During my time at Yale, I worked at the Yale Art Gallery in the Ancient Art department… it was a dream job (even got to write a little book).

The dreamiest part of the job was working in a small group of 2 or 3 grad students to systematically digitize Yale’s collection of artifacts, remains, sculpture, pottery and photograph plates from the 1930′s excavations of Dura Europos.

We literally spent months in the dark basement of the Yale Art Gallery taking photos of all sorts of incredible objects that we treated as sacred (picture Indiana Jones with a digital camera).

This was 2000-2002 and we were all knew at digital photography and each object we pulled from the shelves was precious and amazing (including the earliest depiction we know of Jesus, though sitting on the shelves in the basement for years has taken its toll on the image).

I am, as you might know, still obsessed with Dura as a result of those Indiana Jones days. So, when Thomas sent this over last night my jaw dropped because one of my main jobs (along with taking pictures of objects) was actually scanning in the very fragile glass photographic slides taken at the digs in the 1930′s and getting their levels right in Photoshop. It was a painstakingly repetitive job, but each new delicate and dusty glass slide offered up a glimpse into a world and a place that was downright amazing…

Study Sheds New Light on Archaeology of the Dura-Europos Expedition | popular archaeology -: “Tucked away carefully within the archival collections of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, more than 5,000 unpublished photographs taken between 1928 and 1937 recount a story in visual detail that cannot be fully told in the printed words of excavation reports, site journals or the popular press of the time.”

Thanks for finding that, Thomas. Having touched each of those photos and having seen the treasure that lies in those archives makes me jealous and excited that they are finally being put to good use as we continue to learn more about the amazing place/experience that was Dura Europos (my best work on Dura).

This linked article looks like an amazing study, by the way. Off to find the journal article and add it to my Dura collection!