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Research

ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECTS

TETRARCHs: Transforming Data Reuse in Archaeology

Description (and logos) from the TETRARCHs About page: “Today many organisations collect and manage archaeological data to document and preserve our cultural landscapes, sites, and objects. Unfortunately, our current methods can make it difficult to re-use the data to tell stories and share findings in ways that are democratic, engaging and just. In fact, although a lot of work has been done to make archaeology Findable, Accessible and Interoperable (according to the FAIR Principles), little is understood about whether our data are Reusable – and who is using them. The TETRARCHs project will experiment with approaches to collecting archaeological data and using that data for storytelling in ways that are meaningful for diverse audiences. Our experiments will help both those who preserve our heritage and the huge range of citizens across Europe who value it.”

  • Researcher Status: Research Fellow, based at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (UCL), London, UK.
  • Duration: 2022-2025
  • Related Websites: https://www.tetrarchs.org/

Conceptualising the Minoan Human Body

Description: The human body played a vital role in Bronze Age Cretan social, economic, political and other networks across two millennia. However, most studies on Bronze Age Cretan corporeality have to date mainly focused on iconographies of the human body, or, less so, on skeletal remains. My research seeks to explore ways in which current data can be better combined towards a more comprehensive understanding of the human condition in Bronze Age Crete.

  • Researcher Status: Principal Investigator (PI).
  • Duration: 2007 to date

Thronfolger / Replikenwissen

Travelling Thrones /

Replica Knowledge

Description: A research and exhibition project at the Tieranatomisches Theater Exhibition Research Lab, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Funded by the International Museum Fellowship programme of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. The project manager was Felix Sattler. [logo by the project]

  • Researcher Status: International Research Fellow, ‘Thronfolger, Replikenwissen’ Project; Permanent Fellow, Cluster of Excellence ‘Image Knowledge Gestaltung. An Interdisciplinary Laboratory’, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
  • Duration: 2016-2017
  • Related Websites: http://www.fellow-me.de/fellows/anna-simandiraki-grimshaw/

Miniature Vessels in Minoan Crete

Description: Miniature vessels, although ubiquitous, are inadequately defined and studied both in terms of theoretical issues (e.g. miniaturisation), as well as practical ones (e.g. stratigraphy). My research aims to conduct a systematic study and publication of such vessels from Minoan Crete. By meticulously recording and contextualising them, we will gain new, diachronic and site-specific knowledge about artistic and economic issues in Minoan societies, perhaps even issues of age and gender.

  • Researcher Status: Principal Investigator (PI).
  • Duration: 2006 to date

The Galatas Minoan Palace and City publication project

Description: The Galatas Minoan Palace and City excavation and publication project is directed by Drs. Y. Rethemiotakis and K. Christakis under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and with funding from INSTAP. My role within the project is the study and publication of the Middle Minoan III pottery and the miniature vessels. Middle Minoan III has seen renewed interest in the bibliography recently, for two main reasons:

a) the fact that it represents the transition between the Old and the New Palace periods in Crete, therefore holding valuable clues as to societal and economic shifts;

b) the continuing elusion of its clear stratigraphic boundaries, which would help elucidate those shifts.

The MMIII deposits at the Palace of Galatas are exceptional in their nature and stratigraphy. It is therefore hoped that this subproject, focusing as it does on clearly stratified and carefully excavated MMIII assemblages, will clarify many important issues connected to this transition.

  • Researcher Status: project member; PI for MMIII pottery and miniature vessels.
  • Duration (researcher involvement): 2009 to date

The Petras Minoan Palace and Cemetery publication project

Description: The Petras Minoan Palace and Cemetery excavation and publication project is directed by Dr. M. Tsipopoulou under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and with funding from INSTAP. My role within the project is the study and publication of the miniature vessels, figurines and plastic vesssels. The Petras material, although not extensive, is nevertheless really significant in the study and comprehension of such classes of artefacts. It is already becoming apparent that the detailed examination of the techniques, variability, context and palatial provenance of the Petras specimens will add hitherto undetected pieces in the puzzle of their significance as artefacts and concepts.

