The summer 2015 University of Portland Pollentia Expedition team included students, faculty and staff from UP, Lewis and Clark College and Mt. Holyoke College as well as friends of the University of Portland and the Pollentia Expedition. Team members supported the expedition in multiple ways—excavating, teaching, researching, writing, photography and cooking for the hungry crew.

The Pollentia Expedition provides an opportunity for UP faculty and research students to undertake discipline specific research projects that correspond to the broad framework of an archaeological excavation. 

Father Ron Wasowski, CSC, Associate Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Portland, and Fr. Wasowski, sometimes known as “Father Drone,” are members of the annual UP Pollentia Expedition team. In his expedition role, Fr. Wasowski documents Pollentia archeological sites, work crews, project discoveries, and the surrounding environment with aerial photography using a Phantom 2 Vision drone.

The University of Portland participates in the archeological excavation of the town of Pollentia, a Roman town dating from 123 BC, located outside the medieval walls of the city of Alcudia on the island of Mallorca, Spain. The UP team works by invitation from the Consortium of the Roman City of Pollentia, in collaboration with and under the direction of the Consortium Directors. During the summer of 2015, the UP team focused on the Ca’n Fanals area of the site including the removal of topsoil layers and the excavation of gravesites. Artifacts of daily life such as ceramic fragments, seeds, buttons, amphora fragments, and animal bones were uncovered by the team. Gravesites holding human remains were also opened and respectfully explored.

During the summer of 2015 the University of Portland Pollentia Expedition, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, included collaborative faculty-student science research in the area of Chemistry. Applied Chemistry research was undertaken in the field at the Pollentia Archeological Site as well as in the church of St. James in the nearby town of Alcudia, Mallorca, where local officials provided access to 15th-century paintings for chemical analysis.
The University of Portland’s Chemistry Research team included faculty members Dr. Raymond Bard, University of Portland Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus; Dr. Ronda Bard, University of Portland Professor of Chemistry, Dr. Valerie Walters, University of Portland Chemistry Instructor; and Dr. Julio de Paula, Professor of Chemistry, Lewis and Clark College. Student researchers were Ryan Bergio, Senior and Gisela Gonzalez-Montiel, Senior.