Gracie Isabella Carrello ’25 was recently awarded the American School of Prehistoric Research Archaeological Field School Scholarship from the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), allowing them to spend the summer in Greece studying human remains.
“I’m extremely honored to have been selected for this award,” says Carrello, a Classics and Anthropology major who hopes to become a classical bioarchaeologist. “I am very passionate about this field, so I am very grateful to be receiving this scholarship. I remember finding the personal essay very easy to write, because of how committed I am to the work in bioarchaeology. I cannot state enough how grateful I am to have gotten this award.”
Carrello will join the Astypalaia Bioarchaeology Field School in Astypalaia, Greece, which studies human remains on the island. Their program focuses on bioarchaeology, the study of human remains, and they will study juvenile remains dating from 600 BCE to 100 CE.
They will learn about children from the Kylindra cemetery, which contains more than 3,400 burials and is the largest children’s cemetery in the world.
“We will be doing laboratory excavation of these remains from amphorae, a type of Ancient Greek storage vessel,” says Carrello.
Carrello believes that their experience at CC, both in terms of the Block Plan and the strong liberal arts education, has prepared them extremely well for their summer research, as well as a future career in bioarchaeology.
“I feel that CC prepared me for this field school by throwing me headfirst into something new each block and teaching me to be adaptable in that way,” Carrello says. “I was able to really focus on whatever subject I was studying for that block, which is exactly what I’ll be doing on Astypalaia. However, that’s also due to my professors.”
Last summer Carrello took Greek and Roman Art with Dr. Sanjaya Thakur, CC Professor of Classics, and Dr. Amanda Pavlick in Italy. The course was an incredible experience for them. Carrello says that Dr. Pavlick told them that many people who become someone in the field of archaeology start off by receiving this scholarship. “That was so empowering for me to hear because I want to do something great in this world,” Carrello says.
During their time in Italy, Carrello and their classmates visited art and buildings that Carrello had been studying for years, including the Apoxyomenos and the Circus Maxiumus. While Carrello had been leaning toward a career in classical bioarchaeology, this experience made it clear to them that this field is where they belong.
“I had these two separate but complementary views being taught to me at the same time, which I believe helped me have a more well-rounded understanding of the material I studied. I think that having a humanistic approach to my work helped me get accepted into this program, and will help me in my job search.”
Gracie Isabella Carrello ’25
“Seeing human remains on display with little regard for the fact that they were a person and seeing the remains of people in the dock at Herculaneum really pushed me further into wanting to become a classical bioarchaeologist,” Carrello says. “For the first point, I thought it was unethical to allow people to take pictures of this individual’s remains. It just seemed like this museum didn’t think twice about having human remains on exhibit, which didn’t sit right with me. And for the latter, I was in awe at how you could see people holding each other as they awaited their fate. It just felt very surreal to see and I wanted to know more about those people.”
Carrello is grateful for their professors and mentors who have inspired, taught, and helped them, especially their advisor, Dr. Thakur.
“Sanjaya has believed in me since day one,” Carrello says. “He pushed me to sign up for his class in Italy, which was an amazing experience. He wrote me the letter of recommendation that got me accepted into the Astypalaia Field School. Ultimately, I’m very grateful that he was my advisor and professor during my time at CC. I don’t know where I would be without him.”
Thakur says that, to his knowledge, Carrello is only the second CC student to win this fellowship. “I loved having Gracie in class, their energy and enthusiasm was contagious,” Thakur says. “It has been wonderful to watch Gracie mature as a student, scholar, and person, and this fellowship is a fitting cap to Gracie’s undergrad career.”
Carrello says that another one of the professors who greatly helped them prepare for this program was Dr. Elizabeth Fellars ’13, a visiting Anthropology professor who was also a Classics and Anthropology double major at CC.
“I took her Bioarchaeology and Human Osteology classes, during which she answered all of my questions to the best of her ability and helped me thoroughly understand the material,” Carrello says. “My love for the field is because of her. Relatedly, most of my research in this field came from her Human Osteology class.”
Before entering CC, Carrello planned on majoring in Biochemistry, and had taken every science class that their high school offered because they were so interested in the field. However, after taking their first Anthropology class at CC, Carrello fell in love and decided to major in Anthropology.
“Then, Block 8 of my first year, I took my first Classics class and I really loved it,” Carrello adds. “Learning about the mythology of the time as well as the people was so fascinating for me. I’ve always said that I take Classics classes from an anthropological perspective and Anthropology classes from a classics perspective,” Carrello says. “I had these two separate but complementary views being taught to me at the same time, which I believe helped me have a more well-rounded understanding of the material I studied. I think that having a humanistic approach to my work helped me get accepted into this program, and will help me in my job search.”
This scholarship is one of several awards Carrello earned this year. During Honors Convocation, they were awarded the Dr. John Bryant and Miriam Gile Hartwell Classics Prize, which honors students who have displayed unusual interest and ability in the study of the classics.
In addition to juggling classes for two majors, Carrello served as President of the Eta Sigma Phi honors society this past year, leading two meetings each block and ending the year with a mock Olympics, their biggest event yet. “I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to get ready for that, but I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off if we didn’t work together as a club,” says Carrello, who was also involved in the Native American Students Union, cutthroat rugby, several dance adjuncts, and the Theatre Department and Theatre Workshop productions. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a leader in that community and for everyone who supported me through it.”
The AIA is the world’s oldest archaeological organization, founded in 1879. The nonprofit works to support archaeologists and promotes archaeological inquiry. Recipients of the American School of Prehistoric Research Archaeological Field School Scholarship receive funding to attend field schools at sites in the eastern hemisphere that were occupied for the middle of the first millennium BCE.