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The Libarna Urban Landscapes Project (LULP, for short) is a Boise State History department project that is bringing new technologies to the study of Libarna, a 2000-year-old city in northwest Italy! LULP has 3 main goals: exploration, education, and engagement. This year our team of undergraduate and graduate students are hoping to use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to investigate the parts of ancient Libarna that are still under the ground and we need your help!
Today, Italy is a country with a lot of regional diversity. Much of this diversity may go all the way back to ancient times. Libarna is going to help us learn about what made the region unique in the Roman period and understand what makes northwest Italy unique today.
LULP is using scientific technologies like Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), electrical resistivity, and a drone to survey Libarna. The goal is to recover as much information about the subsurface archaeological remains as possible. This will help us fill in the map of Libarna and target areas for future excavation.
While LULP is dedicated to training the next generation of archaeologists, we also train students from many different disciplines. Fieldwork provides all students with a number of transferable skills, such as logistics and project management, IT and geophysical technology experience, creative problem solving, and teamwork skills.
LULP allows undergraduate and graduate students to participate in cutting edge research. The multidimensional nature of archaeological work, allows off-shoot research projects that are perfect for undergraduate and graduate projects. These potential projects are in various fields, including business and marketing, education, computer science, and, of course, history and archaeology.
The project provides students and volunteers a culturally immersive experience. The LULP fosters relationships with the local community through a number of ways, including organized research presentations and demonstrations, patronage of local businesses, and participation in public festivals and events.
LULP is helping to make Boise State an international name! Last year Boise State and our research appeared in several Italian newspapers, including the national newspaper La Stampa, no less than 7 times.
Using different technologies we are able to see archaeological features below the ground without the need to dig. By layering the results of the different techniques, we are able to get the most complete, dynamic map of the ancient city. Our last two seasons in the field have already yielded promising information from two technologies: electrical resistivity and drone survey. Now we want to use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to expand our knowledge of the site. We know it has real potential: last year, we ran a limited trial run that showed promise. You can see what the GPR recovered in the image below: evidence of an ancient house, roads, and other structures.
In fact, we have already been able to add more than 1/4 square mile of information to Libarna's map. Imagine how much more of Libarna's map we'll be able to fill in with GPR data!
Your contribution will go towards the costs of renting and running a GPR machine for our 4-week season this July!
LULP has an active presence on social media, including Instagram and Facebook, and a website with a blog.
You can learn about our discoveries as we conduct our work.
You can follow along as the students discover what life on an archaeological project is and experience Italian culture.
You can meet the new Italian friends we make and hear about why Libarna is special to them.
Instagram/Twitter: @LibarnaULP
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LibarnaULP
Website and blog: www.LibarnaArchProject.org
For the cost of a fancy coffee you can become part of the extended LULP team! Plus we'll give you a shout out on social media.
While all team members have up-to-date tetanus shots, minor injuries are a reality in the field as is the occasional illness. A donation fo $10 will go towards keeping our first aid kit stocked and other necessities from the local pharmacy. We'll give you a social media shout out as thanks!
The GPR is our fancy technology, but we still need some less flashy equipment, such as rope, stakes, hammers, field notebooks, etc. Your donation will go towards these expenses, plus you'll get a sticker with the official project logo!
A donation of $50 will pay for 1 week of fuel needed to transport the GPR to and from site. As a thank you, we'll send you a behind-the-scenes project photograph.
We need internet access to help us upload, store, and processing our data as we collect it. A donation of $100 will pay for 2 weeks of internet and you'll get an exclusive weekly newsletter while we're in the field.
Keeping the GPR running requires a lot of fuel for our team members. A donation of $250 will feed our 10-person team for a day. As a thanks, you'll receive a video fly-over of Libarna shot with our drone.
Help us cover the cost of insuring our GPR. Archaeology can get rough and machines can experience problems in the field. Help us cover our butts! As a thanks, you'll get a project t-shirt.
A $2000 donation will cover half of the rental cost of our GPR machine. As a thanks, we'll send you a bottle of Gavi di Gavi, the local white wine, to sip as you peruse the newsletters and drone video while wearing the project t-shirt.