Virtual and Self-Guided Tours

Map of Providence

In addition to physical exhibits, students, staff, and faculty of the Joukowsky Institute have started producing more virtual content. These digital exhibits complement and expand on our substantial collection of multimedia projects and slideshow galleries (see a list of projects and galleries here).

Our Virtual Vault series is at the intersection of our physical and virtual exhibits, as our faculty, students, and staff present special items from the collection of the Joukowsky Institute. As the majority of our objects are in storage, hidden from public view, the features are a rare peek into our Vault of ancient objects, led by knowledgeable researchers and curators.

Sherds! is a virtual exhibit curated by Jinette Jimenez ’21 for the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World. This exhibit looks at archaeologists’ experiences with sherds and what these seemingly insignificant pieces of pottery can tell us about the past. It includes educational resources on types of sherds and pottery reconstruction, interviews with Joukowsky Institute archaeologists about excavations, and a walkthrough of a virtual exhibit about Monte Testaccio (“A Mountain of Sherds“).

Petra at the Joukowsky is a tour of artifacts from Petra housed in Rhode Island Hall and information about the site of Petra more broadly by Rainey Zimmermann, Janie Merrick, and Oliver Nolan as part of the Spring 2019 course ARCH 1475 – Petra: Ancient Wonder, Modern Challenge


Below are two student-produced tours from the February 1, 2019 event Providence’s Heritage: Above and Below Ground, hosted by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World. This event was a part of the Year of the City, a 12-month-long, citywide effort to uncover the unseen stories behind Providence’s storefronts, residences and high rises.

A Walk Through Downtown Providence
By Sasha Pinto as part of ARCH 1900 – The Archaeology of College Hill

Chinese American ‘Food Heritage’: Restaurants and Grocery Stores in “Greater Providence”
A tour of Chinese American food heritage by Quinton Huang as part of ARCH 0317 – Heritage in the Metropolis: Remembering and Preserving the Urban Past


Explore Ancient Greece in Providence: A Walking Tour of “Greek Temples”
This tour was developed by Dr. Pınar Durgun, a Brown Archaeology alumna and was initially lead on October 19, 2018.


Classical Providence: Landscapes, Monuments, Rediscovery
A film by Reem Yusuf and Harry Anastopulos produced November 5, 2007 as part of ARCH 0420 – Archaeologies of the Greek Past


You can find more tours at the Rhode Tour website (www.rhodetour.org). Rhode Tour is a statewide mobile historical smartphone application produced by the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. Captivating places, intriguing people, and exciting events fill Rhode Island’s history. Rhode Tour offers a new way to interact with these untold tales of the state’s past. Using stories, sounds, and images, history comes alive on Rhode Tour.

Additional projects and resources on archaeology in and of Rhode Island can also be found on our Ocean State Archaeologies pages.