After fourteen years, there will be a change in leadership of the Austrian excavation team in Ephesos. Sabine Ladstätter from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) is stepping down as director of the excavations at her own request. Her successor will be Martin Steskal, who has been deputy director since 2015 and will continue the scientific cooperation with Türkiye. The Republic of Türkiye approved the appointment of Martin Steskal as the new director of Ephesos Excavations in May, 2024. The 2024 excavation campaign starts at the beginning of June.
Exploring and preserving cultural heritage for future generations
OeAW President Heinz Faßmann states: “Ephesos is one of Austria's largest scientific endeavours abroad. Thanks to the extremely successful cooperation between Turkish and Austrian colleagues, the World Heritage Site is one of the best documented archaeological excavations in the world. Sabine Ladstätter has done an excellent job as excavation director. I would like to thank her very much for her many years of exceptional commitment. An outstanding successor, Martin Steskal, , has been found. He has also been working at Ephesos for many years and will continue to explore and preserve Ephesos for future generations."
"Following very challenging but also wonderful 14 years, I am delighted to be able to hand over the excavation management to Martin Steskal," says Sabine Ladstätter: "He brings all the needed qualifications and skills for this role: scientific excellence, organisational talent and a love of Ephesos. With him, the team is in the best of hands. I myself will remain a researcher working at Ephesos and devoting myself to my passion, ceramic research."
Martin Steskal, who, like Ladstätter, also conducts research at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, comments: "Ephesos, with its 9,000 years of history, offers archaeology an extraordinary opportunity to look at the development of a settlement area from a long-term perspective. Archaeology intersects with many scientific disciplines. In Ephesos, this potential can be utilised in an exemplary manner."
Reconstructing the living conditions of the antique population
In 1895, the Austrian excavations first started in Ephesos, one of the most important major cities of the Roman Empire. Under the leadership of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, numerous international research projects are carried out on site every year, involving more than 200 scientists from more than 15 countries. The World Heritage Site is also a tourist attraction and is visited by more than 2 million visitors every year.
In the coming years, research will focus on issues relating to the circular economy, resource management, human-environment interaction, production and consumption. In addition to a better understanding of the settlement history, the reconstruction of the living conditions of the ancient population of Ephesos will play an important role.
Martin Steskal explains: "Investing in long-term research projects is essential so that we can explore complex scientific questions that sometimes require a lot of patience. I am fortunate to work with an excellent team of researchers with a wide range of expertise and experience."
