The December 2022 issue of Nestor (49.9) is available as a free download.
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Changing of the Guard at INSTAP
The Institute for Aegean Prehistory has sent the following announcement regarding the changing of the guard at INSTAP:
Prof. Philip Betancourt has retired as Director of The Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) on October 22nd. He is the founding Director of INSTAP and has served with dedication and distinction for the past 41 years.
The INSTAP Board of Trustees has elected as his successor Dr. Thomas Brogan, who has served as the Director of the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete since 1997. Dr. Brogan will remain at his post on Crete in his expanded role as Director of The Institute for Aegean Prehistory.
Dr. Susan Ferrence continues in her role as Director of the INSTAP
Academic Press located in Philadelphia. Dr. Konstantinos Chalikias and
Dr. Jason Earle, recently named Assistant Directors of The Institute for Aegean Prehistory, remain in those roles with a focus on Administration and Grants respectively.
Malcolm H. Wiener, the Founder of The Institute for Aegean Prehistory
and the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete, retired as Vice President of both Boards. He remains an INSTAP Trustee and has accepted the title Chairman Emeritus for the Study Center.
Finally, the Trustees have elected as President of both Boards Prof. Jeffrey Soles, a long-serving Trustee of INSTAP and the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete and the director of the Mochlos Excavation Project.
The editors of Nestor thank the retiring INSTAP officials for their years of service to the study of Aegean prehistory and congratulate the appointees.
Michael Ventris Award
On 1 February 2023 applications are due for the Michael Ventris Award for Mycenaean Studies for 2023 (up to £2500), to be awarded to scholars who have obtained a doctorate within the past eight years or postgraduate students about to complete the doctorate in the field of Mycenaean civilization or kindred subjects, to promote research in (1) Linear B and other Bronze Age scripts of the Aegean and Cyprus and their historical and cultural connections, or (2) all other aspects of the Bronze Age of the Aegean and Cyprus. Applications (6 pages maximum) should be sent by email, ideally as a PDF attachment to the Classics Manager, Valerie James (
JPR 28
Contributions are solicited for the next issue of the Journal of Prehistoric Religion (JPR 28), to be published during 2023. JPR is a peer reviewed journal dealing with prehistoric culture and religious beliefs, with topics ranging from excavation data involving shrines, tombs, iconography, cult practice, ritual customs as well as religious continuity in space and time; the scope is worldwide although the Mediterranean area has been predominant in the past. Further information is available from the editor, Jeannette Forsén, at
EMAC2023
On 15 January 2023 abstracts are due for the 16th European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics (EMAC2023), to be held on 14-16 June 2023 in Pisa, Italy. Further information is available at http://emac2023.it/index.php/.
Sympozjum Egejskie
On 20 March 2023 abstracts (in English, maximum 250 words) are due for the Sympozjum Egejskie. 9th Young Researchers’ Conference in Aegean Archaeology, to be held in hybrid format on 19-20 June 2023 at the University of Warsaw. Proposals are especially welcomed from early career researchers, such as PhD students or candidates, and scholars who have already completed their doctoral research and recently obtained their title. Attendance and participation are free. The proceedings of this conference will be published in the next volume of “Sympozjum Egejskie. Papers in Aegean Archaeology”. Abstracts and personal identifications (title, full name, affiliation, email address, and a personal biography (100 words maximum including ORCID number and/or research webpage links)), and any questions should be sent to
PoCA 2022
On 1-3 December 2022 the 19th meeting of Postgraduate Cypriot Archaeology (PoCA 2022) will be hosted by The Institute of Classics – Classical and Provincial Roman Archaeology at University of Graz both in person and on-line. Further information is available at https://postgradcypriotarchaeology2022.uni-graz.at/de/program/. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
M. Schutti, “Pigs in Prehistoric Cyprus: Zooarchaeological aspects and their role in society”
P. Kollouros, “Landscape management, environment and cultural associations in Greece and Cyprus during the 1st millennium BCE: evidence from wood charcoal”
