The December 2023 issue of Nestor (50.12) is available as a free download.

01 December 2023

Michael Ventris Award for Mycenaean Studies for 2024

On 1 February 2024 applications are due for the Michael Ventris Award for Mycenaean Studies for 2024 (up to £3000), 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 (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Institute of Classical Studies, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. Further information, including detailed application instructions, is available at https://ics.sas.ac.uk/awards/awards-prizes/michael-ventris-award-mycenaean-studies-2024.

01 December 2023

Lidar and Landscapes in the Archaeology of Greece

On 2 January 2024 abstracts (200 words) are due for a workshop entitled Lidar and Landscapes in the Archaeology of Greece, to take place on 15 March 2024 at the American School of Classical Studies. Abstracts should be sent to Alex Knodell at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Archaeologists working with lidar in Greece are invited to discuss recent and ongoing projects, with a particular focus on research goals and methodologies. The following themes are suggested for consideration:
• Problems and potential for lidar applications in Greece versus other parts of the world
• Techniques for processing or visualizing point clouds and various types of derivative rasters
• Archaeological and environmental spatial analysis
• Feature identification and classification
• Machine learning
• Ground-truthing, verification, and error detection
• Comparison with other remote sensing techniques
• Issues of scale—site, landscape, and regional applications
• Lidar as an archaeological tool versus a remote sensing research topic in its own right
• Interdisciplinary collaboration

10th UCLA GSAA

On 4 January 2024 abstracts (250 words) are due for papers, roundtables, panels, or other formats at the 10th UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Graduate Student Association of Archaeology (GSAA) Conference. Plural Geographies: exploring alternative ecologies and navigating through the field, to be held in hybrid format at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, on 17–18 May 2024. Further information is available from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and at https://forms.gle/hD5LKjSzMuyLLckc7. The following keywords are suggested to inspire work but are not limiting:
• Ecologies: historical ecology; political ecology; multi-natures; networks; entanglements
• Geographies: critical geographies; alternative geographies; geographical methods; GIS; mapping memory; mapping experiences; critical mapping; ecologies; places
• Place and space: place-making; spatial experience; architectonics; critical heritage; heritage and contested land; identity and place; thirdspaces
• Landscapes: seascapes; skyscapes; earth; archaeoastronomy
• Land: land-use; land rights; land back; borders; borderlands; migration; land-based violence; diaspora; exile
• Time and temporalities: periods; epochs; relative dating; Indigenous conceptualizations of time; alternative timescales; archaeology of the contemporary; archaeology of the past informed by the present; archaeology of the future
• Beyond archaeology: disciplinary reimagining; multidisciplinary archaeology; decolonizing archaeology; breaking disciplinary boundaries; architecture and historicity

2nd Women in the Archaeology of Greece

On 15 January 2024 abstracts (500 words in Greek, French, English, or German) are due for the second workshop on Women in the Archaeology of Greece: Tribute to Veronika Mitsopoulos-Leon, with a focus on women and archaeological institutions, to take place on 13 March 2024 at the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Athens, co-organized by the École française d'Athènes. Further information is available at https://www.efa.gr/appel-a-communications-atelier-femmes-et-institutions-archeologiques/. The 2024 workshop aims to explore different aspects of the institutional obstacles and opportunities encountered by women, in particular:
• The official or unofficial reluctance towards women on the part of foreign institutes and Greek universities, Archaeological Services, museums, and research centers
• The role of these institutions as springboards or, on the contrary, brakes in the career of women archaeologists, for instance in terms of funding opportunities
• The strategies adopted by women to pursue their career goals

PEBA 4

On 15 January 2024 abstracts (500 words) are due for the 4th Perspectives on Balkan Archaeology (PEBA 4). The Things of Life: Resources and Religion in the Metal Ages in Southeastern Europe, to be held on 25-28 September 2024 in Varna. Further information is available at https://pebasite.wordpress.com/. Speakers are invited to present papers related to one or several of the following issues:
• How did the regular needs for materials and resources affect the socio-economic developments of prehistoric communities?
• Power and Landscape: How is the emergence of power related to access to and control over different types of materials and resources?
• Sustainability and exploitation: How was sustainability used to manage resources effectively? Which consequences had exploitation of resources?
• Production, Trade, Exchange, and Competition: How did economic developments, new technologies in extracting and producing various materials, and expanded trade networks facilitate societies’ access to resources from more distant places?
• What role did animal and plant resources play in communities? What was the symbolic significance of certain animals and plants in societies (in terms of archaeozoology/archaeobotany and animals/plants in funerary contexts, deposits, or pictorial representations)?
• What role does access to water sources play in the location and development of settlements, roads, and networks? And how are water sources used or associated with a religious or ritual context?
• How and what materials and resources were used for the various rites, burial facilities and treasures?

2nd Indus and the Aegean

On 29 February 2024 abstracts (250 words maximum) for 20-minute papers are due for the Second International Workshop on Relations Between the Indus and the Aegean in the Bronze Age: Commodities and Exchange, to take place on 29-30 November 2024 at the University of Oxford. All presenters are invited to offer their papers for publication in a peer-reviewed proceeding of the workshop to be edited by Dr. Marie Nicole Pareja. Abstracts should be sent to Robert Arnott at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., from whom further information is available.

