The heads of the programs
Louis Renaudin (1892-1969)
Former member and General Secretary of the French School at Athens. He participated in the first French excavations at Malia in Crete and made the first excavations at Dikili Tash. Later he abandoned archeology for a career in finance.
Jean Deshayes (1924-1979)
He was a member of the French School at Athens and the French Institute in Beirut, Professor of Oriental Archaeology at the University of Lyon, and later at the Sorbonne (University Paris I). A great Bronze Age specialist, he excavated in Crete (Malia) and the Peloponnese (Argos), as well as in Cyprus and Iran (Tureng Tepe). His research at Dikili Tash was aimed primarily at clarifying the chronological position of the Balkan Neolithic in relation to the Bronze Age of northwestern Anatolia (the culture of Troy I). He was one of the first to use C14 dates in the Balkans.
Dimitrios R. Theocharis (1919-1978)
He was Director of Antiquities in Thessaly and later Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Primarily an expert on the Neolithic period, he was one of the ‘fathers’ of prehistoric archaeology in Greece. He participated in excavations at Mycenae, Pylos, and Brauron, and conducted his own excavations at several prehistoric sites in Attica (Rafina, Nea Makri), Euboea, the Sporades and Thessaly (among them Sesklo). His interest in Dikili Tash and Eastern Macedonia in general arose from his desire to explore the relationship between the Neolithic culture of the Aegean and the Neolithic of the Near East and the Balkans, in order to prove, as he hoped, the native character of the former.
Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki (born 1940)
She has been curator, and later Director of the Ephorate of Classical and Prehistoric Antiquities and the Museum of Kavala, between 1975 and 2000. During this period she focused especially on investigating prehistoric and early historic sites (excavations at Kastri and Skala Sotiros in Thasos and Promachon-Topolnitsa on the Greek-Bulgarian border, as well as the exploration of mines in Eastern Macedonia), but also at major sites of the Classical and Hellenistic periods (Amphipolis, Philippes, Abdera). Her name is closely connected with Dikili Tash, where she has been working since 1961. Her decision in 1989 to open a large excavation sector on the eastern slope of the mound led to the discovery of one of the best-preserved groups of Neolithic houses.
René Treuil (born 1940)
He has been a member of the French School at Athens and Professor of Aegean prehistory at the University of Sorbonne (Paris I) until 2003, where he succeeded J. Deshayes. He also worked at Malia in Crete (Quartier Μ and area to the Southwest of the palace). In addition to fieldwork, he has authored or coordinated numerous synthetic and methodological works. He was one of the first to apply interdisciplinary research at a prehistoric site in northern Greece.
Pascal Darcque (born 1953)
He has been a member and General Secretary/Director of Studies (1990-1995) of the French School at Athens. A researcher since 1985 at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), he is now research director at the Laboratory of Archaeology and Sciences of Antiquity (UMR 7041) in Nanterre (Paris). As a specialist of the Aegean Bronze Age, he has also worked in Syria (Bassit) and at Malia in Crete. He has authored or coordinated (sometimes with R. Treuil) several methodological and synthetic works.
Dimitra Malamidou (born 1964)
She is an Archaeologist of the Greek Ministry of Culture (18th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Kavala). A “child” of Dikili Tash, where she has been working since 1987, she also participated or personally directed excavations at several other prehistoric and historical sites of the region: for example, Limenaria and Skala Sotiros in Thasos, Kryoneri, and Amphipolis. She is a pottery expert and is also interested in issues of architecture and settlement during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
Zoï Tsirtsoni (born 1968)
She is a former member of the French School at Athens and a researcher, since 2004, at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). She was formerly at the laboratory of Archaeometry and Archaeology (UMR 5138) in Lyon and is currently at the Laboratory of Archaeology and Sciences of Antiquity (UMR 7041) in Nanterre (Paris). A true “child” of Dikili Tash, where she has been working since 1989, she specializes mainly in Neolithic pottery. More recently, she has also become interested in problems of settlement in Greece and the Balkans during the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.
Last Update : 7/02/12 |
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