[1] One of Piccirillo's main contributions in Church history was to demonstrate, based on archaeological proof, that early Byzantine traditions did not come to an end with the Muslim conquest of the Levant, but survived into the Islamic periods, a position meanwhile adopted by most scholars.

[1] He went on with a similar project in Jericho in Palestine, centered around mosaic studies and the preservation of the Umayyad site at Khirbet al-Mafjar, known as Hisham's Palace.

[1] Another project of this kind he was involved in led to the building of a large shelter over the remains of the fifth-century Holy Martyrs Church at Taybat al-Imam in Syria.

[1] During Piccirillo's work at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF) in Jerusalem, he received his Professorship in 1984, acted as the director of the SBF museum in Jerusalem (1974-2008), and headed the SFB archaeological mission in Jordan, with excavations at Mount Nebo, Umm ar-Rasas (discovering the Umm ar-Rasas mosaics) and in the area of Madaba.

[4] Michele Piccirillo died of pancreatic cancer on 26 October 2008 in Livorno, Italy, and was laid to rest at Mt Nebo.