01 December 2023

POCA 2023

On 1-3 December 2023 the Postgraduates in Cypriot Archaeology (POCA 2023) conference will be held at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens/ Athens University History Museum in hybrid mode. Further information is available at https://conferences.uoa.gr/event/66/page/459-program-of-the-conference. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
L. Bombardieri, “Inside Out. Spaces and notions of social inclusion and exclusion in Bronze Age Cyprus.”
T. Christoforou, “The diachronic synthesis of the landscape in the northeastern foothills of Troodos mountains the Agia Varvara, Lythrodontas Mathiatis Sia areas from Prehistory until Late Antiquity”
A. Gonzalez San Martin, “Labourscapes of Bronze Age Cyprus”
G. Albertazzi and A. Villani, “What if it is over? How water availability coevolved with the life and abandonment of Middle Bronze Age Erimi Laonin tou Porakou”
P. Koullouros, M. Madella, and E. Margaritis, “Exploring Human Woodland Interactions in 1st millennium Cyprus Insights from Wood Charcoal Analysis in PASYDY and Tserkezoi Gardens”
Chara Theotokatou, “Down to Hearth Spotlighting intra and inter house social relations in Late Cypriot contexts”
K. Tsirtsi, G. Kasapidou, and E. Margaritis, “What do Chalcolithic plant remains have to say?”
M. Schutti, “Ritual or Souvlaki? Human pig relations in the Chalcolithic”
R. Laoutari and G. Muti, “Never travel solo Donkeys in Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus and their role in the island’s inter and intra-regional networks”
F. Fontani, “Deciphering archaeogenetics in Cyprus state of the art and perspectives”
K. C. Koukzelas, “Cooking and consumption in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus preliminary results from the organic residue analysis of cooking pots from Erimi - Laonin tou Porakou”
M. Hadjigavriel and M. Dikomitou-Eliadou, “Sherds that Talk: A Compositional and Technological Study of Late Chalcolithic Pottery from Cyprus”
S. Menelaou, L. Bombardieri, M. Amadio, and G. Muti, “Examining the ceramic landscape of Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou an analytical approach to pottery production and circulation”
C. A. Mohan Minos, “It’s all Plain to me? Characterising Fabrics of Late Cypriot I-IIB Plain White Pottery from Enkomi”
C. Carigiet, “Identifying regional styles in flask production in the Early and Middle Cypriot Bronze Age”
P. Tripodi, “‘Unveiling the unseen’ Broadening perspectives on Middle Cypriot daggers through use wear analysis”
D. Snook, “Finger-rings of Enkomi an exploration of sensory and cognitive engagement of personal adornments in the Late Cypriot Period”
E. Loizou, “Loomweights as votive offerings? A view from the sacred precinct of Kition”
C. Cateloy, “Cross-Regional connections Levantine amphorae and their circulation in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Middle and Late Bronze Age”

