Casa San Paolo, Italy Excavation Records

The Casa San Paolo Excavation was conducted during the summers of 1971 and 1972 under the sponsorship of the Penn Museum. The Neolithic site, located in Gravina di Puglia, Italy, was first identified by Sterling P. Vinson. Following the discovery, Dr. John Ward-Perkins, Director of the British School of Classical Research in Rome, who was already digging in the area, invited the Penn Museum to undertake a formal excavation of the site. In response, Penn Museum Director Dr. Froelich Rainey appointed George Fletcher Bass to serve as director of the project, with Vinson acting as assistant director during the first field season. Bass and Vinson then led a graduate student researcher excavation team.

George Fletcher Bass was known as a pioneer of underwater archeology and founder of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. He received his M.A. in Near Eastern Archaeology at Johns Hopkins University in 1955 and a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. He was also the founder of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University and was a prolific author. In 2002, President George W. Bush presented Bass with the National Medal of Science. During the first season of the excavation, Bass was responsible for architectural analysis and trench remains and level descriptions of the site. This project marks one of the few in-land excavations led by George Bass.  

Sterling P. Vinson graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Classics and earned a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught at several institutions, including the University of Arizona, and also taught Humanities and Art History at Pima Community College. Vinson had prior experience on similar excavations in Southern Italy. During the Casa San Paolo excavation, he worked to document, analyze, and publish findings related to the Neolithic pottery and the topography of the site. 

The first season of the excavation and scholarly publishing regarding the site was met with much disagreement on interpretations and conclusions regarding the site between Vinson and the rest of the excavation team. As a result, Bass stepped down as director and one of the excavation members, Nancy A. Whitney, was assigned field director for the second season of the excavation in 1972. 

Nancy A. Whitney was one of the Penn graduate students that was a part of the excavation team. During both seasons, Whitney contributed specialist reports on bones and faunal remains on the site. As director of the second season, she was also responsible for writing about the site itself for publication. 

Graduate researchers who contributed field notes and analytical reports relating to the project include Julius Kassovic, James A. Goold, Maurizio Gualtieri, David Hillman, Lucia F. Nixon, and David Van Horn. Their work supported the documentation of architectural features, ceramics, environmental and faunal remains, and site stratigraphy.

The records were received by the Penn Museum Archives in 2025 from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, where they had been left by Bass. These records include correspondence, field notes, post-excavation analysis, published archaeological reports, photographs, drawings, and maps primarily relating to the 1971-1972 excavations. A clear distinction has been made between field notes and reports created during the excavation, and the analytical notes and reports produced afterward. Original titles of notebooks and reports have been retained whenever possible; however, a small portion of the materials were not in original order. Much of the correspondence and one box of catalog cards were already in the Museum Archives under the George F. Bass Underwater Archaeology papers. These records have now been reunited under this collection.

The collection has been divided into the following eight series: Correspondence; Administrative and Financial Records; Field Notes; Field Analysis; Reports and Publications; Catalog Cards; Photographs; Plans and Drawings.

Correspondence (1967-1971): The correspondence consists mainly of letters amongst George Bass, S.P. Vinson and the Museum Director, Froelich Rainey prior and during the first season of the excavation. There are also several letters between members of the excavation team before, during, and after the first excavation season in 1971 discussing analysis of reports and publications. 

Administrative and Financial Records: Includes records related to travel, lodging, equipment, and other operational expenses for the excavation. 

Field Notes: Contains field notebooks, preliminary field reports, catalog lists, and trench summaries from the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Notebooks are arranged chronologically by title, with authorship noted when identifiable. 

Field Analysis: Comprises analytic notes and reports on pottery, stone tools, and other finds. Materials include both preliminary analyses conducted in the field and post-excavation studies. 

Reports and Publications: Includes published and unpublished writings related to the Gravina site and research conducted by members of the excavation team. 

Catalog Cards: Consists of catalog cards containing photographs and descriptive information for objects recovered during the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Cards are arranged in numerical order. 

Photographs: Includes photographic documentation of the excavation, finds, and site features. 

Plans and Drawings [including oversize]: Includes site maps, plans, drawings, and inked illustrations prepared for publication. These records have been arranged by size.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

Finding Aid Author:

Use Restrictions: Although many items from the archives are in the public domain, copyright may be retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. The user is fully responsible for compliance with relevant copyright law.

Preferred Citation: [Item name]. Box [Box number]. Casa San Paolo, Italy Excavation Records. Accessed [Date accessed].

Other collections within the Museum Archives that may contain additional context for these records include Froelich Rainey Director's Office records, George F. Bass Underwater Archaeology papers, MASCA Froelich Rainey and Elizabeth Ralph records, and Radiocarbon Laboratory records.

Some items in this collection may describe culturally sensitive topics, document human remains or include names and/or images of deceased individuals. Records might contain language that is outdated, offensive, or incorrect. We include these to provide historic context for archival materials and enable access and inquiry. Contents may not reflect current views and values of the Penn Museum.