The Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) has announced with regret that due to the uncertain global health and financial situations, INSTAP will NOT offer any type of grants for their 2021 financial year, which extends from July 1, 2020 through June 20, 2021. Further information and applications are available at http://www.aegeanprehistory.net/.
On 30 October 2020 abstracts (250 words maximum) are due for an international conference entitled Gesture, Stance, and Movement: Communicating Bodies in the Aegean Bronze Age, to be held on 11-13 November 2021 in Heidelberg, Germany. Oral (30 minutes) and poster presentations are invited concerning bodily comportment, communication, and expression in two- and three-dimensional representations from the Aegean Bronze Age. Proposed titles and abstracts should be sent to
On 31 October 2020 abstracts (250 words) are due for the conference In Poseidons Realm XXVI: Safety and Waterways, to be held on 3-10 May 2021 in Xanten, Germany. Further information is available at http://www.deguwa.org/.
On 30 November 2020 abstracts (200 words) are due for the Centre for Textile Research Anniversary Conference Old Textiles - More Possibilities, to be held on 14-18 June 2021 in Copenhagen. With permission, the presentations will be streamed online. Further information is available at https://ctr.hum.ku.dk/calendar/2021/old-textiles---more-possibilities-ctrs-anniversary-conference/.
From 15 September to 31 December 2020 abstracts (300-500) are invited for the 13th International Congress of Cretan Studies (13-ICCS): Upheavals, Ruptures, Discontinuities, Risings, to be held on 6-10 October 2021 in Agios Nikolaos, Crete. For joint proposals for workshops, an overall summary of 200-400 words and abstracts of 300-500 words for each individual contribution should be submitted. Further information is available at https://www.13-iccs.gr/index_en.html. The themes addressed in the congress are:
• Upheavals, ruptures, discontinuities and risings within Crete or in relation to it. They may refer to larger or smaller groups or to efforts in progress, regardless of outcome.
• The influences of historical ruptures and upheavals of all kinds on the shaping of the Cretan landscape, the economic life of the island, the production of tangible and intangible forms of culture, population mobility, food shortages and famine, crop change, and behavioural shifts and adaptations.
• The effects of upheavals, ruptures, discontinuities, and risings on social mobility and stratification, their impacts on the institutional and administrative framework, their influences in broader geopolitical contexts and their consequences on cultural exchanges.
On 1 December 2020 abstracts (350 words maximum) for 20-minute presentations are due for the Eurasian Metallurgy from Beginning to End: A Research Symposium (EMBERS2021) to be held virtually on 25-26 March 2021, hosted by Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Further information is available at http://flame.arch.ox.ac.uk/embers/. Suggested topics include:
• Cross-craft interaction.
• The use of different materials in metal technology or vice versa.
• Experimental or recent approaches toward metallurgy.
• Reflections on periods of innovation.
• The effect of metal in ritual, burial, agricultural, and domestic contexts.
• The effect of mining or metallurgical activity on the landscape.
Global Antiquities, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to promoting academic work at the crossroads of Classics and Global Studies launching in Autumn 2020, invites submissions from Classicists, Ancient Historians, Archaeologists, and scholars in related fields, whose research is in dialogue with contemporary Globalization Studies. We also welcome papers from post-Classical Historians, Political Scientists, Theorists, and Philosophers, Anthropologists, Sociologists, and other social scientists and humanists whose work on global issues engages with the ancient past. GA welcomes submissions of research articles, book reviews, review articles, translations, and commentaries by scholars across disciplines seeking to understand and illuminate global issues through time, from antiquity to the present day. Further information is available at https://globalantiquities.pitt.edu/GA. Global Antiquities invites submissions on a broad range of topics including (but not limited to):
• poverty, inequality, enslavement, human rights
• war, peace, terrorism, diplomacy
• state formation and development; interstate networks, commerce, and governance
• ancient and modern identities (esp. the role of antiquity in configuring post-Classical identities)
• perceptions and expressions of difference (e.g. in gender, race, religion, ethnicity, ability, nationality, sexual identity, etc.)
