The first five major excavations of the Stabiae ancient Roman villa require that the RAS Foundation find operative partners and funds to act as cover organizations for field teams to collaborate with RAS in the execution of the excavations.

This is a new phase in the relationship between archaeology and U.S. museums. RAS is currently in discussion with several US academic and public mesuems which have expressed interest in developing innovative collaborations with each other and with RAS to sponsor some aspect of these projects and host five year loans, perhaps rotating, repeated, long term loans for major sponsors and collaborators.

A model which is emerging in the US the possible collaboration between a local museum (public or private), a local university and their local sponsors and supporters. If a local museum or university serves as the cover organization for one of the RAS excavations, those institutions earn the right to request long term loans, without further cost. Such institutions could foreseeably have a “Stabiae” or “Pompeii” corner in their museum, with repeated extended loans, or rotating loans of different objects.