Latest
Goneos Award
On 14 June 2026 applications from young researchers are due for the Petros D. Goneos Memorial Award for Studies on the Culture of the Cyclades for the academic year 2026-2027; on 17 June 2026 letters of recommendation are due. The Prize Fund amounts to $7,000, which will be given in full for one academic year to each of two equal candidates or a group of candidates who will submit a joint research proposal. Further information is available at https://cycladic.gr/en/research/chrimatiko-epathlo-sti-mnimi-petrou-d-goneou/. The Goneos award seeks to encourage, support, and promote high quality research from new researchers who focus on topics related to the culture of the Cyclades from the Neolithic up to the post-Byzantine period or its perception in modern times, approached through disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, and art history, as well as natural and physical sciences. Innovative and pioneering approaches and collaborative, interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. Applications should:
• Outline clearly and in detail how this award will enable the proposed research and lead to its completion.
• Demonstrate how the outcomes of the project are expected to contribute to the field by filling research gaps and promoting further research.
• Demonstrate the capability of the researcher/s to achieve the proposed outcomes. This can be proven through past academic achievements, prior publications, and reference letters.
YRA 2026
On 1 May 2026 abstracts (200 words maximum) are due for the 9th Workshop of Young Researchers in Archaeometry (YRA 2026), to be held on 28–30 October 2026 in Reykjavík, Iceland. Further information is available at https://www.yra-ecr.org/current.html.
POCA 2026
On 4 May 2026 abstracts (250 words maximum) are due for the 23rd Postgraduates in Cypriot Archaeology Meeting (POCA 2026), to be held on 11–13 November 2026 in Leiden, the Netherlands. Further information is available at https://sites.google.com/view/poca2026/home.
PEBA 5
On 15 August 2026 abstracts (ca. 500 words) are due for the 5th Perspectives on Balkan Archaeology: Tracking the Routes – Movements of people, goods and ideas in Southeast Europe during the Metal Ages (PEBA 5), to be held on 26–29 May 2027 in Tirana, Albania. Further information is available at https://pebasite.wordpress.com/. These key questions will be addressed:
• How did prehistoric communities shape and use landscapes to enable or facilitate mobility?
• What traces do patterns of movement leave in settlements and funerary landscapes or material culture in general?
• What impact did environmental changes – such as drying rivers, fluctuating lake levels, or abrupt tectonic events – have on mobility patterns?
• In what ways were natural features like streams, mountain passes, or plateaus intentionally used to organize movement through space or incorporated into mobility strategies?
• What factors encouraged mobility – and what limited it?
• Why were certain places used despite appearing “counterintuitive” or difficult to access – such as burial mounds on remote uplands with no obvious resources?
• What role did funerary landscapes play in mobility strategies, spatial perception and social representation?
• How did mobility patterns differ across major landscape zones – e.g. coastal areas, open plains, or mountainous regions?
• How did mobility vary by life stage – for example, between childhood and adulthood? What role did gender, status, and social function play in determining who moved and who stayed?
• What archaeological material or biological indicators can be used to reconstruct the mobility of individuals or groups?
• To what extent do technical-formal adaptations of objects reflect complex mobility processes?
• How may shifts in material culture, burial practices, social structure, subsistence strategies or settlement patterns mirror (or relate to) mobility and connectivity shifts?
