Corinth Excavations Emeriti

Director Emeritus- Charles K. Williams II
Charles K. Williams, II received his B.A. and M.F.A. from Princeton University. While working as an architect in the office of Philip Johnson, he took classes at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Thereafter, he received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He began his archaeological work as architect for Alan B. Wace at Mycenae. As a student he worked at Morgantina, Sicily, then Gordion in Turkey. His excavations include Porto Cheli in the Hermionid with Michael Jameson, Aghios Stephanos in Lakonia under Lord William Taylour, and Ancient Nemea.  His association with Corinth began in 1962 as Stevens fellow; in 1966 he was appointed the first, full-time director of the Corinth Excavations, a position which he maintained until his retirement in 1997. Under his directorship the Corinth training program was formalized, and the computerization of the excavation records was begun. Combining the skills of architect and scholar, Mr. Williams’ breadth of interests and expertise extend from Iron Age to Frankish periods, and he has published extensively in many aspects of those periods. His yearly excavation reports appear in Hesperia.

At present, he is preparing his excavations in the area east of the theater for final publication.

Assistant Director Emerita- Nancy Bookidis
Nancy Bookidis received her BA (1960) from Pomona College, Claremont, California, and her PhD (1967) from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. In 1964 she excavated at Mycenae under the direction of Prof. George Mylonas, followed by four seasons at the Early Bronze Age site of Karatas in Lycia under Professor Machteld Mellink (1964-1967). As a student at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens she excavated in the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Ancient Corinth under the direction of Professor Ronald S. Stroud. After briefly teaching at Bryn Mawr College in 1968, she was invited to continue those excavations, which she did until 1973, followed by two seasons in 1975 and 1994.

From 1973 Dr. Bookidis worked for the Corinth excavations first as curator, then as Assistant Director until her retirement in July 2003. As Assistant Director she curated a constantly growing museum collection based on excavation material.  She cemented the highest standards of order which has facilitated the research of generations of scholars. Her interests lie in ancient religion, sculpture and architecture particularly of the Archaic period. In addition, she annually instructs the students of the American School on the Archaic sculpture collections in Athens, and on the site of Olympia. She continues to study and publish material from the Demeter and Kore excavations.

Director Emeritus- Guy D. R. Sanders
Guy Sanders was the director of the American School of Classical Studies’ Excavations at Corinth from 1997-2017. He received his BA from the University of Southampton (1977, Geography and Archaeology) and went on to work as a land surveyor from 1978-1984. He received his MA from the University of Missouri (1986, Art History and Archaeology), and completed most of his class work for a PhD before taking up the post of Assistant Director of the British School at Athens (1988-1994). His PhD was conferred by the University of Birmingham (1996, Ancient History and Archaeology) before being appointed Associate Director of Corinth in the same year.

He has excavated at Ayios Stephanos (1974, 1977) and the Menelaion in Lakonia (1974, 1984), at Phylakopi on Melos (1975, 1976), at Kourion as Field Director (1980-1981) and Saranda Kolonnes (1983-1984) both on Cyprus, at Mirobriga in Portugal (1981, 1982) and Corinth (1986, 1995-1997). He has participated in archaeological surveys in Lakonia (1981-1983) and co-directed a survey in Melos with Mr. Richard Catling (1989-1992).

He has worked as a medieval and Roman ceramics consultant on several projects including twelve months as a research assistant in Corinth to Professor Kathleen Slane (1985-1986). His own excavations on Geometric, Hellenistic, Roman, medieval, and early modern levels in the Panayia Field at Corinth were conducted from 1995-2007. Excavations at Nezi Field began in 2007 and ran until 2013, followed by excavation and restoration in the Frankish Area from 2014-2017.

Guy’s interests lie in economic, social and historical geography, archaeological science and ceramics especially of the Late Roman, Byzantine, post Byzantine and Early Modern periods. In addition to his administrative and research responsibilities at Corinth, he directed the ASCSA Peloponnese trip and led the pedagogy of the excavation training sessions.