  • Researcher Status: project member; PI for miniature vessels, figurines and plastic vessels.
  • Duration (researcher involvement): 2007 to date

The Myrtos Pyrgos publication project

Description: The Myrtos Pyrgos excavation and publication project is directed by Prof. G. Cadogan under the auspices of the British School at Athens. My role within the project is the co-study and co-publication of the figurines from the site, together with Prof. Cadogan. The Myrtos Pyrgos material is important, among other things, because it sheds light on figurine depositional practices in a Minoan settlement context.

  • Researcher Status: project member.
  • Duration (researcher involvement): 2023 to date

Reception of Archaeology

Description: Archaeology is always involved in a complex network of often conflicting identities, both in the past and the present. My research in this area explores the manifold ways in which archaeology and identity interact. This includes the development, ontologies and assumptions of artefactual databases; heritage micropolitics; disenfranchisement; boundaries of archaeological identity; as well as nationalism, branding, politics etc.

  • Researcher Status: Principal Investigator (PI).
  • Duration: 2004 to date

Archaeological Pedagogies

Description: I am fascinated by a sub-set of the archaeology and identity thread: the interplay of education and archaeology. I pursue this principally within the Greek context, but also in contexts where international education and multiculturalism are more prominently involved.

  • Researcher Status: Principal Investigator (PI).
  • Duration: 2004 to date

ARCHAEOLOGY FIELDWORK & MUSEUM WORK

Excavations

  • Toumba Serron: Thessaloniki Ephorate, University of York (2024).
  • Petras Siteias: Minoan Palace, Crete, Greece. Ayios Nikolaos Ephorate (Archaeological Service, 1995-6, 2013, 2019).
  • Knossos: Little Palace, Crete, Greece. British School of Archaeology at Athens (2002).
  • Monastiraki: Minoan complex, Crete, Greece. Department of Archaeology, University of Crete (1995-6).
  • Eleutherna: Geometric–Roman city, Crete, Greece. Department of Archaeology, University of Crete (1994-5).

Artefact Studies

  • Aegean Bronze Age replicas material and original artefacts from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK, the British Museum, London, UK, the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge, UK, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK, Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, the Free University in Berlin, Germany, the University of Heidelberg, Germany, the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany, Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece, the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece, WMF, Geislingen, Germany, Knossos archaeological site, Crete, Greece. Together with Felix Sattler, Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany (2016-2017) and Fay Stevens, Notre Dame University, London, UK (2009-2018).

[photo by Felix Sattler]

  • Myrtos-Pyrgos: Figurines and ‘plastic’ artefacts (with G. Cadogan, as above), Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, and Knossos, Stratigraphic Museum, Crete, Greece (2023 to date).
  • Aegean Bronze Age metal rings and related artefacts, Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (2018).
  • Anthropomorphic vessels from Bronze Age Crete (various sites), Herakleion and Ayios Nikolaos Archaeological Museums, Crete, Greece (2013 to date).
  • Galatas: Minoan Palace and Building 1, Crete, Greece. Archaeological Museum of Herakleion (2010 to date, as above).
  • Petras Siteias: Minoan Palace and Byzantine areas, Crete, Greece. Ayios Nikolaos and Siteia Archaeological Museums and Ephorate, Department of Archaeology, University of Crete, (Hellenic) National Institute for Research (1995-6, 2007, 2009, 2011 to date, as above).
  • Zakros: Minoan Palace, Crete, Greece. Zakros excavation, Knossos Villa Ariadne, Siteia and Ayios Nikolaos Archaeological Museums and Ephorate, Department of Archaeology, University of Crete, Hellenic Association of Archaeology at Athens (1994-6, 2009, 2011 to date).
  • Juktas: Building B of the Minoan Peak Sanctuary, Crete, Greece. PhD museum work. Herakleion Archaeological Museum and Ephorate, Knossos Stratigraphic Museum. Also parallels from the Palace of Knossos and the town of Kommos (1997-2002).
  • Material from various Mycenaean sites, Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece, Department of Archaeology, University of Crete, Archaeological Institute of Crete (1997).
  • Eleutherna: Byzantine sections of the city. Department of Archaeology, University of Crete, (Hellenic) National Institute for Research (1996-7).

Archaeological Academic Memberships

  • Friends of the Hellenic National Archive of Monuments (2010-2013).
  • Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) (2009, 2023).
  • European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) (2006-9, 2023, 2024).
  • World Archaeological Congress (WAC) (2007-9).
  • BSA (British School of Archaeology at Athens), (2000-2002).
  • SPHS (Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies) (1999 – 2013).
  • The British Museum Friends (1998-1999).

