Ivo van der Graaff is assistant professor of art history at the University of New Hampshire. He received degrees in Mediterranean archaeology from the University of Amsterdam, and his PhD in Greek and Roman art history is from the University of Texas at Austin. He currently focuses on ancient Etruria and the Bay of Naples and serves as the field director of the Oplontis Project, which examines a luxury villa and trade emporium destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius. His book The Fortifications of Pompeii and Ancient Italy examines the social and urban role of defensive circuits in antiquity.