Just a few months ago, Greg Barrett-Wilt found himself beneath an awning on the dry and dusty site of ancient Troy in Turkey on the Aegean Sea. The UW-Madison scientist held in his hand a broken piece of pottery, an invaluable piece of antiquity. And he was about to do something unthinkable: deface it with a scraping tool. Barrett-Wilt, who specializes in using sophisticated instruments to study proteins, is a partner in a collaboration that will use cutting-edge science to bring to life a very old and storied place. He was recruited by William Aylward, a UW-Madison archaeologist, who will lead new excavations of Troy, the setting for Homer?s legendary tale of love, betrayal and war, and a real and bustling city that was continually occupied for 4,500 years.
Office of Strategic Communication