K. Tsirtsi, C. Henkel, J. J. García-Granero, E. Margaritis, E. Alphas Elston, and D. Pilides, “Macro- and micro- botanical remains hand in hand: the cases of Bronze Age Alambra-Kato Lakkos and Agios Sozomenos-Ampelia (Cyprus)”
E. Loizou, “Ritual Architecture and Behavior from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age: The Evidence from the Cypriot Sanctuaries”
A. Vanikioti, “The “dog-leg” gate on the Marchello hill: An investigation of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age parallels in Northern Syria and Anatolia”
L. Pisanu, “From East to West: a seal for researching Late Bronze Age connections between Cyprus and Sardinia
C. Theotokatou, “So Close Yet So Far? Aspects of Household Organization at Alassa-Pano Mantilaris and Paliotaverna”
E. Paizi, “Gods and identity. The Phoenician Issue at Kommos and Kition”
D. Gavriil, “Non Omne Quod Nitet Aurum Est: The Value of the Imports and Imported Materials in Late Bronze Age Palaepaphos”
B. Clark, “A First Look at the Ceramic Assemblage of the Renewed Excavations at Erimi Pitharka”
N. Boyd, “Interactions with an ivory gaming box from Enkomi”
F. Meneghetti, “Through the magnifying glass: a preliminary reassessment of the miniature pottery from Athienou-Bamboullari tis Koukounninas”
D. Papageorgiou, A. Ladas, and E. Mavros, “Geospatial elements as factors of the settlement organisation in Palaepaphos region during LBA”
Chronos
On 8-9 December 2022 a workshop entitled Chronos. Stratigraphic Analysis, Pottery Seriation and Radiocarbon Dating in Mediterranean Chronology will be held in Louvain-la-Neuve. Further information is available at https://chronos.minoan-aegis.net/accueil. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
J. Driessen, “Chronos…. Time heals all wounds”
T. Fantuzzi, “Minoan Eruption chronology: a five decades long debate. History, state of the art and the possible combination of palaeoenvironmental data (Ice cores, tree rings) and archaeological 14C-Gauged Correspondence Analysis as a tool for an integrated approach”
B. Weninger, “Pottery Time Series in the Aegean Bronze Age based on Correspondence Analysis (CA)”
K. Eriksson, “The evidence for intersection between the Aegean and Egypt around the time of the Bronze Age eruption of Thera”
T. Brogan, C. Sofianou, V. Apostolakou, P. Betancourt, and M. Eaby, “Bottoms up: A View of the Theran Volcanic Eruption in the Neopalatial Cups from Chryssi”
I. Hein, “‘Ezbet Helmi and the eastern Mediterranean - New details and interpretations towards chronology”
S. Manning, “Deconvolution in Aegean chronology: radiocarbon, dated contexts, target events and history”
M. Wiener, “The Dating Game: The History and Present State of the Controversy Concerning the Date of the Theran Eruption”
D. Panagiatopoulos, “How feasible is a new system of Minoan relative chronology?”
C. Sturge and T. Fantuzzi, “Mining the Labyrinth: Prospects and Pitfalls of Synthetic Research on the Knossian Ceramic Sequence”
I. Mathioudaki and T. Fantuzzi, “Tackling questions of relative chronologies through Correspondence Analysis: The Neopalatial pottery sequence at Sissi as a case study”
S. Gimatzidis, “Reconsidering Aegean and Mediterranean chronology from an Iron Age perspective”
A. Fantalkin, “Mediterranean Chronology during the Iron Age: Where do We Stand?"
W. Gauss, “Kolonna on Aegina and its contribution to the absolute and relative chronology of the Aegean Bronze Age”
S. Vitale, C. M. Hale, A. Van de Moortel, M. W. Dee, and N. P. Hermann, “It’s Absolutely Relative: The LH I Stratigraphic and Ceramic Sequences from Mitrou and their 14C Anchor Points”
C. Pearson, “What's next? Chronological improvements through proxy synchronization and annual 14C”
Death, Rituals and Symbolism
On 11-13 December 2022 an international online workshop entitled Death, Rituals and Symbolism in Prehistoric Aegean will be held by the International Association for Archaeological Research in Western and Central Asia (ARWA). Further information is available at https://arwa-international.org/events-m/arwa-research-workshops/. The program will be:
P. Ramirez Valiente, “Where have all the Children Gone? Child Burials and Age–Identities in Neolithic Greece”
A. Mari, “Death and Bereavement at Marathon: Revealing Neolithic Anthropological Remains in the Cave of Pan”
K. Bacvarov, N. Nikolova, G. Katsarov, A. Tsurev, and K. McSweeney, “Complexity of Disposal: Neolithic Ditch Burials at Nova Nadezhda, Bulgarian Thrace”
L. M. Magno and C. M. Hale, “Pebbles, Materiality, and Liminal Spaces in the Aegean Bronze Age”
L. Vasileou, “The Mortuary Landscape of Zagori through the Study of the Cist Graves at Skamneli (NW Epirus)”
S. Cushman, “Symbols in Stone? Grave Circles, Enclosures, and Cultural Identities”
K. Kostanti, “Mycenaean Elite Burials within Settlements. Spatial Manifestations of Power and Authority”
