Paikea Early-Aden | Student

Reaching Through the Past

“This dig has been on my radar since the first day I visited DePauw,” says Pai Early-Aden ’29. “It was one of the reasons I came here. I told literally everybody I knew about it.”

For Early-Aden, the Trasimeno Regional Archaeological Project (TRAP) immediately sounded like an ideal outlet for many of her core passions. Having grown up traveling widely with her family, she loved the possibility of spending a month in Italy. Having developed a keen interest in classics, she knew the hands-on work would bring the ancient world to life. And having already identified museum work as a long-term career ambition, the opportunity to be involved with the creation of the project’s local museum opened the door to invaluable professional experience. 

After receiving an award from the Gilman Program, Early-Aden secured a spot on the team in the summer of 2026 and got to experience what she had been telling everyone about since that first visit to campus. The experience didn’t disappoint.

“Understanding the archaeological process opens up an entire world to you that you didn't know was hiding in plain sight,” she says. “There's something really magical about being able to pull something out of the ground that has existed for thousands of years — and will likely continue to exist for thousands of years.”

In terms of career preparation, Early-Aden’s work in Italy allowed her to take what she had already learned as a museum studies student and put it into practice. 

“I had a lot of concepts in my head and ideas about how to theoretically solve problems that arise in museums of all kinds,” she says. “And it was really interesting to see how those actually translated to a real museum that was being created. I learned a lot about running museums from the ground up that I don’t think you can get anywhere else.”

That’s not to say it was always easy. The team endured long days, sweltering heat and the physical demands of working in a trench and tediously excavating ancient artifacts. But Early-Aden found ways to savor the experience — like stopping with a friend every day on the walk home from the dig site to sip on a cold Fanta or lemon soda. “I had a lot of small joys that would make every day worth going back,” she says.

She also had a particularly big joy that left a lasting impact. It happened while she was holding a freshly cleaned piece of pottery she had previously excavated. Early-Aden was inspecting the piece in her hands when noticed something that had been preserved in the glaze: a fingerprint. 

“There was something so important to me about being able to put my fingers where somebody else's fingers were thousands of years ago,” she says. “It opened up so many questions. That person had a life. They had friends. They had a favorite food. They had a favorite place to go in their city. They had a job. They went to festivals. They had a birthday. And it’s so amazing that a fingerprint signifies all that information in no words at all. It was like reaching through the past and holding somebody’s hand.”

Early-Aden describes that as the most formative — and emotional — experience she had while she was in Italy. And she’s grateful for the support that made it possible. 

“The dig was certainly outside my own independent financial ability, and the Gilman scholarship was the primary reason I was able to have such a life changing experience. As an alum of the program, I now get to help others in a similar situation, and more importantly, I can connect prospective students to a program that will give them a nuanced perspective on the work that needs to be done to create and uphold history-keeping institutions.”

Not surprisingly, Early-Aden is already making plans to study abroad again before she graduates. “It opened up a whole world to me of what studying abroad can be, and what it can do. I now feel enabled to dream even bigger and go even higher.”

Hometown: Fort Wayne, Ind.
Major: Art History
Minor: Museum Studies
Activities: Alpha Chi Omega, House of Opulence (social media coordinator), DECCA (co-founder), Cloverdale Schools Knoy Program (tutor)