Post-doc Research Project

PALACES IN TRANSITION. Connectivity and disruption in Minoan Crete: a ceramic perspective.

Postdoctoral Fellowship: F.R.S.-FNRS + MOVE-IN UCLouvain (01/10/2017-30/09/2020).

The research project has as its basis the study of a significant body of archaeological material from the site of Sissi (Crete, Malia region) concerning a crucial period in the history of Minoan Crete, namely the transition from the Protopalatial to the Neopalatial period, ca. 1780-1525 BC. Focusing on the relations between the microregion of Sissi-Malia and other areas of north-central Crete (i.e. Knossos, Galatas, Archanes) new light will be shed on the processes and dynamics that led to the formation of a new political geography for Crete during the Neopalatial period. The project starts with the study and documentation of the Middle Minoan IIIA-B – Late Minoan IA ceramic assemblages from Sissi, i.e. context-based pottery typology and classification, quantitative analysis and contextual assessment, and develops under a bottom-up methodological approach into an updated review of the contemporary evidence on other Minoan sites. The bottom-up, site-based analysis of regional socio-cultural dynamics adds an important dimension to the understanding of social complexity. Indeed the definition of the developments of pottery traditions in Cretan society during this critical period and the contextualization of technological or stylistic changes made by sponsors, producers or consumers allow us to identify the forces at work in social transformations and, finally, take a step closer to the understanding of the ancient communities who occupied these settlements, their social and cultural environment and the ways they interacted with material culture.

Supervisor: Dr. Prof. Charlotte Langohr (F.R.S.-FNRS - UCLouvain, AegIS).

Education

• 2011 : PhD thesis in Prehistory Archaeology, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece). Title of the PhD dissertation: Mainland Polychrome Pottery in Mainland Greece and the Aegean (supervisor: Dr. Prof. Naya Sgouritsa).
• 2004 : Master of Arts in Prehistoric Archaeology, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece).
• 2001 : Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology and History of Arts, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece).

Choice of publications/conferences (5 max.)

• 2019 “Middle Bronze Age Akrotiri: The Other Imports”, in I. Nikolakopoulou (ed.), Middle Bronze Age Akrotiri (Thera), The Archaeological Society at Athens Publications.
• 2018 “The pottery deposits from the Houses of the Fallen Blocks and the Sacrificed Oxen at the south-east corner of the Palace of Knossos”, BSA Annual Volume, 19-73.
• 2014 “Shifting boundaries: The transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean under a new light», online peer-reviewed publication on the Aegeus Society website, Aegean Studies 1, 1-20.
• 2013 “Stratigraphy and Ceramic Typology in the MM III Palace at Knossos”, in C. Knappett and C.F. Macdonald (eds.), Intermezzo. Intermediacy and Regeneration in Middle Minoan III Crete, BSA Studies Series 21, co-authored with Carl Knappett and C.F. Macdonald, 9-19.
• 2012 “The Middle Minoan III Building complex at Alonaki, Juktas: Architectural observations and Pottery analysis”, co-authored with Alexandra Karetsou, Creta Antica 13, 83-107.