K. Nikita, “Glass at the Service of the Dead: Jewellery and Ornaments of Blue Glass in Burial Contexts of Mycenaean Attica”
E. Drakaki, “Manifestations of Status Differentiation in Mycenaean Elite Mortuary Ritual: The Case of the Dendra, Kazarma, and Myrsinochorion/Routsi Burials”
A. Van de Moortel, “Late Bronze Age Funerary Tumuli at Mitrou, Central Greece: Function, Social Significance, and Symbolism”
M. Tsipopoulou, “The External Relations of the EBA and MBA Elite Cemetery at Petras (Siteia), Crete: A well Connected Society”
A. Vergaki, “Rituals and Symbols of Power in Funerary Contexts: Cases from the Mesara Plain and the Asterousia Mountains”
L. Alberti, “Visible Fragments of Invisible Actions: The Processing of Grief in Prehistoric Knossos, Crete”
A. Simandiraki–Grimshaw, “Bodies in Flux: Anthropomorphic/Anthropomorphising Vessels from Funerary Contexts in Bronze Age Crete”
M. N. Pareja, “A Polyvalent Potnia? Female Embodiments of Life in Death in Bronze Age Afro–Eurasia”
M. N. Pareja and H. Omerzo, “A Matter of Life and Death: Recontextualizing Minoan Genii and Monkeys”
I. D. Fappas, “Worshippers in a Tomb? The Iconographic Programme of the Monumental Chamber Tomb of Mycenaean Thebes”
A. Querci, “A Boat is a Boat: some Thoughts on the Presence of Boat Models and Boat Images in Aegean Late Bronze Age Funerary Contexts”
M. Cultraro, “Dying in an Island. Unpublished Early Bronze Age Tombs around Poliochni, Lemnos (Greece)”
O. Kouka, “Searching for Mortuary Landscapes in the Early Bronze Age East Aegean”
V. Şahoğlu and Ü. Gündoğan, “The ‘Special Deposit’ at Bakla Tepe: New Insights into the Rituals Habits of the 3rd Millennium BC Aegean and Anatolia”
B. Perello, “The Places of Funerary Rituals, from Death to Commemoration: The Example of a Collective Burial from the Karataş Cemetery (EBA)”
L. Öksüz, “What Quantitative Analysis Can Tell us about Funerary Practices in Western Anatolia during the Bronze Age”
F. Franković, “Fire, Kraters and Kings: The Role of Cremation in the Expression of Different Social Identities during the 2nd Millennium BCE in West Anatolia”
E. Brantmayer, “Dead Space: A GIS–Based Approach for Linking Bronze Age Mortuary and Living Landscapes”
N. N. Köknar, “Identifying Seascape in Western Anatolia: Visibility Analysis of the Late Bronze Age Burials”
P. W. Stockhammer, E. Skourtanioti, and H. Ringbauer, “Social Belonging in Bronze Age Greece from an Integrative Bioarchaeological Perspective on Burials”
Y. S. Erdal and M. M. Koruyucu, “Changes in Burial Rites Reflected on Bioarchaeological Data in Western Anatolia: A Case Study on Early Bronze Age Cemeteries at Bakla Tepe”
C. Henkel and E. Margaritis, “The Archaeobotany of Death: Plant Remains from Mortuary Contexts of Bronze Age Crete”
TAG 43 Edinburgh 2022
On 15-17 December 2022 the Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference: Revolutions (TAG 43 Edinburgh 2022) will be held at the University of Edinburgh. Further information is available at https://tagedinburgh2022.wordpress.com/. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
A. C. Solomou, “Revisiting the Prepalatial cemetery of Moni Odigitria, Crete: a re-interpretation of the existing funerary data through a combined materialistic, post-humanist, and cognitive theoretical framework”
M. MacDonald, “Introduction: Maritime archaeological theory and the Late Bronze Aegean”
D. Reeve-Brook and A. Garland, “The Social Network; Assessing the contribution of the Phoenicians to Trans-Aegean social connections in the Late Bronze Age”
C. Pols, “Sailing the Aegean: GIS Modelling of Late Bronze Age Seafaring and Maritime Connectivity”
D. Newgarden, “The Cow Goes Moo, the Seal Goes KFAZOP: Pseudo-Anatolian Seals and Trans-Aegean Interaction in the Late 2nd Millennium BCE”
P. Cummings, “Ships, boats and sea life: new insights into marine imagery present on Minoan seal stones from 2nd Millennium BC Crete”
A. Ladas, D. Papageorgiou, and S. Mavros, “(R)Evolution of the maritime networks: changing modes of contact between the Aegean and Cyprus during the late LBA”
I. Camici, “Production Revolution: What can changing pottery technology tell us about connectivity over maritime spaces?”
M. N. Pareja Cummings, “Assessing Multicultural Material Evidence from Afro-Eurasian Maritime Sites: from the Indus to the Aegean”
L. Psarologaki, “Minoanism as Post-humanism: Ariadne becomes Aragne”
S. Aulsebrook, “The Social Role of Metals in the Late Bronze Age Aegean: Inspiration from Adamantium and the Masque of Clavicus Vile”
A. M. Vergaki, “The Permanent Revolution of Houses and its Social Reverberations in Neopalatial Crete: Let Domestic Rituals Speak!”
A. C. Solomou, “Are grave goods any good? A combined post-processual and post-humanist approach to the limitations of using grave goods to infer biological sex and gender”