Summer School
General Information
The Summer School Aguntum - Archaeological Field School offers students of ancient studies the opportunity to take part in the excavation of the Roman city of Aguntum, attend courses on the history of the Eastern Alps, and join excursions to the region’s most compelling archaeological sites.
Practical work on the excavation includes exposing, recording, and surveying archaeological features; recovering and initially treating finds; and the subsequent processing and interpretation of both finds and features. Accompanying courses address current debates in field‑archaeological methods and the broader historical context of the site in Roman and Late Antique times (1st–6th century AD).
The Roman town of Aguntum has been known since the early 20th century, and excavations have been carried out here since 1912. Since 1991, they have been led by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Innsbruck, and since 1994 teaching excavations have been conducted in Aguntum for students of the University of Innsbruck. From 2021 onward, the Aguntum Summer School has also been offered.
The excavation site and the excavation project
The Municipium Claudium Aguntum received municipal status under Emperor Claudius. The earliest traces of settlement in the area investigated so far date to the early 1st century AD. In connection with the granting of municipal rights, the urban center (forum, thermae) was expanded and a city wall was constructed. To date, this wall has only been documented on the eastern side of the city and appears to have been primarily representative in character. The buildings known so far reveal strong ties between Roman Aguntum and the Mediterranean world. In addition to the baths—whose earliest phase follows Campanian models—an atrium house inspired by Mediterranean architecture was erected in the 1st century AD. Because this building type was only partly suited to the harsher Alpine climate, the first adaptations were made within a generation, and the house was increasingly equipped with heated rooms. Aguntum’s geographic and economic proximity to the Mediterranean is evident not only in its architecture—such as the circular macellum—but also in the finds, which include abundant Mediterranean imports from the 1st century through Late Antiquity.
Aguntum lies at a crossroads of Alpine transit routes running south–north and east–west. Alpine resources such as rock crystal formed one of the town’s economic pillars. Excavations in recent years have recovered hundreds of rock crystals from the commercial forum, attesting to the trade in this material. The raw material came from the wider environs of the city and was marketed after sorting and preliminary processing.
By the 2nd century AD, the town had attained a certain prosperity, reflected in vigorous building activity across the settlement. After a major fire in the 3rd century AD—which, based on current evidence, cannot be linked to warfare—a phase of transformation began. Public buildings increasingly lost their functions and were converted into dwellings and workshops. At the same time, especially in the 4th century, numerous alterations to private houses can be observed; with the construction of a church extra muros in the same period, the strong influence of Christianity also becomes tangible. Aguntum remained a town at least into the 5th century AD, but declined in importance. It appears in the written record for the last time in AD 610, when a decisive battle between Bavarians and Slavs for regional supremacy is said to have taken place near the town.
Current excavations focus on the city’s commercial and administrative center. Work in the commercial forum and the adjacent administrative buildings aims to shed further light on the town’s economic foundations and on the transformation of the settlement immediately after the fire.