Valasia Isaakidou
Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Archaeozoology (ERC-EXPLO), University of Oxford (Institute of Archaeology)
Zooarchaeologist; Co-ordinator of the Environmental Archaeology team
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Post-doc Research Project
Post-doc Research Project
Exploring the nature of human-animal interactions and land-use in lakeside settlements in the southern Balkans (focussing on Neolithic Dispilio-Kastoria), through multi-proxy evidence (macroscopic, dental microwear and isotopic analyses of animal remains).
Postdoctoral Fellowship: ERC-EXPLO University of Oxford (2021-2024).
Education
Education
2004 : PhD thesis in Prehistory Archaeology (AHRB, Full Graduate Research Studentship), Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom). Title of the PhD dissertation: Bones from the Labyrinth: faunal evidence for animal management and consumption at Neolithic and Bronze Age Knossos, Crete. (supervisors: Drs L. Martin, J. Conolly and A. Garrard).
1997: Master of Sciences in Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy (Distinction), Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield (United Kingdom). Dissertation title: An animal bone assemblage from the Romano-British site at Wilcote, Oxfordshire.
1995: Bachelor of Arts in Classical Archaeology (1st Class), Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom). Dissertation title: Simian iconography in the Bronze Age Aegean.
Research topics
Research topics
Archaeology and ethnography of plant-animal husbandry and ancient foodways;
Integration of macroscopic, microscopic and isotopic faunal analysis;
Animal domestication; symbolic roles of animals;
Mediterranean and island archaeology;
Development of modern baseline datasets for interpreting animal dental microwear and isotopic data from archaeological contexts.
Current field projects
Current field projects
Macroscopic and isotopic analysis of faunal assemblages on Crete, the Greek mainland and Izmir region;
Co-ordinator of the publication of John Evans’s Neolithic excavations at Knossos (with Dr. P. Tomkins, Catania) (funding bodies: INSTAP, MAT, BSA, ASCSA);
Ethnography of traditional modern and recent management of feral goats in S Greece & analysis of modern specimens for the creation of baseline datasets of dental microwear and isotopes (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, δ18O).
Choice of publications/conferences (5 max.)
Choice of publications/conferences (5 max.)
Isaakidou, V. & P. Halstead 2021. The ‘Wild’ Goats of ancient Crete: ethnographic perspectives on iconographic, textual and zooarchaeological sources, in R. Laffineur and T. Palaima, ZOIA: Animal Connections in the Aegean Middle and Late Bronze Age. Liège: University of Liège, pp. 51-62.
Isaakidou, V. 2021. Chapter III. Zooarchaeology. In D. Hollander and T. Howe (Eds.) A Companion to Ancient Agriculture, 37-54. Willey.
Isaakidou, V., Styring, A.K., Halstead, P., Nitsch, E., Stroud, E., Le Roux, P., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Bogaard, A., 2019. From texts to teeth: A multi-isotope study of sheep and goat herding practices in the Late Bronze Age (‘Mycenaean’) polity of Knossos, Crete, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 23, 36-56.
Isaakidou, V. 2017. Meaningful materials? Bone artefacts and symbolism in the Early Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 36 (1), 43-59.
Isaakidou, V. 2011. Farming regimes in Neolithic Europe: gardening with cows and other models, in A. Hadzikoumis, E. Robinson and S. Viner (eds.), Trajectories of Neolithization in Europe: Studies in Honour of Andrew Sherratt, 90-112. Oxford: Oxbow.
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