This weekend, Rambla Prim in Barcelona has been buzzing with families and researchers at the 16th Science Festival. We participated in the event with a workshop on cereal cultivation and sustainable food, where children and their families interacted with large-scale reproductions of ancient cereal seeds and performed tasks of sample identification and classification. The activity was very well received, with the participation of about thirty people, including 15 children and their families. The workshop led to the discovery of Archaeobotany: a discipline that is not widely known in the popular imagination of Archaeology but is essential for understanding key aspects of past societies‘ daily life; such as food, agricultural practices, and trade routes. In the introductory phase of the workshop, we compared some of the most consumed cereals today with the wide variety of cereal species that existed in the prehistoric Mediterranean area. Using various graphic and plastic materials (a poster, reproductions of charred seeds, and images on paper), our researchers explained the most relevant aspects of their research methodology. Furthermore, the researchers explained the key aspects of the current research methodology in archaeobotany. They emphasized the collaboration with ancient seed banks (agrogenetics), our experimental cultivations in the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic…
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This Thursday, 24th November 2022, ICAC will be hosting a GIAP workshop in the context of the recently finalised Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship of Dr. Merkouris Georgiadis: “Landscape, display and economy at Abdera and Thrace: using modern archaeological field and lab methods to better understand colonial landscapes (from 3000BC to AD100)“ Date: 24th November 2022. Organisers: ·…
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Princeton University, in collaboration with GIAP (ICAC), is organizing the ‘Princeton Athens Center Workshop. Mediterranean Colonial Landscapes‘, to be held at the Princeton Athens Center for Research and Hellenic Studies in Athens, Greece on July 13-14 2022, with sponsorship from the Princeton International Fund (IF) and the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies. Dates: 13/07/2022 – 14/07/2022Location: Princeton Athens…
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Join us in the last 2022 GIAP Seminar! May 26th 2022, 18-19h CET ‘Model-based Mediterraneans’ Prof. Andrew BevanProfessor of Spatial and Comparative Archaeology, University College London (UCL, UK) Keywords: Computational models, spatial analysis, material culture, Mediterranean archaeology, human settlement, landscape ecology Access the webinar here: https://bit.ly/JoinGIAPseminarNo registration required. Hosted in Microsoft Teams (no Microsoft/Teams account…
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Picture of a Late Antiquity cist grave in Grevena. Picture by Merkouris Georgiadis (GIAP). The international Greek newspaper Kathimeriní recently published an article echoing the first results of the five-year research program in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Grevena and GIAP-ICAC, entitled “Archaeological Program of Grevena”, which began in 2021. From GIAP-ICAC’s side, the project is…
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After a very successful first series in 2021, the GIAP Seminars come back for a 2nd year! SAVE THE DATE First webinar: February 24th 18h CETSpeaker: Prof. Nena GalanidouProfessor of Prehistoric Archaeology at University of Crete More information coming very soon! Learn more about GIAP Seminars and last year’s series: https://giap.icac.cat/seminars
In the picture: M. Georgiadis and G. Apostolou getting ready for the talks. GIAP researchers Merkourios Georgiadis and Giannis Apostolou present our latest research in Greece, including results from this summer’s campaigns, at the 41st IMSW meeting. As presented by the organisers: “The 41st hybrid IMSW meeting will take place at the Paul Valéry University – Montpellier…
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Tomorrow, 16th November 2021, GIAP-ICAC researcher Alexandra Livarda will present her latest multidisciplinary research at the workshop “Society and Environment in Bronze Age Crete. Recent Geoarchaeological Researches”. Organised by ArScAn / École française d’Athènes / L.G.P (UMR 8591). Session 2: Plant resources and landscapes (10.40h CET) Mediterranean polyculture revisited: a re-examination of prehistoric cereals, grape…
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In our last post reporting on our experimental cultivations you could see our greenhouse and our fields blooming in the spring and later already mature and yellow before the harvest. We had just begun the harvest after a challenging season with late rains and hoping for the best. We are now extremely happy to report…
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Reporting Alexandra Livarda and Alexandra Kriti Archaeobotany and the study of seeds and grains can be very frustrating, especially when compared to other bioarchaeological disciplines, like zooarchaeology. Let us explain: when you have an animal bone you can get all sorts of information. You can tell what animal it is, but also, the sex, age,…
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