Cycladic Seminar 2026
The program of the Cycladic Seminar. Κυκλαδικού Σεμιναρίου has been announced for 2026. Lectures are at 6:30 pm (EET) in hybrid form; registration for either in-person or remote attendance is required Further information is available at https://www.facebook.com/groups/230503754201416/posts/2017225095529264/. The program will be:
18 March 2026: M. J. Boyd, “Creativity, identity and centrality at Dhaskalio during Phase B (ca. 2550-2400 BCE): the excavations of 2016-2018”
26 May 2026: Φ. Μαυρίδης, “Η συμβολή της έρευνας των σπηλαίων στη μελέτη της Κυκλαδικής προϊστορίας: σύνθεση και νέα δεδομένα (The contribution of cave research to the study of Cycladic prehistory: a synthesis and new evidence)”
10 November 2026: Μ. Ρουσάκη, “Το χελιδόνι στην εικονιστική τέχνη των Κυκλάδων και της Κρήτης στην Εποχή του Χαλκού. Η περίπτωση της 'Τοιχογραφίας των Χελιδονιών' από την Κνωσό (The swallow in the pictorial art of the Cyclades and Crete in the Bronze Age: the case of the ΄Swallow Fresco΄ from Knossos)”
8 December 2026: I. Caloi, “Travelling wares in the Middle Bronze Age Aegean. Minoan Kamares Ware in the Cyclades”
SAA 2026
On 29 April – 3 May 2026 the Society for American Archaeology 91st Annual Meeting (SAA 2026) will be held in San Francisco, CA. Further information is available at https://www.saa.org/annual-meeting. Papers and posters of interest to Nestor readers will include:
C. Cakirlar, “Why Did Fallow Deer Become (Almost) Extinct in Its Original Homeland?”
A. McCarthy, “Experimental Neolithic Cooking in Cyprus: Large-Scale Feasting versus Domestic Cooking”
K. McPherson, “Piecing Together the Past: Mapping Cypriot Pottery in Hittite Archaeological Contexts to Analyze Patterns of Trade and Exchange”
H. Murphy, P. Willett, J. Anvari, and E. Andoni, “Investigating Craft Production and Specialization in the Albanian Middle Neolithic Using pXRF: A Preview into Daily Life in the Past”
L. Maher and D. Macdonald, “Navigating Landscapes and Seascapes: Comparing Epipaleolithic Hunter-Gatherers of the Levant and Early Cyprus”
S. Allen, “Fueling the Interpretive Fire: Posthumanist Perspectives on Charcoal Remains”
A. Crowe, “Mycenaean Pottery in the Northern Levant: Situating Social Value in Export Economies”
P. Hristova, “Crafting Style, Comfort, and Prestige: A Review of Plant Use beyond Food in Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Southeast Europe”
S. Henning, D. Macdonald, L. Maher, and A. Simmons, “Beyond the Rockshelter: Lithic Technologies and Mobility in Epipaleolithic Cyprus”
E. Biondi, O. Navarro-Farr, and M. Florence, “Networking in the Cyclades: The Effects of the Ionian Migration and White Marble Production from the Archaic Period on the Island of Delos”
V. Moses, A. Barton, A. Mittnik, M. McCormick, and D. Reich, “Ancient Punic DNA and Mediterranean Connections: A Further Investigation into the Aegean Ancestry Component”
ΑΕΜΘ 2026
On 5–6 March 2026 the 38η Επιστημονική Συνάντηση— Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και τη Θράκη (ΑΕΜΘ 2026) was held in Thessaloniki, Greece. Further information is available at https://www.hist.auth.gr/administration_annou/to-archaiologiko-ergo-sti-makedonia-kai-ti-thraki-5-6-martiou-2026/. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
N. Zorzin, Δ. Μαλαμίδου, J. Taylor, and Ι. Σουκάντος, “Η Τούμπα Σερρών και η Νεότερη Νεολιθική περίοδος της νότιας Βαλκανικής: τα δεδομένα της συστηματικής ανασκαφής (2021-2025)”
Μ. Παππά, Γ. Σταυριδόπουλος, and Ευ. Βλιώρα, “Θέρμη 2025-26. Ερευνώντας τα διαχρονικά όρια του οικισμού”
Ά. Παντή, “Σωστική ανασκαφική έρευνα στο νεκροταφείο της Εποχής Σιδήρου στον Δρυμό Θεσσαλονίκης”
Ι. Μάνος and Κ. Τσιάκου, “Αμφίπλευρη φυλλόσχημη αιχμή από το Τριφύλλι Δεσκάτης: συμβολή στην παλαιολιθική λιθοτεχνία της Δυτικής Μακεδονίας”
Ευ. Βούλγαρη, Μ. Σωφρονίδου, and Κ. Κωτσάκης, “Μεταποιημένα θραύσματα και αγγεία από το Δισπηλιό Καστοριάς”