The Blog has Moved!

Significant progress was made in the past year to improve and to extend the Institute’s electronic footprint. The next step is to consolidate all of our communications on one platform. Thus, as of this blog all future blogs will be found at the CIG website (www.cig-icg.gr) under the heading “Blog”, no less!

We will retain the address cig-icg.blogspot.gr as the Archive of the CIG Blog which started in January, 2011 through today’s “final” blog. The link on this blog will take you to the CIG website.

In the new location I look forward to continue sharing with our readers and supporters news relating to the Institute, announcements of lectures/events at CIG and in Athens, comments on archaeological topics relating to Greece, guest blogs from our fieldwork projects and images from the Frederick Winter B/W Negative Collection.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

It’s Closing Time! Kiln Thoughts; and this Blog will be Moving

Kalo Mina! The dog days of summer are upon us. That means it’s closing time at CIG. As of today, August 1st through the end of the month we will be taking our annual summer recess. Jonathan will be heading to the United States for his first visit across the pond. My family and I will be in Crete, Athens and Naxos. The Institute will resume formal business on Monday, September 1st at 9:00 am.

Halasmenos: Nektarios cutting the plants with the Kha Gorge in the background

Kiln Thoughts
For the past week I’ve been studying the stoking pit and fire mouth of an updraft pottery kiln that was discovered in 2012 in the center of the Late Minoan IIIC settlement at Halasmenos in the Isthmus of Ierapetra in eastern Crete. This is an excavation of my wife, Dr. Metaxia Tsipopoulou. My contribution to the Winter Memorial volume dealt with the planning and the innovative elements of this short lived settlement that was inhabited ca. 1160/1140 BC. This year I supervised a workman cleaning the site of the wild sage and thyme plants.

Halasmenos: everything’s waiting for the researcher to resume work

While I was sitting in the stoking pit staring at the fire mouth in the hot July sun looking for details of its manner of construction and its methods of use, fond memories came back of another kiln that I had excavated decades ago. As an energetic, youngish professor in the Department of Classics at Brock University I had the idea to dig a historic site in the Niagara Peninsula so that my undergraduate archaeology students who were unable to go on our Archaeological Practicum in Cyprus in the summers could learn field techniques and procedures. The site that I chose was a red earthenware pottery kiln and workshop (and later the foundations of an adjacent house) located in bush near the edge of the Niagara Escarpment above Jordan, Ontario. The pottery was operated by an individual named Benjamin J. Lent in the mid- to late-1830s. As I liked to say too, too many times, this pottery had fallen between the floorboards of history since there were no records preserved to document it or its potter. We learned the potter’s name from the limited number of vessels he stamped with his name on. My co-researchers and I were able to trace him to his family’s roots to a family of stoneware potters in southern New York state, his potting work in New Jersey (he married the daughter of a potter) and then in upstate New York as a stoneware potter. He had a very pre-post-modern life in that he moved around practicing his craft, he left his first wife and children for a new life in Ontario, then married a local girl from the Niagara Peninsula and finally they all disappeared from all administrative records in both countries.

Halasmenos: view from the site towards Pachias Ammos and the Mirabello Gulf

The pottery excavation produced over 60,000 sherds in the course of a decade of on and off digging with my students and volunteers on weekends and holidays. The kiln Lent constructed was a sophisticated one. He even made vessels decorated in the manner of stoneware vessels as well as novelty items such as coin banks. On my Academia.edu webpage there is a general article about the excavation on its more important discoveries. A number of my students participated in the research and the writing of sections of the report that I submitted to the Province of Ontario. You can read it in the Special Collections of the Brock University Library!

Screen Shot of the Blog on the CIG Website

The CIG Blog will be moving in September!
Since January, 2011 the CIG blog has resided at this www.cig-icg.blogspot.gr address. With the updating and upgrading of the CIG website (www.cig-icg.gr) in late May we have had the capability of having the blog as an integral part of the website. So, starting in early September the CIG Blogs will reside at our website. For August the guest blogs will be accessible here. We will retain this blogspot.gr address as an archive of the past blogs. So there will be yet another reason for you to check our CIG website each week!

Kales Diakopes and see you in September……………………………
David Rupp
Director

Belated News! Three Strong Earthquakes Struck Crete in the Interwar Period; What Are the Archaeologically-Oriented Events in Athens?

