Staff Catalogue

SERGIOS MENELAOU

MENELAOU SERGIOS
22893229
...
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Department of History and Archaeology
Archaeological Research Unit, 002
12, Gladstonos str.
Undergraduate studies at the University of Cyprus, Department of History and Archaeology (2008-2012). He undertook his postgraduate studies at the University of Sheffield (MSc in Archaeological Materials, 2013) and completed his PhD (2018) at the same University. Sergios Menelaou has been a core collaborator of the research project 'The Prehistoric Settlement at Heraion on Samos (Sacred Road)' since 2009, led by the University of Cyprus (Dr Ourania Kouka), in collaboration with the German Archaeological Institute at Athens (https://www.dainst.org/en/projekt/-/project-display/247819, https://www.dainst.org/en/projekt/-/project-display/247951). During 2018-2019 he held a Post-doctoral fellowship at Koç University, ANAMED (Research Center for Anatolian Civiliations) in Istanbul (Turkey) (https://anamed.ku.edu.tr/menelaou-sergios/) and in 2019-2020 he spent three months at the Fitch Laboratory (British School at Athens), holding a Fitch Bursary Award. He is currently working as the Coordinator/Principal Investigator of the project entitled 'Borderlands as areas of mobility and connectivity during the third millennium BC: Examining regional ceramic technologies between the east Aegean islands, western Anatolia and Cyprus (BORDER)', supervised by Dr Ourania Kouka and funded by the Research and Innovation Foundation (Horizon 2020-2nd Opportunity, RESTART 2016-2020). (https://www.ucy.ac.cy/border/)
 
He has participated in various excavation projects in Cyprus (Palaepaphos-Kouklia, Nea Paphos) and Greece (Heraion-Samos, Kalapodi-Atalante, Dhaskalio-Keros) and has presented his work in many conferences and workshops in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Croatia, Spain, Mexico and the USA. 
 
He has received scholarships and grants from the Greek Archaeological Committee UK, the State Scholarships Foundation (Greece), the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP-SCEC), the University of Sheffield, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the University of Athens-A.S. Onassis Foundation, and the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust.
 
 
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
 
  • February/March 2021: Tutor in postgraduate module ARC 661 ‘Study of Pottery and Small Finds’ at the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus (coordinator Assoc. Prof. O. Kouka).
  • 19/06 – 21/06/2017: Tutor and instructor in the laboratory sessions of the Short Course ‘Introduction to Ceramic Petrography’ at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK (coordinator Prof. P.M. Day).
  • 12/09 – 17/09/2016: Tutor and instructor in the laboratory sessions of the Short Course ‘Introduction to Ceramic Petrography’ at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK (coordinator Prof. P.M. Day).
  • February – May 2016: Tutor in module AAP 6106 ‘Mineralogy and Petrography of Archaeological Ceramics’ at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK (coordinator Prof. P.M. Day).
 
 FIELDWORK AND RESEARCH PROJECT COLLABORATIONS
 
  • 2021-2025: Samos Archaeological Survey Project (Assistant Director; Director: Assoc. Prof. Ourania Kouka in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Samos and Ikaria).
  • 2021-today: Petrographic analysis of pottery from Middle-Late Chalcolithic Kissonerga-Mosphilia (in collaboration with Dr Diane Bolger); from Chalcolithic-Late Bronze Age Kissonerga-Skalia (in collaboration with Dr Lindy Crewe); from Early and Middle Bronze Age Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou (in collaboration with Dr Luca Bombardieri).
  • 2020-today: The Seitani Cave in Northern Samos (Greece): Analysis and Publication of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Ceramic Assemblage (in collaboration with the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Spelaeology, Ministry of Culture and Sports at Athens, Greece).
  • 2019-today: The Early and Middle Bronze Age Settlement at Heraion on Samos (Area of Hera Temple - Excavations of Hans Walter 1958-1960). Study and publication of pottery (in collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Ourania Kouka).
  • 2014-2019: Pottery specialist at The Prehistoric Settlement at the Heraion of Samos Project (Director: Assoc. Prof. Ourania Kouka).
  • 2017: Keros Excavation Project, Dhaskalio, pottery specialist (University of Cambridge).
He is particularly interested in the application of scientific analytical techniques, with a special concern for recovering technological information of pottery production, usage, and circulation.
  • Aegean, Anatolian, and Cypriot Prehistory (Chalcolithic-Middle Bronze Age)
  • Island Archaeology
  • Archaeological Science
  • Ceramic Petrography
  • Pottery Analysis and Technology
  • Reconstruction of Mobility and Connectivity Patterns
  • Application on Theoretical Models on Insularity and Borderland Studies
 
