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I currently hold the position of the Post-Doctoral Researcher for the project New Perspectives on Ancient Pottery (NPAP). The project is aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of information retrieved from archaeological ceramics by introducing new methodologies to pottery research and applying them to select bodies of material from Greece and Italy.

New Perspectives on Ancient Pottery (website)

Short biography

I was born in Athens but come from Laconia on the southern Greek mainland. I studied Classical Archaeology at the University of Crete and King’s College London (BA), Cambridge University (MPhil) and the University of Edinburgh (PhD). My thesis was entitled ''Ceramic Styles in Iron Age Crete: Production, Dissemination and Consumption. A Study of Pottery from the Iron Age Necropolis of Orthi Petra in Eleutherna''. Following the completion of the thesis in 2005, I worked as a Contract Lecturer at King’s College London and the University of Crete.
My fieldwork experience has largely been gained at the excavations of the Iron Age necropolis of Eleutherna and the Iron Age settlement at Lefkandi Xeropolis

Lefkandi Excavations (website)

Reserach

My research interests focus on the Aegean and the Mediterranean of the Iron Age (1100-600 BC). I specialize on pottery but also study other facets of material culture. I have published on burial customs, trade and exchange and the history of archaeological research in Crete (see the publication list below).
I am one of the founding members of the Hellenic Society for the Study of Ancient Egypt.

Hellenic Society for the Study of Ancient Egypt (website)

Current projects

Methone in Macedonia                     
I am engaged in the study of a sizeable body of ceramic material from Methone, a colony established by Euboeans in the Thermaic Gulf, southwest of modern Thessaloniki. The overall study is co-authored by the excavator M. Bessios, Archeologist at the 27th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, and Y. Tzifopoulos, Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The pottery in question dates from the late eighth to the early sixth century BC, includes imports from different regions of the Aegean and beyond and carries a variety of graffiti, dipinti and inscriptions.

Knossos in Crete
I am responsible for the study and publication of the Early Iron Age pottery recovered by the Knossos Urban Landscape Project (KULP), a fieldwork survey directed by Professor T. Whitelaw (University College London), Mrs M. Bredaki and Dr A. Vasilakis (ΚΓ’ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities). The intent of the project is to use the surface survey data as a framework for the re-interpretation of the extraordinarily rich excavated archaeological record from the site, based on over a century of intensive research in the city and outlying cemeteries.

Further collaborations are currently planned.

Publication list

Monographs
The Archaeology of tomb A1K1 of Orthi Petra in Eleutherna: The Early Iron Age Pottery. Εκδόσεις Πανεπιστημίου Κρήτης, Athens, 2008. ISBN 978-960-88394-6-5.

Journal Articles
The discovery of Eleutherna: From the formation of the modern Cretan state to H. Payne’s excavations (1899-1929). Annual of the British School at Athens 103 (2008), 275-298.

Wealth and Status in Iron Age Knossos. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 25.2 (2006), 149-172.

The Rise of the Polis in Central Crete. Ευλιμένη 3 (2002), 37-74.

Other Contributions
Three early, limestone sculptures from Gortyn and their Mediterranean profile. In IMMORTALITY: The Earthly world, the Celestial world and the Underworld in the Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, Stampolidis N. C., Giannikouri Α. and Kanta Α. (eds). In press.

Νέα ερμηνεία της παράστασης του κρατήρα του Ζωγράφου του Δίνου από τη Γέλα / A new interpretation of the scene on the krater of the Dinos Painter at Gela. In Τιμητικός τόμος για τον Καθηγητή Π. Θέμελη, Ψαρουδάκης Κ. και Σιουμπάρα Ε. (eds). In press.

Quantification of ceramics from Early Iron Age tombs. In Early Iron Age pottery: a quantitative approach. Round Table organized by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece in collaboration with the University of Lausanne, Reber K., Verdan S., Kenzelmann-Pfyffer A., Theurillat T. (eds). In press.

Ceramic variability and drinking habits in Iron Age Crete. In Acts of The ‘‘Dark Ages’’ Revisited: An International Conference in Memory of William D.E. Coulson, Mazarakis-Ainian A. (ed.). In press.

Το διεθνές ενδιαφέρον για αρχαιολογικές ανασκαφές στη Λύκτο / The international interest in excavating Lyktos. In the Proceedings of the International Conference Λύκτος εϋκτιμένη, 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. In press.

Orientalizing Ceramic Styles and Wares in Early Iron Age Crete. In Akten des Internationalen Kolloquiums Kreta in der geometrischen und archaischen Zeit, Niemeier W.-D., Kaiser I. and Pilz O. (eds). In press.

Cretan Cave Sanctuaries of the Early Iron Age to the Roman Period, co-authored by N. C. Stampolidis. In Monograph of the Danish Institute at Athens Stable Places and Changing Perceptions: Cave Archaeology in Greece and Adjacent Areas, Mavridis F. and Jensen J. (eds). In press.

Foreign Identity and Ceramic Production in Early Iron Age Crete. In Convegno di Studi Identità culturale, etnicità, processi di formazione a Creta fra Dark Age e Arcaismo, Rizza G. (ed.). In press.

Central Greece and Crete in the Early Iron Age. In the Proceedings of the International Conference 2ο Αρχαιολογικό έργο Θεσσαλίας και Στερεάς Ελλάδας 2003-2005, Mazarakis-Ainian A. (ed.), Volos, 2009, 1051-1065.

Ανακαλύπτοντας την Ελεύθερνα: από την ενετική καταστροφή της θέσης ώς την ίδρυση της κρητικής πολιτείας (1367-1899) / The  discovery of Eleutherna: from the Venetian destruction of the site to the formation of the modern Cretan state (1367-1899). In Ubi Dubium  ibi Libertas: Τιμητικός τόμος για τον Καθηγητή Ν. Φαράκλα, Λούκος Χ., Ξιφαράς Ν. και Πατεράκη Κ. (eds), Ρέθυμνο, 2009, 381-396.

A familiar guest from Crete. In Γενέθλιον. Αναμνηστικός Τόμος για τη συμπλήρωση 20 χρόνων λειτουργίας του Μουσείου Κυκλαδικής Τέχνης, Stampolidis N.C. (ed.), Athens,2006, 107-115.

Phoenicians in Crete,co-authored by Stampolidis N.C.. In Ancient Greece from the Mycenaean palaces to the Age of Homer, Deger-Jalkotzy S. and Lemos I.S. (eds), Edinburgh, 2006, 337-360.

Catalogue Entries
22 entries in The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Wiley-Blackwell’s Companion), Bagnall R., Brodersen K., Champion C., Erskine A., Huebner S. (eds). In press.

67 entries in the exhibition catalogue Eleutherna: Polis – Acropolis – Necropolis, Stampolidis N.C. (ed.), 240-271.

Book Reviews
Review of Dickinson O., The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age: Continuity and change between the twelfth and eighth centuries BC, Classical Review 58.1 (2008), 255-256.

Review of D’Agata A.L. and Moody J. with Williams E. (eds.), Ariadne’s Threads: Connections between Crete and the Greek Mainland in the late Minoan III (LM IIIA2 to LM IIIC), Journal of Hellenic Studies 126 (2006), 188-189.