April 22, 2026 To celebrate our 2026 Research Grant recipients , we connected with this year’s awardees to learn more about their projects and the unique paths that led them into the field of archaeology. We’re thrilled to introduce Giacomo Fontana, one of three recipients of the prestigious 2026 Ellen and Charles Steinmetz Endowment for Archaeology Grant ! Giacomo Fontana (Texas Tech University) Tell us about your project: Today the majority of the world’s population lives in cities, and much of how we understand urban organization traces back to models rooted in Graeco-Roman urbanism. In the central Italian Apennines, this framework has shaped the interpretation of Monte Pallano, one of the largest hillforts of the ancient Samnites, long cited as a key site for pre-Roman urbanism. But my research across the Samnite landscape has been challenging this narrative.…