AIA 2024

On 4-7 January 2024 the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA 2024) will be held in Chicago, with both in-person and virtual components but not fully hybrid. Further information is available at http://www.archaeological.org. Based on the preliminary program, papers and posters of interest to Nestor readers will include:
D. Nakassis, “One Script, One Kingdom? Exploring and Explaining the Heterogeneity of Linear B”
D. Panagiotopoulos, “Koine in a Nutshell. What Seals (and Theory) Can Tell Us about Cultural Uniformity in the Mycenaean Palatial Period”
S. Vitale, “Understanding the Mycenaean “Koine”: Norms and Variations in Aegean Cooking and Tableware Pottery Assemblages from the Late 15th to the early 12th Century B.C.E.”
N. Blackwell, “Evaluating Homogeneity in Mycenaean Palatial Construction: A Stoneworking Perspective”
E. Egan, “Counterpoints to Koine in Mycenaean Painting”
J. Murphy, “Doing it My Way: Ritual and Death at Pylos and Mycenae in the Late Bronze Age”
A. R. Knodell, D. Athanasoulis, J. Banks, A. Belza, R. Campbell, and J. F. Cherry, “The Small Cycladic Islands Project 2023: The Islets of Andros, Tenos, Mykonos, and Amorgos”
D. J. Fallu, G. Tsartsidou, L. Vokotopoulos, A. Lang, and C. Bahl, “The Geoarchaeology of Minoan Agricultural Engineering at Choiromandres, Crete”
D. M. Buell, K. T. Glowacki, and N. L. Klein, “New Observations on the Architecture of the Gournia Shrine”
A. Hunter, “Coloring the Image: The use of Egyptian Blue in Bronze Age Mediterranean Fresco Imagery”
E. Shank, “The LM IA Decorated Lustral Basin at Chania: Ritual and Use”
E. J. Fuller, “A Liminal Approach to Cultural Interaction and Maritime Exchange at Two Late Bronze Age Aegean Harbors”
N. Bowman, “Maritime Connectivity and Mobility in the Southeastern Aegean during the Neopalatial Period: A GIS-based Approach”
S. A. James and E. Marzec, “Results of the Western Argolid Petrography Project”
K. Mallinson, T. Carter, S. Crewson, M. Harder, C. Lopez, V. Mastrogiannopoulou, D. Mylona, M. N. Pareja, G. Tsartsidou, and D. Athanasoulis, “Spring Cleaning at Stelida? Disentangling Depositional Practices at the Minoan-Type Peak Sanctuary
R. McKay, “Nestor’s Two Forests: Sustainable practices and resource procurement in the Pylian Kingdom”
B. R. Jones, “The Girl on the Mycenaean Ivory Triad: Identifying Her Garment, Hairstyle, and Identity”
E. Keyser, “New Perspectives on Rhyta from the Mycenaean Mainland”
D. M. Wheeler, “The Mourner is Present: Performance Art and the Mycenaean Funeral”
G. Erny and M. McHugh, “Implementing Survey in a Suburban Coastal Context: Reflections from the BEARS Project”
A. Psoma, “Chipped Stone Tools from the Bays of East Attica Regional Survey (BEARS)”
B. Lis, “LH IIIC Pottery in the Bay of Porto Rafti: Insights into Production, Consumption, and Exchange”
A. Koh, C. Floyd, I. Roy, T. Luke, S. Bishop, M. Gold, and M. MacFarline, “The Southern Phokis Regional Project: Results of the 2023 Field Season”
T. Van Damme, B. Burke, B. Burns, A. Charami, and N. Herrmann, “New Excavations at Ancient Eleon in Eastern Boeotia”
B. Watts-Wooldridge, “The Trade of Pictorial Pottery in the 12th century BCE: New Data from Ancient Eleon, Boeotia”
A. M. Gaggioli, “Geoarchaeology and Soil Micromorphology Insights into Late Bronze Age Constructions at Eleon, Greece”
A. Van de Moortel and N. P. Herrmann, “Monuments of Earth and Stone: Social Significance of Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Tumuli at Mitrou, Central Greece”
K. B. Harrington and C. Steidl, “Signs Beyond the Cadmea: An Imported Seal Stone from the Ismenion Hill”
A. J. Shapland, A. Jenkins – Le Guerroué, R. Fascialé, and F. McDowall, “The Use of the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Video Game in the Labyrinth: Knossos Myth and Reality Exhibit at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford”
E. Kopanaki, “Regional Mobilities and the Making of Community in East Lokris”
J. Mokrišová, “The Making of Ionia: Land-Based Interregional Interactions”
T. Maltas, “Cultivating the Emerging Greek World: Land Use, Urbanisation and Interaction in the Iron Age Mediterranean”
S. Crewson and K. Mallinson, “Mythical Legacies and Bronze Age Realities: Revisiting Knossian and Naxian Connections”
H. Sugioka, “Movement in Xeste 3, Akrotiri and the Potential for Kinaesthetic Address”
R. B. Koehl, “A Griffin Throne from the Mycenaean Building on the Koukounaries Hill, Paros, Cyclades, Greece”
G. Hedreen, “Terracotta Interspecies Figures from Ayia Triada: Traditional Iconography or Artistic Innovation?”
J. L. Kramer, “Digging Up Troy: A Worker from the University of Cincinnati Expedition to the Troad”
A. Psimogiannou, “‘Breaking-down’ the Aegean Final Neolithic (mid. Fifth- Fourth mill. BCE) with the Use of Absolute, Radiocarbon Dates: Phases, Pottery Sequences and Regional Differentiation”
L. Bernardo-Ciddio, “Without a Trace: Re-Examining Relationships Between Matt-Painted Pottery in Albania and Italy”
J. E. Schultz, “Shumë Shqip Sheep: Preliminary Isotopic Data towards Understanding Prehistoric Herding Practices in Albania”
T. M. S. Nash, “Writing Beyond the Palaces? The Case of the Ivory Houses at Mycenae”
S. Cushman, “Mycenaean Texts and Tombs: A Contradictory Picture?”
J. Evrenopoulos, “Redefining an Archive: A Guide to the Context of the Pylos Linear B Tablets from Rooms 7-8 and its Proper Analysis”
T. Palaima, “Chairs and Stools and their Status Implications in the Pylos Ta ‘Totenmahl’ Inventory”

19. Österreichischer Archäologentag (2024)

On 3-5 April 2023 the 19. Österreichischer Archäologentag (2024) will be held in Innsbruck. Further information is available at https://www.uibk.ac.at/archaeologien/index.html.de. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
F. Blakolmer, “Investiturszenen in der Frühägäis: vom ‘Prinzenbecher’ aus Agia Triada zum Kultzentrum von Mykene”
B. Huber, “Emotionen und Emotionalität in Darstellungen von Bestattungsriten in spätmykenischer und geometrischer Zeit”
A. Sokolicek and L. Berger, “A Tale of Two Cities: Bronzezeit und Byzanz in Aegina Kolonna”
J. Weilhartner, “Gold in der mykenischen Palastzeit: Schriftquellen und archäologische Evidenz”

01 December 2023