International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Abstract

New excavations on Dhaskalio (2016-2018), west of Keros in the Small Cyclades, have investigated the site’s rapid expansion in the mid-third millennium BCE, the evidence for intensification and extensification in the subsistence base, the apparent architectural monumentality of the site, and the centralisation of resources and practices.

An extensive and monumental construction programme turned the rocky islet into an almost completely overbuilt area. Planning and ambition are evident in all areas excavated, with a system of drainage channels underpinning an architectural scheme dependent on massive terraces to create flat spaces for dense structures made of marble imported from Naxos. A complex access route has been traced from the channel causeway to the summit, at that time an open enclosure of as yet unknown purpose.

All materials were imported to the site, including pottery, everyday artefacts and food. Extensive analyses of artefactual and environmental data are currently underway in order to determine the everyday life of a site which may not have been a simple settlement. Craft specialisation is most evident in the metallurgical finds, which include five intact clay hearths, unique in the Aegean.

The excavations and the post-excavation work now underway demonstrate the antecedents of urbanisation that can now clearly be discerned at Dhaskalio: a rapid expansion, coupled with centralisation of resources, skills and persons, planned monumental architecture, and changes in the subsistence base, all drawing in people and resources in a wide network stretching beyond the Cyclades. The nature and effects of Renfrew’s ‘international spirit’ can now be defined and described through the evidence from Dhaskalio.

About The Speaker

Evi Margaritis a leading expert in archaeobotanical research in the east Mediterranean and the only archaeobotanist based in Cyprus. Her education (BA University of Athens) focused on environmental archaeology and archaeobotany (MSc University of Sheffield, PhD University of Cambridge). Dr Margaritis has carried out numerous post-doctoral projects on multiple facets of the human-environment relationship mainly in the geographical area of the project (i.e. Aegean and eastern Mediterranean regions). Throughout her long experience as an archaeobotanist, she has managed the archaeobotanical studies of numerous research projects, several of which are still actively running in Cyprus. Currently, she is the assistant director of the Cambridge Keros Excavation Project, and the PC for the URBAN Project, funded by RIF (Excellence Grants), which focuses on the Keros research project. Her publication record includes numerous publications in peer reviewed journals and chapters in collective volumes, she has been invited at several conferences and workshops and she has organised conferences focusing on archaeological science.

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