Tuesday, February 1st, 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST
This is a fully funded opportunity for up to six students. It involves participation in the team project: The Koutroulou Magoula Archaeology and Archaeological Ethnography Project: https://blogs.brown.edu/koutrouloumagoula/.
Koutroulou Magoula is a multi-period archaeological site in central Greece, which is becoming increasingly known internationally due to its astonishing preservation and its diverse and unusual material record, as well as the pioneering archaeological and ethnographic methodologies adopted in its exploration. The main period of habitation of the site is the Middle Neolithic (c. 6000-5800 BCE).
The project relies on the participation of a large number of scholars and other specialists, including anthropologists, geoarchaeologists, archaeobotanists, archaeozoologists, organic residue specialists, ceramic petrographers, bioarchaeologists and physical anthropologists, soil micro-morphologists, computing application specialists, even performance artists and theatre specialists. Through this detailed interdisciplinary work, we have unearthed a very elaborate settlement with extremely well preserved, stone and mud brick buildings, occupied by a community which was engaged in large scale communal projects, including terracing and the construction of large, perimeter ditches around the settlement. In 2018-2019, the Brown team unearthed a pottery kiln complex, a rare find for the Middle Neolithic. We also located and excavated a highly unusual inhumation burial, associated with the kiln complex. These important contexts will be explored further by our team, in 2022. This community also produced and used impressive material culture, including clay figurines, around 500 of each have already being unearthed and studied, one of the largest such collections from the Neolithic of Southeastern Europe.
In this project, we will be excavating this amazing site but we will be also studying the material, and carrying out ethnographic work in the community. Finally, as happens in every excavation season, we will design and stage a theatrical performance on the excavation site, with the participation of local communities. Participating students will take part in all these activities. No archaeological experience is required.
