The Antefixa Project is an archaeometric project focused on material science, high-performance imaging and data science as a means to document the morphology of architectural sculptural production in the Italic peninsula from ca. 650 BCE to 50 CE. This is a period traditionally associated with Etruscan and then Roman political and art historical “dominance,” but which increasingly is recognized as one of prolific human mobility and exchange in the creation of sacred and civic practices. We apply advanced scientific and imaging technologies to the rich output of protective and decorative elements of the built environment across traditional sociocultural lines to explore the movements of makers, materials and making practices.
The project aims to compare the surface and subsurface qualities of these materials to determine various mobile activities across the period in question, for example, the sourcing and trade in raw substances, recipes, molds, making knowledge, and completed architectural elements. Its principal goal is to move beyond visual analysis of artistic language to understand the complex multi-person, multi-layered practices of making amongst differing communities. The project was begun in 2020 with John North Hopkins (NYU) as Project Director and Emily Frank (NYU) as Director of Imaging and Data Science. Since 2021, Pia Riccardi (Università di Pavia) serves as Director of Material Science. The project has been supported by the NYU Office of Sponsored Programs and holds agreements with the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia and other museums to perform its work.
Project specialties and focuses: the creation of a method known as High-Resolution Replicable Photogrammetry and its use to measure unique examples of replicated elements; application of multiple statistical measuring systems; geological analysis of sculptural fabrics and polychrome, including non-invasive (microscopic, spectroscopic tools, such as p-XRF and TLS), select material sampling and analysis; the parsing of terracotta matrices and tracing of material geological derivations; the same for colored slips and polychrome; comparative scientific analysis of materials across wide geographical and temporal sweeps.
Contact: John N. Hopkins, Project Director ( john.hopkins@nyu.edu)
This project accepts graduate students and advanced undergraduates with specialized training. Interested students should email John Hopkins to inquire about applying.