of the scientific project brings together specialists in physical anthropology, experts in classical archeology and supervisors of institutions: British School At Rome, Museum and Department of Archaeology of CDL (Valencia, Spain) and Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni archeologici di Pompei, Ercolano e Stabi (Naples, Italy).

Course time dedicated: 50%.

Part 2. Digging roman graves in the Necropolis of Sanisera (Menorca, Spain)

Death in Rome has been studied in Sanisera since we started digging the first necropolis in 2008. So far we have excavated 90 tombs belonging to a Roman cemetery which could have been related to a basilica in the Roman city if Sanisera, which dates from the 4th and 6th centuries AD. The Osteology corpus in this necropolis includes more than 232 individuals.

The fieldwork focuses on funerary structures, specifically inhumation graves. Participants will learn and apply excavation techniques used in biological anthropology when excavating tombs. Students will also participate in lectures on skeletal anatomy and pathologies, classes, exercises and excursions related to the course material. In the laboratory participants will be instructed by an anthropologist and other archaeologists in the classification, study, and conservation of human remains and other related materials found.

Course time dedicated: 50%.





Reconstruction of the city of Pompeii





Types of burials to excavate in 2015 in Pompeii

Burial tombs





Students excavating roman tombs





Casts of victims after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD



Osteological study of casts in Pompeii.





Aerial view of the port city of Sanisera





Students excavating a burial tomb in Sanisera



Cleaning bones in the laboratory of Sanisera.



Taking measures to determine the age of the skeleton.





Photographic documentation process in bioarcheology in Sanisera.