• nationalism, indigeneity, citizenship, xenophobia
• migration, mobility, displacement
• center, border, and periphery
• constructions and propagations of culture (esp. across borders)
• illness and public health (including mental health); disability studies
• imperialisms; colonization; exploration and geography
• climate change, the environment, environmental justice
• organization, structures, and movement of knowledge; technology in society
• social movements and activism
• transnational organizations (including criminal) and movements
• perceptions of and attendance to basic needs and threats thereto (e.g. drought, famine)
On 22 and 29 September (13:45-17:15) and 6 October (13:45-18:30) 2020 the conference No (E)scape—Breaking Boundaries: Negotiating Change in the Aegean Bronze Age will be held online, hosted in Groningen, the Netherlands (CEST). Further information is available at https://scapecon2020.sciencesconf.org/. The preliminary program is:
A. Brysbaert, “A ‘Moving’ Story about Labour. The Taskscape of the Late Bronze Age Argive Plain”
S. Emra and S. Cveček, “Negotiation and interaction in EBA Çukuriçi Höyük: differing solutions to competing ‘scapes’ with the beginning of rising inequality”
B. Ongar, “Household Archaeology in West Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age”
P. Zeman, “Entangled Mycenae: Case Study of a Late Bronze Age Palatial Town”
S. Hilker, “Beyond the Palace: Case Studies in Mycenaean Townscapes”
F. Nani, S. Vitale, and C. McNamee, “Building Identities: Breaks and Continuity in Construction Practices at the Prehistoric Settlement of the ‘Serraglio’ on Kos”
D. Spiliopoulou, “Life with the help of artificial light sources in the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, Thira”
S. Voutsaki, “Towards an archaeology of kinship”
A. Katevaini, “Contextualizing Late Minoan Tombs”
Y. de Raaff, “Experimenting with change: the built tomb of the North Cemetery at Ayios Vasileios, Lakonia”
D. Rousioti, “Investigating the sacred landscape in the Late Bronze Age Greek Mainland”
I. Rom, “Negotiating death in the Bronze Age: a view from western Greece”
K. Dudlik, “Mortuary Practices in Context. Local Idiosyncrasies in Search of the Koan Identity”
Y. van den Beld, “Understanding socio-political processes through the study of labour investment: the case study of the North Cemetery at Ayios Vasilios”
E. Sezgin, “An Assessment of Gender Roles in the Early Bronze Age Aegean”
T. Mumelter, “Affective Fields in Akrotiri’s Miniature Frieze, Thera”
D. Wolf, “Symbols as Social Strategy? Late Palatial Hard-Stone Glyptic as Identity Markers”
A. Filipek, “One but many. The concept of the great mother goddess in the study of the Minoan religious system in the Bronze Age”
E. Tsafou, “Identifying the changing function and use of cooking vessels in Minoan societies”
A. Mercogliano, “Breaking ceramic boundaries: formation and change in pottery assemblages during the Middle Helladic period with a special look at the Trapeza settlement (Eastern Achaea)”
D. Frank, “Tracing Early Mycenaean Ceramic Traditions in the North-East Peloponnese”
K. Regnier, “Building interactions beyond boundaries during the Bronze Age: the case of the Aegean tripod stone mortar”
T. Valchev, “The marble pendant from the prehistoric settlement mound Maleva Mogila near the village of Veselinovo, Yambol municipality, Bulgaria”
G. Paglione, “Reconstructing the landscape through the Linear B texts: The case of coriander cultivation in Phaistos”
A. Vergaki, “Lonesome are the eyes: The depiction of the animals on the Ayia Triadha Sarcophagus”
A. Durick, “Origin to Deposition: The socio-cultural significance of gold provenance studies in the North Aegean and Ancient Thrace”