PRESENTATIONS AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS (SELECTED)
 
  1. 11/11/2022: International Conference Nostoi II: Travelling in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sea and Inland Routes from the Early Bronze to the End of the Early Iron Age. Athens, Greece, 11-13 November 2022.
  2. 02/09/2022: 28th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), Budapest, Hungary, 31 August-03 September 2022. 
  3. 17/05/2022: “43rd International Symposium on Archaeometry (ISA)” University of Lisbon, Portugal, 16-20 May 2022.
  4. 09/04/2022: Archaeological Research Unit’s Annual Workshop: The Archaeological Work of the University of Cyprus 2021.
  5. 03/04/2022: “Somewhere in Between: Borders and Borderlands” International Conference, London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, 02-03 April 2022.
  6. 17/03/2022: 3rd International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (ICAS-EMME 3), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, 14-18 March 2022. 
  7. 09/12/2021: American Society of Overseas Research-ASOR Annual Meeting 2021, Chicago, USA, 09-12 December 2021 (virtual event).
  8. 11/09/2021: 27th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), Kiel, Germany, 08-11 September 2021 (virtual event). 
  9. 04/12/2020: “Methodology and Archaeometry”, Scientific Conference of the Department of Archaeology, University of Zagreb, Croatia, 03-04 December 2020 (virtual event). 
  10. 16/11/2019: European Islands between Isolated and Interconnected Life Worlds: Interdisciplinary Long-Term Perspectives, University of Tübingen, Germany, 15-16 November 2019. 
  11. 14/11/2019: 2nd International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (ICAS-EMME 2), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, 12-14 November 2019. 
  12. 09/11/2019: Annual Ceramic Petrology Group Meeting, Fitch Laboratory, British School at Athens, 08-09 November 2019, Athens. 
  13. 11/10/2019: 7th Symposium on Archaeometry “Archaeology-Archaeometry: 30 years later”, Athens, 09-12 October 2019, Hellenic Society of Archaeometry. 
  14. 18/09/2019: International Conference “15th European meeting on ancient ceramics (EMAC)”, Barcelona, 16-18 September 2019. 
  15. 15/05/2019: ANAMED Fellows Symposium 2018-2019, Koç University, Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), Istanbul, Turkey, 15-16 May 2019. 
  16. 01/03/2019: International Workshop “Frontiers or Interaction Zones? Borderlands as Areas of Communication and Mobility”. University of Bern, Switzerland, 28/02-02/03/2019. Oral presentation: A seascape of change: concepts of maritime connectivity within the east Aegean islands and west Anatolian borderland during the third millennium BC.
  17. 07/12/2018: “Methodology and Archaeometry”, Scientific Conference of the Department of Archaeology, University of Zagreb, Croatia, 06-07 December 2018. Oral presentation: Beyond networks and macro-scale analysis: unravelling local micro-histories of pottery through an integrated methodology.
  18. 24/05/2018: International Conference “42nd International Symposium on Archaeometry (ISA)”. Autonomous University of Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán (Mexico), 20-26 May 2018. 
  19. 11/11/2017: International Workshop “Tavşan Adası and the southeast Aegean/southwest coastal Anatolian region (SASCAR) – A ceramic perspective”, Halle (Saale), Germany, Martin Luther University, Institute for Art History and Archaeologies of Europe, 10-11 November 2017. 
  20. 17/05/2016: International Conference “41st International Symposium on Archaeometry (ISA)”. Special session “The Beginning of the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean”. University of the Peloponnese, Kalamata (Greece), 15-21 May 2016. 
  21. 13/05/2016: International Conference “SASCAR: The southeast Aegean/southwest coastal Anatolian region: material evidence and cultural identity. Early and Middle Bronze Age”. Italian Archaeological School at Athens, 12-14 May 2016.
  22. 22/10/2015: International Conference “Pottery technologies and sociocultural connections between the Aegean and Anatolia during the 3rd millennium BC”. Institut für Orientalische und Europäische Archäologie, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 21-23 October 2015. 
  23. 25/09/2015: International Conference “13th European meeting on ancient ceramics (EMAC)”, Athens, 24-26 September 2015. 
  24. 17/09/2014: International Conference “NARNIA, Interdisciplinary studies of ancient material from the Mediterranean”. Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 17-19 September 2014. 
  25. 01/12/2013: International Conference “The archaeological work in the Aegean islands”. Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Archaeological Institute of Aegean Studies, Rhodes, 27/11–01/12/2013. 
 
