The Sardis Campaigns of 1996, 1997, and 1998

Excavation at Sardis continued to focus on Late Roman and Archaic monuments. Of several Late Roman town houses, one that is now fully exposed has 12 groundfloor rooms with high-quality decoration (mosaic floors, wall painting, and stucco) and contained a variety of artifacts including a hoard of 21 glass weights related to coinage. The 200 m long segment of Archaic city wall, which has been under excavation for 20 seasons, evidently was built no earlier than the late seventh century B.C. and was remodeled in several major ways before destruction in the mid-sixth century B.C. Massive Archaic construction 700 m away may also belong to city defenses. In the Hellenistic-Roman Temple of Artemis, ancient alterations and unfinished parts were clarified, and a colossal marble head, identified as Commodus, was recovered from a Late Roman pit below the pronaos. In largely unexcavated parts of the city site a survey of Archaic and Roman buildings clarified orientations and alignments that provide evidence for systems of urban planning. Evidence for early channels of the Hermus River suggests that in antiquity it passed close to Sardis (whereas today it is distant by several kilometers). A geophysical survey, using resistivity methods, was conducted in unexcavated parts of the site that totaled 5.7 ha.