Old Archaeological Museum of Herakleio, Crete

Unknown today to most archaeologists and historians were the three severe earthquakes that struck Herakleio in Crete in 1926, 1930 and 1935. The very strong one in 1926 was noted by Sir Arthur Evans in his monumental work The Palace of Minos. It stimulated him to think about the role of earthquakes in the destruction of the Minoan palaces.

In this interwar period the Ephors of the antiquities of Crete and Directors of the Museum in Herakleio, Stephanos Xanthoudidis, until his death in 1928, and afterwards Spyrdon Marinatos, had to deal with the damage done to the Museum and its collections.

Stephanos Xanthoudidis

Giorgos Tzorakis, an archaeologist at the Archaeological Museum of Herakleio, will describe the challenges that these two men faced in their positions in his lecture in Greek on Monday, May 26th at 18:30 at the Historical Archive of the Hellenic Archaeological Service at Psaromylingou 22 on the cusp between the Kerameikos and Psyrri districts of our diverse city. The lecture entitled, "’Τα αρχαία μας ευρίσκονται εν κινδύνω...’ Οι μεγάλοι σεισμοί του Μεσοπολέμου που έπληξαν το Ηράκλειο και το Μουσείο του, κατά τα έτη 1926, 1930 και 1935”, is the last lecture of the 2013/2014 Lecture Program of the Syllogos Filon tou Istorikou Archeiou tis Archaiologikis Yperesias.

Spyrdon Marinatos

Tzorakis’ research in the Historical Archive of the Hellenic Archaeological Service and in the papers of the two protagonists has revealed their titanic struggle to repair the damage and prevent further damage. All this happened in a consistently unfavorable environment created by the economic difficulties of the Ministry and the country as a whole caused by the influx of refugees from Asia Minor and the world-wide Great Depression. Xanthoudidis’ and Marinatos’ strong personalities played a role in how each coped with the situations that they faced.

CIG Calendar of Events
Speaking of upcoming lectures in Athens, why don’t you let our “Calendar of Events” (dropdown from “Events” on upper Menu Bar) on the newly-revamped CIG website (www.cig-icg.gr) be your one stop place to learn what are the scheduled archaeologically-oriented lectures, open meetings, colloquia, conferences, seminars, etc. that are going to happen in Athens each month besides the what CIG offers??? As you can see, even in May the calendar is has many events to tempt a wide variety of archaeological and historical interests. Jonathan combs the announcements that we receive each week and religiously enters the new events on the calendar along with the links to specific programs. Over time this Calendar of Events will become an archive of what has happened in the past. As many of the listed events are now live-streamed, and some are available afterwards on the websites of the organizations and/or on their YouTube Channel (such that of the CIG), you don’t even have to be in Athens to watch them!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

Yeia Sou Maria! Revamped CIG Website Live

With visions of Eurovision’s past dancing in our heads, we say “Yeia sou Maria!” to our new undergraduate intern from York University. Maria Tsiopelas arrived two weeks ago and she already has catalogued a large stack of new monographs and books as well as helped out with two events and receptions (the Friends Association art exhibit opening and the Annual Open Meeting). With two and a half months to go in her internship she will turn her attention now to scanning the documents in Greek from our Archives relating to past CIG archaeological projects.

Maria is a third-year undergraduate student currently pursuing a specialized honours degree in English. Her studies have influenced her interest in literary works, specifically the Classics. Her language skills in English, Greek and French give her a range of study materials. Maria’s study of classical literary works include drama, Epic, and Lyric poetry of Ancient Greece. This has led to her research on Ancient Greek Mythology, early Helladic Eras, and literature of the Heroic Age. Maria’s Greek heritage has placed a special interest in Minoan and Spartan history amongst her literary studies. This interest not only lies in the literary form and its representation of Greek culture and history, but also how it is portrayed through visual arts, and dance. Maria is very excited about this internship opportunity with the Canadian Institute in Greece. Upon the completion of her honours degree, Maria intends to continue her university studies to obtain her M.A. in Education.

When you come to the opening of Chris Stewart’s art exhibition on Wednesday, June 4th you will have another chance to meet her. Of course, you can always stop by the Institute before then and say hello to her.

