The Greek Stone Age has been an active field of research, very much favored by the archaeology of caves. This presentation will demonstrate the wide research potential of cave contexts for the Greek prehistoric record, as emerging from their character as multi-temporal and multi-functional sites where subsequent time periods and cultures are able to survive in long depositional sequences. Against a rich account of sites and artifacts from older investigations, the presentation will show the latest discoveries on the use of caves by hunter-gatherers and early farmers of the Greek mainland and the Aegean. Major focus will be placed on fresh insights into the social, ritual and mortuary behavior of the Stone Age communities and implications for complex worldviews on cave symbolism.

Dr. Katsarou’s visit is made possible with a UA Global Initiatives Visiting Scholar Grant

Dr. Stella Katsarou, Department of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology, Ministry of Culture, Greece

 
Bio:

Dr. Stella Katsarou is a Greek Neolithic and Early Bronze Age specialist. She is a senior archaeologist at the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Spelaeology (Athens), the Ministry of Culture department that is responsible for cave archaeology in Greece. She earned her B.A. and Ph.D. in Greece. She has been academic faculty at the University of the Aegean, a visiting scholar at the University of Sheffield, and currently is a Tytus Fellow at the University of Cincinnati.   Her area of expertise is pottery production in its social, technological, anthropological, and narrative context. She has conducted research in key prehistoric sites, including the caves of Cyclops (Aegean), Theopetra (Thessaly), Kastria and Nestor (Peloponnese), Sarakenos (Boeotia), and the open air sites of Helike (Peloponnese) and Koukounaries (Paros), among others. She has published extensively on these subjects in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and she has (co-) edited a large number of important archaeological volumes documenting recent archaeological discoveries in Greece. Moreover, Dr. Katsarou has also published on issues of cultural heritage and community outreach, using as a test case the Parthenon marbles and the school communities around the Acropolis whose daily view is the sacred rock. Dr. Katsarou is engaged in research collaborations with the British School at Athens for the project at the Neolithic tell of Koutroula Magoula (Thessaly), and with the American School of Classical Studies at Athens for the Neolithic mortuary cave Alepotrypa (Peloponnese). She is currently re-examining the Neolithic pottery from the Franchthi cave (Argolid), in collaboration with the University of Sheffield.

She has recently launched a cave landscape archaeology project in the unexplored region of Aitoloakarnania (west Greece). She has published extensively and has been granted funds from INSTAP, Mediterranean Archaeological Trust and the White-Levi Foundation.

Dr. Katsarou has already strong ties with the University of Arizona as a regular guest lecturer at the Greece Study Abroad program, Arizona in the Aegean (www.aegean.arizona.edu). The students were thrilled both with her classroom presentation and with her presentation on the prehistoric island, Saliagos, one of the most important Neolithic settlements.