Academic Awards and Funding (own & joint bids)

  • Archaeological research grants: Mediterranean Archaeological Trust Grant for museum work on the ‘Galatas Minoan Palace and City Publication’ project; Mediterranean Archaeological Trust, Oxford, UK. (2011); INSTAP Grant for the project entitled ‘Miniature Vessels in Minoan Crete’; Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP), USA (2009); Research Scholarship for PhD research, University of Bristol, UK (1998-2001).
  • Knowledge Exchange funding: CHANSE, for the CHANSE Networks for Transformational Change KE Facilitator programme (2023-2026).
  • Conference sponsorships: “Cycladic and Cycladicizing figurines from Crete Symposium” (Athens, 2-3 October 2015), Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art and National Geographic (2015); Conference fee sponsorship, Durham University for the 31st Annual Conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG), Durham University, Durham, UK. (2009); Conference sponsorship at “Intercultural Contacts in the Ancient Mediterranean” (Cairo, 26-29 October 2008), Netherlands-Flemish Archaeological Institute in Cairo, Egypt (2008).
  • Visiting fellowship: Margo Tytus Long-Term Visiting Research Fellowship (Jan.-Mar.). Classics Department, University of Cincinnati, USA.(2009).
  • International Fellowship: International Research Fellow, ‘Thronfolger / Replikenwissen’ Project, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, Tieranatomisches Theater, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany (2016-2017).
  • Excellence awards: BA Excellence Award, National Institute of Scholarships (IKY), Greece (1997); “Dretakis Award” for BA result, “Kritiki Estia” Institute of Athens, Greece (1997); “Polydoros Vardoulakis Award”, “Kritiki Estia” Institute of Athens, Greece (1997); Annual “Louis Robert Award”, for best undergraduate / postgraduate project in the Branch of Ancient History (Academic Year Α, 1993-1994), Department of History and Archaeology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Crete, Greece (1994).

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROJECTS

CHANSE Networks for Transformational Change

  • Description (and logos) from the Networks for Transformational Change page: “Inspired by efforts to advance democratic innovation (Whittington 2022) and radical transitions (Loorbach 2022), and guided by design justice methodologies (e.g., Costanza Chock 2020), CHANSE Networks for Transformational Change brings together CHANSE project researchers, external participants and CHANSE itself to imaginatively explore and chartcurrent and future scenarios for digital transformation.”
  • Researcher Status: Co-Investigator (Co-I), with Dr. Sara Perry (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Luisa Nienhaus (Research Assistant), and with assistance from Ayesha Purcell and Dr. Blen Taye; based at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (UCL), London, UK.
  • Duration: 2023-2026
  • Related Websites: https://chanse.org/knowledge-exchange/ [logo by the project]

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROJECTS

  • ‘Directory of International Education Practitioners and Researchers’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team. Team Leader (2007-2009).
  • ‘International Education and Cultural Heritage’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team. Personal Project, Team Leader (2003-2009).
  • ‘Practitioner Research Project’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team (2003-2006).
  • ‘School-University Transition Study’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team (2003-2006).
  • ‘Finland Distance Teaching Project’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team (2003-2006).
  • ‘Interactive Intergenerational Research Project’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team (2003-2006).
  • ‘CfBT E-learning research project’ (international project), International Baccalaureate Research Team, CfBT (Centre for British Teachers) (2003-2006).

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION FIELDWORK

  • Thompson J. Yao Z., Simandiraki A., 2003-2006, Questionnaire design and implementation for a variety of Final Year secondary school students world-wide, and collaboration with local staff, involving ca. 3,000 students, School-University Transition Study, International Baccalaureate Research Unit, University of Bath, UK.
  • Cambridge J., Simandiraki A., 2003-2006, Interviews with a variety of Final Year secondary school students in UK international schools, e.g. in Sevenoaks School, Kent and UWC Atlantic College, Wales, Interactive Intergenerational Research Project, InternationalBaccalaureate Research Unit, University of Bath, UK.

All images, unless otherwise stated, (c) Anna Simandiraki-Grimshaw 2005-date; title image by D. Rupp.

Website design and development by Anna Simandiraki-Grimshaw; webpage last updated 04 September 2024