The world of archeology in Ticino is very active, Professor Marcello Fidanzio knows it well. On the territory there are very extensive areas of archaeological importance, trade associations and public events arouse interest and there are even those who - although working mainly in Italian-speaking Switzerland - have received important international awards. Discovering and protecting archaeological sites and cultural heritage at a local and international level is certainly a fascinating challenge.
Professor Marcello Fidanzio, is it possible to be an archaeologist in Ticino?
«Currently the Canton of Ticino has archaeologists of great value who have reached top positions. I am thinking, for example, of Andrea Bignasca, director of the Antiken Museum in Basel and of the journal “Quaderni Ticinesi di Numismatica e Antichità Classiche”, or of Simonetta Biaggio-Simona, head of the cultural heritage office of the Canton. Then there are several younger generation scholars who have completed or are pursuing valuable studies. The limit lies in the fact that university training takes place elsewhere. In the last fifteen years in Lugano we have begun an academic journey with the Institute of Culture and Archeology of the Biblical Lands in the Faculty of Theology, now affiliated to USI, and we can see the first results».
Can you give us some examples?
«We have an archeology summer program in Jerusalem whose strong point is the teaching of archaeologists from different schools, confessions, political affiliations. Twelve universities send their students each summer and the course is recognized in their academic programs. The name of Lugano has also made its way into research on the archeology of the Dead Sea scrolls, with the symposiums organized in Ticino, the archaeological excavations at the caves, the commission to publish together with the École Biblique et Archéologique of Jerusalem the report on excavations at the caves where the Scrolls were found».
In 2019 you, Professor Marcello Fidanzio, were awarded by the Biblical Archeology Society with the award for the best scientific publication in archeology of the last two years: for which work of yours?
«The prize arrived unexpectedly for the volume The Caves of Qumran, which arises from the conference held in Lugano in 2014, where for the first time archaeologists and textual scholars gathered to work on the caves in which the Scrolls were found. The award was an acknowledgment of the journey made: we understood we were on the right track. We then presented a project to the Swiss National Science Foundation and today, thanks to the support we have received, we can work with serenity and with the quality that such an assignment requires».
How lively is the interest in archeology in Ticino?
«The risk for those who work in universities is to lock themselves in the bubble of insiders. In Ticino my experience is that of a very receptive audience. Every time we have proposed dissemination initiatives, the numbers have always been high and growing, and so has the interest. I still have the emotions of the last event before the pandemic, on February 4, 2020, when we dedicated half a day to presenting our works on Qumran using different languages: the immersive experience in the caves (together with the USI Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio), a new documentary, a round table with protagonists of international research. The university auditorium was bursting with people (standing, even sitting on the steps…) and until late at night we were asked to continue playing the documentary. But if we talk about the relationship with the territory there are above all the activities of the Ticinese Archaeological Association: a presence that combines great participation and excellence of proposals».
The Ticinese Archaeological Association (AAT), founded in 1986, aims to bring together all enthusiasts of this fascinating discipline: how do you rate it in international comparison?
«The AAT is the subject of my admiration. It seems that not even in Paris the initiatives of a similar association reach the numbers of the one present in Ticino. But it's not just a matter of numbers: interactions show the quality of participation. We know that one of the university's commitments is the so-called third mission. In a context in which the university in Ticino has only recently taken its first steps towards archeology, the third mission has already been largely accomplished. I would also like to mention another reality, this time valuable in the field of research: the "Ticino Quaderni di Numismatica e Antichità Classiche", a scientific journal which this year reached its fiftieth anniversary of publications. In Ticino we don't have structured academic courses yet, but there are many quality realities that continue the interest in archeology».
His new research project on the Great Scroll of Isaiah as an archaeological object was recently announced. It is perhaps the most important artifact found in Israel. This is an extraordinary opportunity for you and for Lugano. Can you tell us something?
«The Great Scroll of Isaiah is a parchment of 7,34 m. It shows the entire text of the biblical book, in an artifact prepared towards the end of the second century BC which is in an excellent state of conservation. The manuscript is the heart of Israel's Temple of the Book, an institution symbolically built across from the parliament. The new research project involves the study of this scroll as an archaeological object, focusing on non-textual information. The text of the Bible ceases to be considered as an abstract entity and finds its body in a manuscript. A body that presents all the signs of interaction with the men who produced and received it. The project the Great Isaiah Scroll: A Biography it is made in collaboration with the Israel Museum, which grants access to the scroll. The curator of the Temple of the Book, Hagit Maoz participates in the research as a PhD student. It is a source of pride for us that you have chosen to do your PhD at the Faculty of Theology in Lugano».
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