The Expedition

The first large-scale scientific excavations at Sardis were carried out by Prof. Howard Crosby Butler of Princeton University, at the invitation of Osman Hamdi Bey, director of the Imperial Museum (Müze-i Hümayun; today’s Istanbul Archaeological Museum) (figs. 1, 2). Between 1910 and 1914, with a final season in 1922, Butler uncovered the Temple of Artemis, much of its precinct, and more than 1,100 tombs in the Necropolis of Sardis (figs. 3, 4). The excavations were discontinued due to Butler’s unexpected death in 1922 and the unsettled political situation.

In 1958 George M. A. Hanfmann, Professor of Archaeology in the Departments of Fine Arts and Classics, Harvard University, as well as Curator of Ancient Art at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, and Prof. Henry Detweiler, Dean of the Architecture School at Cornell University, founded a new expedition, the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, with the permission and support of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey (figs. 5, 6). Prof. Hanfmann undertook many projects in excavation, research, conservation, and restoration, with a multidisciplinary team employing the latest techniques and methods. Major results of Prof. Hanfmann’s research include the excavation and restoration of the Bath-Gymnasium complex (fig. 7), Synagogue, and Byzantine Shops in the northwestern portion of the city; excavation of a Lydian gold refinery at sector PN (Pactolus North), with the discovery of early, technologically sophisticated chemical processing; deep excavations at sector HoB (House of Bronzes), which produced remains dating from the Late Bronze Age through the Lydian period and into Late Antiquity; excavations on the Acropolis of Sardis; excavations in tumuli at the royal cemetery of Bin Tepe, including the colossal mound of Karnıyarık Tepe (fig. 8); excavations of prehistoric settlements on the shores of the Gygaean Lake; and many other locations.

Prof. Crawford H. Greenewalt, jr., professor in the Department of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, directed the Sardis Expedition for more than 30 years, from 1976-2007 (figs. 9, 10, 11). With his particular interest in the Lydian world, Prof. Greenewalt focused on the city in the Lydian period, particularly its fortification walls and gate, only discovered in 1976 by Prof. Andrew Ramage (sectors MMS, MMS/N, and MMS/S), monumental terraces that probably formed the core of the Lydian city (ByzFort and Field 49), and on the tumuli at Bin Tepe. Prof. Greenewalt cultivated a deep interest and expertise in all aspects of antiquity, from Lydian pottery to perfumes and unguents, cuisine, horsemanship, and other little-known aspects of the ancient world. His generosity, openness, and modesty were as legendary as his extraordinary learning.

The Expedition has been directed since 2008 by Prof. Nicholas Cahill of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (fig. 12). With associate directors Andrew Ramage, Bahadır Yıldırım, Marcus Rautman, Susanne Ebbinghaus, and Annetta Alexandridis, and assistant director Ümit Güngör, the expedition conducts ongoing fieldwork, conservation, research, and publication. Current research projects include the excavation of the Lydian palatial (?) complex and buildings of later periods (at sectors F49 and ByzFort); excavation and conservation in the Sanctuary of Artemis; excavation at a Roman sanctuary of the imperial cult (sectors Wadi B and F55), at the western gate to the city (sector RT), and at a Lydian residential area west of the Temple of Artemis. See preliminary reports for recent discoveries. Each year’s team consists of 50-80 scholars, students, and professionals from the United States, Turkey, and around the world, including experts in archaeology, art history, architecture, anthropology, conservation, numismatics, epigraphy, illustration, photography, geophysics, history, and other disciplines (figs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Over the past half-century more than 700 students and scholars from more than 100 institutions have worked at Sardis.

The permanent research and publication center is located at the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, MA, and is directed by Bahadır Yıldırım (fig. 19). Publications Research Editor Kerri Sullivan is now directing the publications program, with the invaluable help of Brianna Bricker. Alyssa Martinez, Expedition Coordinator, manages the office and preparation for each year’s fieldwork. Student staff and volunteers constitute an essential part of the research team and have contributed to many important aspects of the project.

With Harvard University Press, the Sardis Expedition has published twenty Reports and Monographs, and numerous articles, exhibition catalogs, and other studies. The most recent additions to the series focus on coins, by Jane DeRose Evans (fig. 20); inscriptions, by Georg Petzl (fig. 21); the Temple of Artemis, by Fikret Yegül (fig. 22); and Lydian remains at sectors HoB and PC, by Andrew and Nancy Ramage and Gül Gürtekin-Demir (fig. 23). Publications now in process include the Synagogue, by Andrew Seager (fig. 24), with Marcus Rautman, Vanessa Rousseau, and Jane Evans; prehistoric and protohistoric settlements around the Gygaean Lake, by Daniel Pullen, with Andrew Ramage, Phil Sapirstein, Ann Gunter, and Christopher Roosevelt.

Conservation and site development projects in recent years have included the conservation of the Lydian Altar in the Sanctuary of Artemis (figs. 27, 28), conservation of mosaics and other features of the Synagogue (fig. 16), and cleaning of biological films (lichens, cyanobacteria, etc.) from the Temple of Artemis (figs. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34), all generously supported by the J.M. Kaplan Fund. A protective roof was built over the Synagogue in 2021, and another over the Lydian Fortification in 2023. We are developing projects to conserve Church M in the Sanctuary of Artemis as well as other parts of the site.

A general account of Prof. Butler’s results is published in his Sardis I: The Excavations, and specialized studies include reports on the Temple of Artemis, Greek Inscriptions, Lydian inscriptions, coins, sarcophagi, and jewelry.

A general account of Prof. Hanfmann’s excavations is published in his Sardis from Prehistoric to Roman Times. Other publications of his results are available in the publications section as freely downloadable pdfs.

A more recent (2010) series of essays and catalog entries focusing on the earlier periods of Sardis’ long history is The Lydians and Their World, the result of an exhibition at the Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum in Istanbul.

A volume of essays dedicated to Prof. Greenewalt is Love For Lydia: A Sardis Anniversary Volume Presented to Crawford H. Greenewalt, jr. This includes a bibliography of Greenewalt’s publications until 2008.

Results of fieldwork are published in preliminary reports in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (1958 - 1993 seasons) and the American Journal of Archaeology (1994 to present), and in the yearly Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı (also on line here). For a full list of publications see the bibliography.