Maria started following the work of Ken Dowden, University Of Birmingham, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity.
Maria started following the work of 2 people.
Maria started following the work of Ariel Pearce-Chalikias, Temple University, Art History.
Maria just finished a review of the Greek edition of Y. Hamilakis and N, Momigliano "Archaeology and European modernity: producing and consuming the Minoans". Really enjoyed reading it (and quite a challe... more
Faculty Member, The Open University in the East Midlands, Arts Faculty
The University of Sheffield, Archaeology
Associate Lecturer
About
I got my first degree, in History and Archaeology, from the University of Athens, Greece and then went on to gain a MA and a Ph.D from the University of Sheffield, UK. I wrote my thesis on the "Social Arenas in Minoan Crete: A Regional History of the Mesara, South-central Crete, from the Final Neolithic to the end of the Protopalatial period".
A key aspect of my doctoral thesis was the examination of regional dynamics and their link with processes of social negotiation and transformation. My thesis addressed the theoretical premises of the concept of region and its use as a core analytic unit in archaeological studies and devised a novel methodology by which to bridge successfully small-scale processes with large-scale historical phenomena.
My latest project, an edited volume on the Archaeology of Land Ownership further builds upon this work by exploring the multifarious ways by which people have created associations with land and the social, economic and cultural implications of these practices.
Throughout my career I have worked extensively on archaeological ceramics ( I wrote my MA dissertation on the analysis of a Neopalatial assemblage from Mochlos, Crete), and developed a strong interest in ancient technologies. My ongoing engagement with the social dynamics of technology has led me in recent work to reconsider the traditional boundaries of material objects (ceramics, metal, bone etc) and approach technology as social praxis by investigating the importance of conspicuous production and its relationship with consumption strategies. I am particularly interested in exploring how technologies traditionally categorised as different interact in terms of knowledge, techniques and skills and what are the implications of this for the social identity of craft producers and consumers.
A large part of my work has dealt with strategies of individual identification and group representation, through the examination of seals and sealing practices across the Bronze Age Aegean. In addition to reassessing the traditional view of such artefacts as instruments of administration and economic intensification, I explore their role within apotropaic practices, particularly for understanding the social, political and economic dynamics of superstition in ancient and traditional societies.
The construction of gender in the past permeates my work on technological practice (the organisation of production relations, the impact of kin structures on production and consumption), land ownership (women’s labour, dowry and inheritance practices) and apotropaic practices (the link between menstrual cycle and pollution/taboo, prophylactic objects and gender representation, e.g. in textile production).