The CIG website has been revamped!
The addition of the CIG Portal to the Past to the Institute’s electronic presence has permitted us to re-design and re-focus the Institute’s website. With the diligent work of our Neda and Franz Leipen Fellow, Myles Chykerda, and the sage advice of our ICT volunteer Chris Stewart, the revamped CIG website (www.cig-icg.gr) is now available for your use. By the end of September all of the slated improvements will have been made.

We believe that it will be easier to navigate the website, which will contain more useful information concerning the Institute and its activities. You can keep track of our upcoming Institute events and see those that you missed. The Events Calendar will also list those related to CIG in Canada and to archaeological/historical-themed events organized by the other foreign archaeological schools and institutes as well as by the Ministry of Culture and by the University of Athens. The updated catalogue of our Library can be searched from the website as well. Please take advantage of our extended Library hours through the end of July to use the books and monographs that you’ve found in the Catalogue.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

Pascha Recess; Updated Catalogue of the Books and Monographs in the CIG Library; Origins of the modern conservation of ancient bronzes

Greek Orthodox Pascha is fast approaching! For this major Christian holiday in this country we will take our annual Pascha Recess for two weeks. Thus, from today, Friday, the 11th, at 13:00, until Monday, April 28th, at 09:00, the Institute will be closed.

For those rabid blog junkies among you, next Friday, Megali Paraskevi, you can read Tanner’s guest blog on what he did here in Athens while he was our undergraduate intern for three months.

Some new acquisitions in the CIG library

What’s happening in the Library of the Institute
The Library is one of the key components that define the Institute. Its purpose is to serve the research needs of our members while in Athens and of other scholars, especially our Greek colleagues. As the Institute is only in its fourth decade the holdings of the Library cannot rival those of the older foreign schools and institutes of archaeology in Athens. The donation over the years of the personal libraries of Canadian scholars has enabled us to fill some of the gaps that we have. Exchanges with other institutions and donations by authors help to give us abreast of current publications over a broad range of subjects. Rather than attempt to duplicate the other libraries across the board, however, we have adopted a strategy to concentrate on purchasing materials in selected areas that we believe are unrepresented in the holdings of other libraries, such as archaeological theory and method, landscape archaeology, computer applications in archaeology, biological anthropology, ceramic analysis, faunal analysis, stone tool studies, and GIS. In addition, there are topics that our members have traditionally conducted research in, such as Boeotian and Euboean studies as well as Byzantine art and archaeology.

An opportunity presented itself recently to purchase volumes that we did not have in the Acta Instituti Atheniensis Regni Sueciae series , the Acta Instituti Athenisis Regni Sueciae series, the Studies in Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and the Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology Pocket books. These volumes have added depth especially to our Aegean Bronze Age holdings. Further, a gift of a number of volumes on a wide variety of topics, including reference works, was made by an American friend of the Institute who was returning to the States. These are the ways that a library’s holdings grow over time.

All of these acquisitions over the past year have been added to the updated Catalogue of Books and Monographs that is accessible from our website under “Facilities: Library”. Please check our holdings and then come to visit the Library to use what interests you!

Othon A. Rousopoulos

The origins of the conservation of ancient bronzes in Greece
Archaeometry or the use of various chemical and/or physical analysis techniques of archaeological remains or contexts is considered by many to be a relatively recent development in archaeological research. This is not the case, however. In the later 19th century a few scientists were interested in determining the chemical composition of ancient objects as well the processes for cleaning and preserving them. One such pioneer was a Greek professor of chemistry at the University of Athens, Dr. Othon Rousopoulos (1856-1922). In 1892 he invented the electrolysis method for cleaning bronzes. Among other activities he worked on cleaning the bronze objects recovered from the Antikythera shipwreck which are in the National Archaeological Museum.

Bbronze ephebe from the Antikythera shipwreck, National Museum, Athens

Georgiana Moraitou, department head of conservation for the 2nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Hellenic Archaeological Service, will discuss Dr. Rousopoulos’ life and work in her lecture in Greek entitled, “Ο Όθων Α. Ρουσόπουλος και η συντήρηση των χάλκινων αρχαιοτήτων στο Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο της Αθήνας στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα. Φως μέσα από τα τεκμήρια του Ιστορικού Αρχείου της Αρχαιολογικής Υπηρεσίας”. It is based on her research in the archival material held by the Historical Archive.

