Laurel Taylor, Lecturer (BA in International Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1991; PhD in Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania 2000). Dr. Taylor taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Delaware and Warren Wilson College before coming to UNCA. Her PhD and scholarly interests concern the diffusion of the Roman funerary monument throughout the Roman provinces, the ways in which the habit of erecting a permanent memorial are assimilated by local cultures and how these local cultures form their own unique patterns of commemoration. Dr. Taylor has also worked with the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell's excavations at a palace of Herod the Great in Caesarea Marittima, Israel and has presented papers and published preliminary studies on the mosaic and fresco remains from the palace. 

Since 2005, Dr. Taylor has been the director of the UNCA field school at Palazzaccio, a Roman period farmhouse/villa located outside of Lucca, Italy, and part of the UNESCO ‘Project of 100 Roman Farms’.  In addition to fieldwork in Italy and Israel, Dr. Taylor has also done both fieldwork and survey in Western North Carolina. Dr. Taylor is president of the Western North Carolina chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America. Please contact her for details relating to the local AIA lecture series or for further information about the field school at Palazzaccio.

Recent publications:

"Palazzaccio: 2005 Excavations," in Le Dimore dell'Auser: Archeologia, Architettura, ed Ambiente dell'antico lago di Sesto (Lucca 2005) 85-90.

Recent papers:

Excavations at the 'Project of 100 Roman Farms,' Lucca, Italy: The 2005 and 2006 seasons at 'Palazzaccio,' AIA Annual Meeting, 2007, San Diego

Email Dr. laurel Taylor (ltaylor@unca.edu)