Clinical Assistant Professor of Archaeology
Academic Director, NYU semester abroad program in Egypt
Nicola Aravecchia holds a BA in Classical Studies from the University of Bologna, an MA in Ancient and Medieval Art & Archaeology and a PhD in Art History (2009), both from the University of Minnesota. Before his current appointment, he was a Visiting Research Scholar in 2009-2010 and a Visiting Research Associate in 2010-2011 at ISAW.
His research interests concern Egypt in Late Antiquity and focus on the origins and development of Early Christian art and architecture in that region of the Mediterranean world. He also has a strong interest in the application of models of spatial analysis to archaeology, with the goal of studying how public and private spaces were constructed and used in antiquity and how they affected social relationships. One essay he wrote analyzes the social construction of space within Egyptian monastic settlements in Late Antiquity.
He is the field director of the archaeological mission of Ain el-Gedida, a fourth-century settlement in the Dakhla Oasis of Upper Egypt, where he has been excavating since 2006 under the project directorship of Roger Bagnall. Currently, he is working on the final archaeological report of the 2006-2008 excavation seasons. Another project is the development, in collaboration with other scholars in the field, of an online gazetteer of Early Christian sites and monuments in Egypt.
Nicola is Academic Director of NYU’s semester abroad program in Egypt (Archaeology and History in Egypt) and will also teach courses on Classical Art and Archaeology in the Department of Classics at NYU.