INVITED PUBLIC LECTURES AND SEMINARS
 
  1. 11/10/2021: Archaeological Research Unit's 56th Public Lecture Series, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus. Celebrating 30 Years of Research, 1991-2021.
  2. 22/10/2019: Fitch-Wiener Laboratories Seminar Series, Wiener Laboratory, American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
  3. 21/01/2019: Archaeological Research Unit's 51st Public Lecture Series, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus. 
  4. 30/11/2016: Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology (ACASA) and Capacity group Amsterdam Archaeological Centre (AAC) research seminar.
  5. 01/12/2015: Prehistoric and Early Greece Graduate Seminar, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford. 
PhD Thesis
 
Menelaou, S. 2018. A Diachronic Study of the Early Bronze Age Pottery from Heraion on Samos, Greece: An Integrated Approach. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, 790 pp.
 
Papers in peer-reviewed journals
 
Menelaou, S., Georgiadis, F., Katsarou, S., Siros, A., Darlas, A. and Marzec, E. in preparation. Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery consumption at Agriomernos Cave, Samos (Greece): compositional analysis and provenance determination. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.
 
Menelaou, S. and Kouka, O. 2022. Tracing interaction on Samos Island: Pottery traditions and connectivity at Kastro-Tigani and Heraion during the Aegean Late-Final Neolithic/Western Anatolian Chalcolithic. The Annual of the British School at Athens 117, 1-52 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245422000041).
 
Menelaou, S. and Kouka, O. 2021. “Cooking up” pottery recipes: A diachronic technological and provenance analysis of cooking ware ceramics from prehistoric Heraion on Samos, Greece (5th to early 2nd millennia BC). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 35, 102716. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102716).
 
Menelaou, S. and Day, P.M. 2020. Between East and West: Amorgian pottery in Early Bronze Age Heraion (Samos). Oxford Journal of Archaeology 39(1), 41-66 (doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12186).
 
Menelaou, S., Kouka, P. and Day, P.M. 2016. Pottery production and exchange at the Heraion, Samos during the late third millennium BC: First steps in the study of technology and provenance. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7, 480-488. (doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.01.014).
 
Chapters in peer-reviewed edited volumes and conference proceedings
 
Menelaou, S. forthcoming (2022). Early and Middle Cypriot ceramics (78 entries). In: E. Poyiadji-Richter (ed.), Alexander Malios Collection: Cypriote Antiquities. Leipzig: AMRICHA, 21-123.
 
Kouka, O. and Menelaou, S. forthcoming. Filling in the puzzle: A holistic approach on the Early Bronze Age at the Heraion on Samos In: T. Marketou and T.S. Vitale (eds.), The Southeast Aegean/Southwest Coastal Anatolian Region: Material Evidence and Cultural Identity I. The Early and Middle Bronze Age, International Conference, Athens, 12-14 May 2016, Italian School of Athens.
 
Menelaou, S. 2021. Insular, marginal or multiconnected? Maritime interaction and connectivity in the East Aegean Islands during the Early Bronze Age through ceramic evidence. In: F. Schön, L. Dierksmeier, A. Condit, V. Palmowski and A. Kouremenos (eds.), European Islands Between Isolated and Interconnected Life Worlds: Interdisciplinary Long-Term Perspectives. RessourcenKulturen 16, Tübingen University Press, 131-161 (https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/handle/10900/121446).
   
Menelaou, S. 2020. Vielschichtige Grenzen: Perspektiven aus Zypern und der östlichen Ägäis. In: J. Menne and M. Brunner (Hrsg.), Sonderhefte 18/2020 (Jahrgang 2/2020) Grenzräume in der Archäologie, Archäologie in Deutschland 18. wbg Theiss, Darmstadt, 95-99 (ISBN 978-3-8062-4121-1).
 