This lecture will take place on Monday, April 14th at 18:30 at the Historical Archive at Psaromylingou 22 on the cusp of Kerameikos and Psyrri. It is part of the 2013/13 lecture series of the Syllogos Filon tou Istorikou Archeiou tis Archaiologikis Yperesias.

Kalo Pascha!
David Rupp
Director

Mea Culpa Matt! Welcome Tanner! and a Lecture on the History of Greek Bronze Age Archaeology

Mea Culpa Matt!
How could I have missed one of the Institute’s loyal, young stalwarts on the program of the recent AIA meetings??? Infallible I’m not, as Jonathan well knows! So with a mea culpa I wish to add to the CIG blog record Matthew Mather’s active presence on the AIA program.

Women and the Military in Greece and Rome Session:
Matthew P. Maher, University of Winnipeg: “Betraying Their Sex: Women, Warfare, and the Defense of the Polis”.

Welcome Tanner Rudnick!
Each fall, winter/spring and summer we are fortunate to have an undergraduate intern from Canada work with us at the Institute. This winter it is the University of Waterloo’s turn to send us a student for three months. A week ago Tanner Rudnick came to Athens. He is a 4th-year Honours B.A. major in Classical Studies with concentration on Ancient Greek and Latin. This is his first visit to Greece so everything is new, but familar!

His particular philological interests are in onomastics and toponomastics, especially in the widely Greek-speaking ancient Asia Minor. Since epigraphy plays a critical role in the study of such subjects he hopes to become acquainted with this discipline while here. Tanner’s ICT skills and experiences will come in handy as we work on improving the CIG website and continue to add imagery and features to the CIG Portal to the Past.

You will have a chance to meet him at our first lecture in early February, or sooner at the Red Lion!

Swift and Blegen at the Peirene Spring in Ancient Corinth

The Beginnings of the Study of Early Helladic Greece
In the past few years there has been noticeable interest in examining aspects of the roots of contemporary Greek archaeology in the earlier 20th century, especially relating to the Bronze Age. One of the individuals who shaped the course of this research was Carl Blegen. His work in the Corinthia, at Troy and at Pylos set research agendas that are still today valid. Last spring there was a colloquium at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens re-evaluating his contributions.

Korakou, East Alley Stratigraphy

One of the speakers at that colloquium, Dr. Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst, the Assistant Director of the Corinth Excavations of the ASCSA, will give an illustrated lecture in Greek on Monday, the 20th, at 6:30 pm for the Sylllogos Filon tou Istorikou Archaeiou tis Archaiologikis Iperesias. The title of her lecture is, «Ο Ανασκαφέας Carl Blegen στην Κόρινθο: Στρωματογραφία στις Αρχές του 20ου Αιώνα». She will examine how he developed his method of determining a site’s stratigraphy and its relationship to other sites in the short period of time while he was excavating the Early Helladic site of Korakou on the Gulf of Corinth coast, just north of Ancient Corinth. His formulation was the basis for the relative chronology scheme he devised with Alan Wace to divide up the mainland’s cultural evolution during the Bronze Age which is still employed today. As Ioulia is an excellent lecture-giver this should be an enlightening experience.

After the lecture the Syllogos Filon will cut their pita for the health, happiness and good fortune of the Syllogos and its members in 2014. Maybe you’ll find the flouri in your piece and receive the good luck gouri??? The lecture will be at the Historical Archive on Psaromylingou 22 on the cusp between the Kerameikos and the Psyrri Districts. The Theseio Train station is the nearest one.

The Institute's winter/spring lecture series and events will be announced shortly, Keep watching for the announcements!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

An Edmontonian in Athens: Libraries, Buses, and Antiquities

Boating to Thasos

As I sit in the back offices of the Canadian Institute writing this report, gazing out the window, I find myself thinking how today’s weather is representative of my experiences in Athens thus far. You see, today it’s a chilly and blustery Athenian day, something I thought that I would never experience given my time in Greece has always been limited to the summer months on my way to and from Thessaly. A “cold” Athens is something completely different for me. Likewise, my four months in Greece can be described as familiar yet something very different from what I have hitherto experienced in this wonderful country.

