The Fitch Laboratory invites you to its annual lecture on the 14th of November 2016 by Dr. Richard E. Jones, the Laboratory's first director, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his seminal publication Greek & Cypriot Pottery: a review of scientific studies.

Recent research in the mini-archipelago to the southeast of Naxos (the ‘small Cyclades’) has highlighted the remarkable attraction and centrality from an early period of the island of Keros. This small and today uninhabited island was for decades one of the most enigmatic archaeological sites in Greece, the subject of varied speculation. Now systematic research has transformed our understanding of the site and revealed its central role in the Early Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 2750-2300), illuminating key questions of Greek prehistory. The identification of Keros as the world’s earliest maritime sanctuary rests on a detailed understanding of the ritual practices that created two remarkable ‘special deposits’ at Kavos at the west end of the island, made up of hundreds of fragmented marble sculptures and thousands of broken marble vessels and finewares. This lecture will describe excavations there in 2006-2008, surveys carried out in 2012-2013 and 2015, and a new excavation programme in the settlement at Dhaskalio that began in 2016. It will examine the role of Keros as a ‘centre of congregation’, a class of sites (like Stonehenge or Göbekli Tepe) acting as a regional centre for a dispersed population.

Tο Τμήμα Αρχαιοτήτων ανακοινώνει την διοργάνωση της πρώτης του Διημερίδας, στην οποία θα παρουσιαστεί το έργο και οι δραστηριότητες του Τμήματος. Στόχος της Διημερίδας είναι η ενημέρωση του κοινού και η προβολή του έργου που επιτελεί το Τμήμα Αρχαιοτήτων. Το πολύπλευρο έργο του Τμήματος αναδεικνύεται κυρίως μέσα από τις σημαντικές ανασκαφές, τη συντήρηση των Αρχαίων Μνημείων και του αρχαιολογικού υλικού αλλά και την ανάδειξη του πολιτιστικού μας πλούτου μέσω των μουσείων και των περιοδικών εκθέσεων. 
Οι ανακοινώσεις θα γίνουν στην ελληνική.

Abstract 
The University of Cambridge is fortunate to hold one of three major collections of Cypriot antiquities in the UK, a collection comprising over 1,000 artefacts spread across three University Museums (the majority of objects currently located in the Fitzwilliam Museum). The collection was first studied in 1996-7 by Prof. Vassos Karageorghis and the Fitzwilliam’s then Keeper of Antiquities, Dr Eleni Vassilika, and resulted in the current display of Cypriot Antiquities in the Fitzwilliam Museum.

However, the collection has not been holistically studied or published, despite it including some of the finest examples of ceramics, glass, bronzes and marble sculpture from prominent sites such as Salamis, Palaepaphos, Marion, Tamassos and Vounous. Moreover, both the Fitzwilliam’s Egyptian and Greek and Roman collections have recently been the subject of extensive research projects, engaging current research approaches to Classical and Egyptian Archaeology, this work heavily influencing the redisplay of both the Greek/ Roman and the Egyptian galleries.

Given the intensification of theoretical advances in the fields of Aegean and Cypriot Archaeology (paired with important developments in the field of Island Archaeology) and important new archaeological discoveries in Cyprus, the time is now ripe for a complete re-assessment of the Cambridge Cypriot collections. A recently established, 3- year research project on the Cambridge Cypriot material aims to address these advances and re-frame the material both in its original archaeological context, and in relation to Cyprus’s wider identity as a ‘big island’. Working collaboratively between conservation and curatorial staff, the project will build a body of research into the archeological context, material and technology, and condition of the Cypriot material. This project will ultimately ensure that the collection reflects the fundamental role the island played in trade across the Mediterranean region; the way its insularity shaped a unique cultural identity allowing indigenous cultural forms to be preserved and transmitted, whilst new ideas and external influences were assimilated.

This paper presents the material culture categories currently under study (EBA pottery from the Vounous excavations, Archaic terracottas from Salamis and EIA and Archaic metalware in our collections) as well as the early research results of this project, while addressing the question of whether it is possible to integrate current theoretical debates and advances in archaeology into museum displays.

