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About Me

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow on the New Perspectives on Ancient Pottery Project (NPAP) based in the Amsterdam Archaeological Centre of UvA. The NPAP project seeks to develop new methodologies in archaeological pottery studies using an array of perspectives, from the natural sciences to anthropological theory and information technology, that will increase the quality and quantity of the information that can be derived from ceramic assemblages. Data is being collected from three sites: the excavations of Halos in central Greece and Satricum, an Italian site just south of Rome, as well as survey material from the Greek Ionian island of Zakynthos.

NPAP Project

Biography

1997-2000  BA Joint Hons. in Archaeology/Geology - University of Bristol

2000-2001  MSc in Archaeomaterials - University of Sheffield

2002-2005  Williams Fellow in Ceramic Petrography, Fitch Laboratory, British School at Athens

2005-2009  PhD in Archaeology - University of Exeter

2009-2011  Postdoctoral Fellow - Aegean Material Culture Lab, Dept. of Art, University of Toronto

I am an archaeologist specialising in ceramics, with research interests stretching across the Aegean and wider East Mediterranean region. My dual training in archaeology and geology has allowed me to become a leading specialist within the field of ceramic analysis, in particular ceramic petrography. My works anchors ‘scientific’ data within broader approaches to material culture, in order to understand patterns of craft production and exchange in past societies, and addresses broad questions of human interaction and technological transmission across different spatial and temporal scales of analysis.

I started my studies in archaeology at the University of Bristol, where I gained my BA Joint Honours in Archaeology and Geology, before moving on to the University of Sheffield for my MSc in Archaeomaterials. It was here that I worked on my first Aegean Bronze Age assemblage (from Ayia Irini on Kea, in collaboration with Peter Day and David Wilson), a pattern that was to follow for many years to come.

After a sabbatical year working in the wine world, my developing interests in ceramic analysis and the Aegean took me to the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens, where I was the Williams Fellow in Ceramic Petrography. During my time in the Fitch Lab I worked on a number of prehistoric projects in Greece but spent most of my time working amongst the Bronze Age assemblages of the Cyclades(as well as drinking cappuccinofreddo).

In 2005 I returned to the UK to undertake my doctorate on the ceramic assemblages of Middle Bronze Age communities of the Cyclades at the University of Exeter. Upon completion of my PhD I moved to the University of Toronto to be Postdoctoral Fellow at the Aegean Material Culture Lab, under the direction of Prof. Carl Knappett (Dept of Art). Whilst in Toronto, I had the honour of co-organising the Ceramics Interest Group with Stanley Klassen (NMC Dept), collaborating with the Archaeology Centre (directed by Prof. Michael Chazan) and meeting a wide array of students, scholars and potters passing through the AMC Lab.

My past and current research can be categorised within two broad, overlapping themes:

i) island interactions within the prehistoric Cyclades

ii) integrated approaches within ceramic analysis

Fitch Laboratory

NCSR Demokritos

Island interactions within the late prehistoric Cyclades

The development of maritime trading networks in the early Cyclades has long been regarded as a keycomponent in the explanation of therise of Aegean social complexity. The islands have witnessed over 150 years of scholarly investigation by geologists, anthropologists and archaeologists alike. Over the last 40 years, the Aegean has become a testing ground for cutting edge ceramic analysis where integrated programmes, involving macroscopic observation, ceramic petrography and chemical techniques, have been successful in elucidating the dynamic processes of ceramic production, distribution and consumption, and the human interactions of ancient communities.

My research has followed this methodology in order to shed new light on Neolithic to Late Bronze Age Cycladic communities by undertaking the following:

• Characterising the technological choices of potting communities over time to assess how new technologies were transmitted and adopted, such as the potter’s wheel and high-control firing strategies;

• Reconstructing networks of exchange through the identification of ceramic vessel provenance and technological characterisation, as well as characterising the directionality and strength of these interactions and how they have influenced the position of ‘prominent’ sites across the network;

• Considering what meaningfully constitutes the ‘unit of analysis’ within interaction networks of the prehistoric Cyclades, including the distribution pattern of settlements across the islands and how this changes over time.

Ceramic analysis: integrated approaches and interpretations

Ceramic studies have undergone a significant transformation over the last 20 years: from a sub-discipline dominated by static approaches to material culture to an interdisciplinary field in which artefacts have been accorded an active role in the dynamic processes that create and perpetuate human-material relations. New analytical approaches have also emergedto investigate these dynamics using multiple techniques of analysis at multiple scales of analysis.

Integrated macroscopic and petrographic study of ceramic vessels allows the identification of specific behaviours within the production sequence, from raw material procurement and processing to forming techniques, which can be traced both spatially and temporally. This information is extremely valuable for investigating the dynamics of human interactions, their duration and direction, as well as reconstructing social boundaries and groups, or communities, through shared practice. For instance, the introduction of the potter’s wheel is traditionally seen as an inevitable step on the path to ceramic standardisation, but recent studies on pre-Minoan assemblages within the Cyclades reveal that so-called ‘hinterland’ groups are choosing to learn, utilise, adapt or reject specific technologies associated with a dominant group or culture.

My own research incorporates hands-on macroscopic study combined with ceramic petrography, geoprospection for suitable raw materials and experimental approaches to raw material manipulation and firing, in concert with a number of chemical techniques for fine fabric characterisation, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), neutron activation analysis (NAA) and scanning electron microscopy using energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The main analytical technique used in many of my research projects is petrographic analysis with thin sections, supplemented by geoprospection for potting raw materials, to identify possible sources ofraw materials and units of ceramic production. Petrography has the advantage of incorporating both provenance and technological issues and can be efficiently integrated to the macroscopic study of the pottery, as results can be easily related to typological, compositional and technological features observed in hand specimen. However, constant development of techniques within an overallprogramme of ceramic analysis is myultimate goal, so archaeologists can achieve more effective and cost-efficient sampling of assemblages with maximum potential for meaningful archaeological interpretation.

Current collaborative projects

Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Cyclades:

a) Late Neolithic to EB I Naxos: the evidence from Grotta – with O. Philaniotou (Director of the K’ EPKA)

b) Zas Cave, Naxos: Phases I-IV, the Neolithic to late EBII Phases – with K. Zachos (Director of the IB’ EPKA)

c) The Early Cycladic II settlement of Skarkos, Ios – with M. Marthari (Director of the KA’ EPKA)

d) Keros: Dhaskalio and Kavos, the 2006-8 excavations – with C. Renfrew (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge) http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/keros/

The onset and development of ‘Minoanization’:

e) Early LBA Akrotiri, Thera: the ceramic deposits from Sector Delta – with I. Nikolakopoulou (Institute for Aegean Research, Greek Ministry of Culture), I. Mathioudaki (University of Athens)

f) Late MBA ceramic assemblage at Akrotiri, Thera – with I. Nikolakopoulou (Institute for Aegean Research, Greek Ministry of Culture), I. Mathioudaki (University of Athens) & C. Knappett (University of Toronto)

g) Ayia Irini Northern Sector Project, Kea – with E. Gorogianni (University of Akron) & R. Fitzsimons (Trent University)

h) Iasos: A Bronze Age site in Caria, Turkey – with N. Momigliano (University of Bristol) & C. Knappett (University of Toronto)

i) Ceramic fabrics from ‘Minoan’ Miletus, Turkey – with W-D. Niemeier (Director, German Institute in Athens), I. Kaiser (German Institute in Athens) & C. Knappett (University of Toronto)