J. Witowski, “Relation between the form of Aegean swords and modes of use in the light of usewear analysis -- the case of two bronze swords from the Athenian Agora”
On 7-11 November 2020 the Tenth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe (MESO2020) will be held online, hosted in Toulouse, France (CET). Further information is available at https://meso2020.sciencesconf.org/. Papers and posters of interest to Nestor readers will include:
S. Kačar, “An elusive transition: Revisiting the Mesolithic/Neolithic continuity in the Southern Adriatic and its margins”
C. Bonsall and M. Gurova, “Environmental Change and the Neolithization of the Balkans”
T. Perrin, “Agent-based modelling of the Mediterranean Neolithization and Mesolithic-Neolithic interactions: a first draft”
P. Duffy and D. Boric, “Predictive modeling for Mesolithic site locations in southeastern Europe”
On 24-30 August 2020 the 26th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA AM 2020): Networking! was held online, hosted in Budapest. Further information is available at https://www.e-a-a.org/eaa2020. Papers and posters of interest to Nestor readers included:
A. Brysbaert and I. Vikatou, “Combined Methodologies and Analyses of the Road Network During the Late Bronze Age Argolid, Greece”
A. Brysbaert, D. Turner, I. Vikatou, and J. Pakkanen, “Building the Tholos Tomb in Tiryns: Comparative Labour Costs and Field Methods”
D. Pullen, “Shaping a Mycenaean Cultural Landscape at Kalamianos”
A. Vlachou and E. Salavoura, “Sacred Landscapes of the Southern Greece from Mycenaean to Archaic Times: A Comparative Approach”
M. Monaco, G. Riccomi, P. Tripodi, G. Aringhieri, and L. Bombardieri, “Skeletal Trauma or Post-Mortem Damage? Exploring the Role of Taphonomy in a Prehistoric Skull from Erimi Laonin tou Porakou (Cyprus)”
T. Strasser and J. Holcomb, “Pleistocene Adaptation in Island Environments and the Case for Hominin Seafaring”
S. Sozer Kolemenoglu, “The Religious Symbols in the Neolithic Period and the Effect on the Presentation of Anatolian Culture”
S. Kaltsogianni, “Burnt, Still Alive: Prehistoric Fired Houses in Northern Greece and their Significance in the Archaeological Record”
I. Vrettou, “Child Burials in Mycenaean Chamber Tombs from Glyka Nera, Attica”
D. Mihailovic, T. Carter, D. Moutsiou, S. Dragosavac, and C. Zogheib, “Interpretative Potential of Palaeolithic Chert Quarry Site Stelida on Naxos, Greece”
R. Alagich and C. Smith, “Using Faunal δ15N Compositions to Distinguish Between Different Social Groups at Early Iron Age Zagora, Andros, Greece”
R. Dewan, “The Ritual and Secular Uses of Miniature Pottery in Bronze Age Crete”
L. Oberlin, “Regional Identity and Wine Storage: An Examination of the Trickle Pattern Motif on Crete from Early to Late Bronze Age”
K. Pateraki, “The Pioneering Women Archaeologists in 20th Century Greece and their Difficult Struggle”
M. Lymperaki, D. Urem-Kotsou, and S. Kotsos, “Cooking Pots, Food and Shared Ordinary Practices”
M. Kulow and J. Vieugue, “Connectivity or Diversity? Ilindentsi and Brezhani—On the Two Sides of the Kresna Gorge, the Middle Struma Valley, Southwestern Bulgaria”
M. Kulow, “West-East Axis of Cultural Contacts in South-West Bulgaria During the Early Neolithic”
K. Kasvikis, “Archaeology, Prehistory and Other Dirty Things: Reflections on Greek History Curricula and Primary Textbooks of the Last 40 Years”
K. Sarri, “Travelling Patterns: The Role of Textile Decoration in Tracing Mobility of People and Ideas in the Prehistoric Aegean”
J. Šofránková, “Distribution of Textile Tools on the Greek Mainland and in Western Anatolia During Bronze Age”
S. Vakirtzi, “Spinning Around: Thoughts on the Mobility of Spinners in the Prehistoric Aegean”
T. Boloti, “Who Was Weaving in the Prehistoric Settlement of Koukonisi (Lemnos)? People, Tools and Techniques”