The project Act of the Scribe (Academy of Finland) organises a workshop for scholars discussing various aspects of scribal work and how these relate to language use and language change in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Currently, we see a growing interest on scribal practices and their role in language change, and an on-going tradition of (socio)linguistic studies has been established in the field of Classical languages. However, some fields of study are still under-represented and hinder the ability to form a comprehensive general picture of the linguistic situation at hand; for example, studying the multilingual situation in especially Egypt from the Ptolemaic to the Byzantine times continues to be challenging due to a gap between the disciplines of Greek and Latin on the one hand, and Demotic and Coptic research on the other. One of the aims of this workshop is to promote dialogue between the various written languages in Antiquity to be able to enhance the picture of ancient scribal practices. The general focus of the workshop lies in studying the interface between scribal work, including its technical properties, and language use.

A Workshop organised by the RTG 1878: Archaeology of Pre-Modern Economies in collaboration with the Unlocking Sacred Landscapes Network. This workshop aims to:

1. provide the Archaeology of Pre-Modern Economies students an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their potential in grasping issues related to economic archaeology in general, and spatial analysis of ritual and cult more specifically.
2. provide the new students with the opportunity to discuss informally – in a friendly and collegial environment – the possibility of applying inter- and intra-site GIS analyses to their work
3. provide the more advanced students with the opportunity to present – in a friendly and collegial environment – their ideas or their preliminary GIS results, and to get feedback and stimuli from various GIS specialists
4. provide a forum through which the Archaeology of Pre-Modern Economies Research Training Group and the Unlocking Sacred Landscapes Network have the opportunity of networking with other projects/scholars in Germany and beyond.

Curated by The Cyprus Institute and The European Music Archaeology Project (EMAP), this is an exhibition showing that… “Music is the ‘sound’ evidence of the common roots of European cultures”. Music can reveal facts about ancient civilizations, since it has created a network of relationships and points of contact among us long before we became aware of our common identity in Europe.
The exhibition, which includes multimedia features and interactive installations with the use of 3D technology, allows the visitor to admire and fully experience the astonishing world of the ancient musical instruments and the amazing journey through time and space, beginning from the origins of European musical tradition. 

The exhibition, which tours Europe, stops in Pafos this summer. The mosaics of Pafos and the music scenes depicted stemming from musical themes of the Hellenistic and Roman years were the inspiration for the exhibition in Cyprus as part of the Pafos 2017 – European Capital of Culture.  

The Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, one of the most important establishments for the research and study of Greek history (ancient, medieval and modern) at international level, is pleased to announce the organisation of its first Summer School on Ancient Greek and Roman Numismatics, to take place at its premises in Athens, from 3 to 12 July 2017. 

The ten-day intensive Summer School aims at familiarising those who have little or no background with the discipline of numismatics by offering a series of courses on methodology and various special themes. It will consist of lectures, practical sessions and visits to numismatic collections (Numismatic Museum, Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection, KIKPE/Welfare Foundation for Social and Cultural Affairs Numismatic Collection), museums (Acropolis Museum) and archaeological sites in Attica (Lavrion).

The courses will provide a chronological survey of ancient Greek and Roman coinage (from the invention of coinage to the Roman period), combined with special lectures on numismatic methodology, such as the study of coin hoards, metrology, iconography and online resources. Practical sessions will take place at the NHRF premises and in museums.

The Summer School on Numismatics is addressed to undergraduates, postgraduate students and PhD candidates in History, Archaeology and Art History, to historians and archaeologists, but also to individuals with a special interest in numismatics.

The instructors are researchers at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, with contributions by other experts in Greek and Roman numismatics. Each year a visiting scholar will be invited to develop a special topic. This year’s guest speaker is Dr Christophe Flament, who will focus on the coinage of Athens.

The number of participants is limited to 25. They  will  be selected  by  the Scientific  Committee  following  a  thorough  assessment  of  the application and the CV of the candidates. 

The course will be taught in English.

All students will receive a certificate of participation.