Menelaou, S. 2020b. Beyond networks and macro-scale analysis: Unravelling micro-histories of pottery at Early Bronze Age Samos, Greece through an integrated approach. In: I. Miloglav (ed.), Proceedings from the 6th International Scientific Conference Methodology and Archaeometry, Zagreb, 6-7 December 2018, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, FF-Open Press, 57-69 (https://doi.org/10.17234/METARH.2019).
 
Kouka, O and Menelaou, S. 2018. Settlement and society in the Early Bronze Age Heraion: Exploring stratigraphy, architecture and ceramic innovation after mid–3rd millennium BC. In: E. Alram-Stern and B. Horejs (eds.), Pottery Technologies and Sociocultural Connections between the Aegean and Anatolia during the 3rd millennium BC. OREA 10, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften-Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Oriental and European Archaeology, Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 119-142 (doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8xnj5p.9 ISBN 978-3-7001-8127-9).
 
Μενελάου, Σ. 2017. Πετρογραφική ανάλυση της ύστερης Πρωτοχαλκής ΙΙ-ΙΙΙ κεραμικής από το Ηραίον Σάμου: πρώτη προσπάθεια κατανόησης της σύστασης, της τεχνολογίας και της προέλευσης. In: Π. Τριανταφυλλίδης, (εκδ.), Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στα Νησιά του Αιγαίου. Διεθνές Επιστημονικό Συνέδριο, Ρόδος, 27 Νοεμβρίου - 1 Δεκεμβρίου 2013, Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αιγαιακών Σπουδών, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού, 181-194 (ISBN 978-960-386-318-2).
 
Menelaou, S. 2015. The Heraion of Samos under the microscope: A preliminary technological and provenance assessment of the Early Bronze Age II late-III (ca. 2500-2000 BC) pottery. In: Z. Theodoropoulou-Polychroniadis and E. Doniert (eds.), Aegis: Essays in Mediterranean Archaeology Presented to Matti Egon by the Scholars of the Greek Archaeological Committee UK. Archaeopress, Oxford, 25-34 (doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvr43k1p.6 ISBN 978-1-78491-200-0).
 
Peer-reviewed published conference abstracts
 
Menelaou, S. 2022. Rethinking prehistoric borders, challenging modern narratives: Islandness, sense of place, and connectivity in the East Aegean interface. In: 28th EAA Annual Meeting (Budapest, Hungary, 2022), Abstract Book. Prague, 653 (ISBN 978-80-88441-02-1).
 
Menelaou, S., Bolger, D., Bombardieri, L. and Crewe, L. 2021. Breaking boundaries: examining transitional periods and technological choices in prehistoric south-west Cyprus through pottery analysis. In: 27th EAA Annual Meeting (Kiel Virtual, 2021), Abstract Book. Prague, 573 (ISBN 978-80-907270-8-3).

Menelaou, S., Georgiadis, F., Katsarou, S., Siros, A. and Darlas, A. 2020. New light on prehistoric Aegean cave use and pottery production: Preliminary petrographic results and provenance of a ceramic assemblage from Samos Island, Greece. In: I. Miloglav (ed.), 8th International Scientific Conference Methodology and Archaeometry, Zagreb, 3-4 December 2020, Book of Abstracts. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatian Archaeological Society, 36 (ISBN 978-953-175-882-6).
 
Menelaou, S. 2018. Beyond networks and macro-scale analysis: Unravelling local micro-histories of pottery through an integrated methodology. In: I. Miloglav (ed.), 6th International Scientific Conference Methodology and Archaeometry, Zagreb, 6-7 December 2018, Book of Abstracts. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatian Archaeological Society, 41-42 (ISBN 978-953-175-745-4).
 
Menelaou, S., Kouka, O. and Day, P.M. 2016. Fashioning ceramics and weaving worlds: The Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age transition at the Heraion, Samos. In: N. Zacharias and E. Palamara (eds.), ISA 2016, 41st International Symposium on Archaeometry. Book of Abstracts. Panaghiotis Dimitriou Dimopoulos & SIA O.E.: Kalamata, 91-92 (ISBN 978-618-80277-2-5).