Where to start? Probably the most broadening experience of the fall was travelling with the Regular Members of the American School of Classical Studies during Trip 1: Western and Northern Greece. Allow me to provide some general information for readers who are not familiar with the Regular Program. During the fall, participants go on a total of four trips which take them to major archaeological sites all across Greece. Furthermore, on each trip, every member is required to give a twenty minute presentation on an assigned topic: this ain’t no free ride! Preparing for one’s presentation during what may only be a four day break between trips can be a monumental effort involving late nights at the library sifting through material that is usually in numerous languages. The trips themselves are intensive affairs where one is always moving, jumping from a site to another to a museum, and inevitably facing unforeseen delays and bad weather. In 12 days we covered a vast distance. From the walls and shipyards of Oiniadae to the quarries of Thasos or the tombs of Pella to Augustus’ victory monument at Nikopolis….we saw it all.

Overlooking the walls of Oiniadae

Two aspects of the trip stand out in particular for me. The first was seeing a number of Hellenistic cities throughout Epirus that are strikingly similar to what we see in Thessaly regarding urban development during the same period. Cities such as Kassope or Orraon have houses, civic buildings, and defensive architecture that is extremely well preserved and shed valuable light on the form Hellenistic cities assumed in areas of Greece where the polis wasn’t the traditional main form of political organization. Instead, these areas were dominated by ethne, or tribes, and were often looked down upon as backward or less developed by Greek historians who were generally writing with an Athenocentric world view.

Measuring a threshold stone in Thasos. It was big. Really big!

I was also amazed at seeing so many astounding facets of Greece beyond the Classical world that we tend to focus on. In particular, I was blown away but the sheer beauty of the Church of the Parigoritissa in Arta. While the exterior is a striking example of Byzantine architecture, it does nothing to prepare a visitor of the beauty that lies within. Staring up at the ceiling was a pastime that would be repeated in a very different setting when we shifted into the Roman era and were able to go inside the Rotunda of Galerius in Thessaloniki. In essence, the rich and vibrant history of Greece, ranging from the deeps of the past to the modern era, became something much more real for me and not simply something that exists in a textbook.

The dome of the Church of the Parigoritissa

Pondering various matters such as state formation and connections between Thessaly and the west and north was greatly aided by sitting beside Dr. Jeremy McInerney of the University of Pennsylvania on our trusty motor coach. Jeremy was a great sounding board for some of the ideas that were percolating in my mind as I worked on piecing my dissertation prospectus together throughout most of the fall months. Preparing for my doctoral comprehensive examinations and oral defense in January has naturally been the primary focus for me throughout the fall and all the numerous opportunities to bounce ideas off of like-minded scholars has been infinitely valuable. My personal research has involved some late nights at both the American and British School libraries pouring over material dealing with the emergence of social complexity and inequality. I never would have guessed that I would start enjoying pure theory, but at some point it happened. In particular, I’m excited about rich opportunities that exist for applying anthropological theory that has been developed in regions such as Mesoamerica and the American Southwest to problems we see in the Early Iron and Archaic periods in Greece.

Many other opportunities also presented themselves this fall. I was able to play a part in the development of the CIG’s Portal to the Past (which has been covered in some previous blog posts) and learned a significant amount about both the history of the CIG and the various digs carried out under its auspices over the last 30 years. In early November I was in Pharsala for several days with Drs. Margriet Haagsma (Alberta), Emma Aston (Reading), and Tracene Harvey (Saskatchewan) for a conference concerning the town’s ancient and modern history. Our Greek colleagues organized a fantastic conference and it was so good to be back in Pharsala, which now features its very own statue of Achilles!

The Pharsala conference group in front of Achilles

Last, but certainly not least, are the advantages of being an archaeologist in Athens. The community here is simply fantastic and I’ve been very fortunate to get to know many colleagues from the numerous archaeological schools at events, lectures, and (of course) weekly darts night at the Red Lion. Sadly a few will be departing over the Christmas break and heading home to Australia, England, America, and beyond, but the archaeological parea will continue, ready to welcome each and every one of us back to Athens. I’ll personally be off to Canada for Christmas, books in tow, and then off to UCLA in January to write exams, after which I look forward to writing the spring chapter of my Athenian adventures.

Myles Chykerda
Neda and Franz Leipen Fellow, CIG