A. Ulanowska, “More About the Technical Uses of Textiles – Comparing Textile Imprints from Bronze Age Lerna, Mainland Greece, and Phaistos, Crete”
M. Polig and S. Hermon, “3D Approaches in Palaeographic Research – The Case of Cypro-Minoan Writing”
J. Hruby, “Using 3D Models of Ancient Fingerprints to Answer Questions About the Relationship Among Labour, Sex, and Gender”
U. Berndt, “‘This Is the Gift for the Dead’: Gift-Giving and the Importance of Burial Rites in Homeric Epic”
B. Dimova, and B. Burke, “Early Mycenaean Cloth from Tomb 10 at Ancient Eleon in Boeotia”
A. Ulanowska, “Challenges for Fibre Identification from Textile Imprints on the Undersides of Direct Object Sealings From Bronze Age Greece”
E. Miller Bonney, “It Is Not Just Societies That Are Mobile”
E. Kalogiropoulou, D. Kloukinas, and K. Kotsakis, “Tackling Building Features and Socialising the Chaine Opératoire: The Case of Neolithic Kleitos 2 in Northwestern Greece”
C. Santiago-Marrero, C. Lancelotti, and M. Madella, “Plant Processing Activities at Household’s Levels—A Multiproxy Approach to the Use of Space at Çatalhöyük”
L. Burkhardt, “From Small Sherds to Everyday Practices: The Goldminers’ Settlement at Ada Tepe (LBA)”
K. Efkleidou, M. Karantoni, S. Triantaphyllou, and S. Andreou, “Unlocking Building Biographies During the Late Bronze Age in Central Macedonia: The Case of the Thessaloniki Toumba Tell Settlement”
E. Kefalidou, “Tracking Re-Cycling: Archaeological and Anthropological Survey in the Habitat of Xanthi Region-Thrace, Greece (TRAASH, 2020-2022)”
M. Georgiadis, “The Reuse, Recycling and Modification of Objects and Landscape in Aegean Prehistory”
S. Aulsebrook, “Revelio! Using Patterns of Repair and Modification as Indirect Evidence to Understand Metal Recycling”
C. Knappett, “Scales of Mobility in Minoanisation”
H. Price, P. Gheorghiade, V. Vasiliauskaite, and R. Rivers, “An Information Theoretic Approach to Mycenaean Pottery Datasets”
I. Iliopoulos and K. Soura, “‘An Alien Among Us’. Analysing Casting Procedures in the LBA Settlement at Stavros, Chalandritsa in Western Achaea, Greece”
A. Frank, R. Frei, K. Kristiansen, and K. Frei, “A Bioavailable Sr Isotope Baseline for the Peloponnese Peninsula, Greece: A Multi-Proxy Approach”
E. Miller Bonney, “Sealing a Network”
S. Finlayson, “A Well-Travelled Chariot: Identical Seal Impressions and Their Place in Networks of Communication in the Bronze Age Aegean”
I. Voskos, D. Kloukinas, A. Georgotas, A. Marda-Stypsianou, M. Roumpou, E. Vika, and E. Mantzourani, “Reassessing Prehistoric Lifeways in the Limassol Region: The Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus Project (NCCP)”
E. Voulgari, M. Sofronidou, and K. Kotsakis, “Storage and Culinary Practices in the Lakeside Neolithic Settlement of Dispilio, Macedonia, Greece”
K. Papayianni, S. Vakirtzi, and E. Mantzourani, “Where Texts and Textiles are Missing: An Interdisciplinary Research for the Beginnings of Early Wool Economy in Prehistoric Greece”
C. Arampatzis, “Osseous Industries from the Neolithic Lakeside Settlements of Macedonia, Greece. The Case of Settlement Anarghiri IXB”
G. Katsarov, “The Beginning of the Early Copper Age in the Middle Struma Valley: Two Sites in Southwest Bulgaria”
J. Paul, “Bounded by Sea: A Review of Neolithic Worked Animal Bone in the North Aegean”
M. Georgiadis, “Hunting for the Mycenaeans”
O. Lafe, “Archaeological Heritage Protection and Management in the Balkans”
The annual conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA 2020): iNside iNformation, which was to have been held in Oxford on 14-17 April 2020, has been cancelled (following previous postponement). CAA 2021 is planned for Limassol, Cyprus on 14-18 June 2021; CAA 2022 will be held in Oxford. Further information is available at https://2020.caaconference.org/.