Department of Classics and Archaeology

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Chrysanthi Gallou

Associate Professor of Archaeology; Director of the Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

ORCHID: 0000-0001-8946-3885

I was born and raised in the historic town of Tripoli in Arkadia, Greece. I studied Archaeology & History of Art at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens before moving to the University of Nottingham to complete MA in Archaeological Research and PhD studies. I wrote my PhD on the 'Mycenaean Cult of the Dead in Central Greece' under the supervision of Prof. Bill Cavanagh to whom I owe a great deal of my interests and inspiration in Aegean prehistory. Following the completion of my PhD, I was employed as a field archaeologist (in fixed contracts) in the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. In 2005 I returned to the University of Nottingham as post-doctoral researcher (2005-2011: Arts Faculty Research Fellow, Shelby White Leon Levy Foundation Research Fellow; The Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies Research Fellow) and in 2012 I took up the post of Assistant Professor in Archaeology. In 2005 I contributed to the foundation of the University's Centre of Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies which I now direct. I was promoted to Associate Professor in August 2020. I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) since 2015.

in 2023-24 I am the Classics and Archaeology Director of Research.

Private Twitter account: @ChrysaGallou

Expertise Summary

My training as an archaeologist covered the full chronological range from Aegean prehistory to the pre-modern Greek world. I specialise in Aegean archaeology and my research focuses on four main strands: the archaeology of death; the archaeology of cult and ritual; the archaeology of children and childhood; the archaeology of Sparta and Laconia.

Research keywords: Aegean Prehistory; Early Iron Age Greece; Archaeology of Death, Archaeology of Cult and Ritual; Archaeology of Identity, Memory and Tradition; Archaeology of Children and Childhood; Aegean seascapes; Archaeology of Sparta and Laconia.

MAJOR RESEARCH PROJECTS

1. Rethinking Mycenaean Death - A view from Lakonia

2. Tiny Archaeologies: Reconstructing the World of Children in Late Bronze Age Greece

3. Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project

4. The Mycenaean Cult of the Dead (PhD project)

Teaching Summary

I strongly believe that archaeology classes are not the place where students just learn about the past, but instead that they should set the foundation upon which students would build transferrable… read more

Research Summary

I specialise in Aegean prehistory and my research focuses on four main strands: the archaeology of death, the archaeology of cult and ritual, the archaeology of children and childhood, and the… read more

Selected Publications

  • GALLOU, C., 2005. The Mycenaean cult of the dead Oxford: Archaeopress.
  • GALLOU, C., 2004. More than little perishers: child burials and the living society in Mycenaean Greece Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift. 45(2-3), 365-375
  • GALLOU, C. and GEORGIADIS,M., 2006. Ancestor worship, tradition and regional variation in Mycenaean Greece. In: C. GALLOU AND M. GEORGIADIS, ed., The Archaeology of Cult and Death Archaeolingua. 125-149
  • W.G. CAVANAGH, C. GALLOU AND M. GEORGIADIS, ed., 2009. Sparta and Lakonia from Prehistory to Pre-modern times British School at Athens.

I strongly believe that archaeology classes are not the place where students just learn about the past, but instead that they should set the foundation upon which students would build transferrable skills in critical thinking and cross-disciplinary synthesis of scholarly ideas and approaches, by actively engaging with the most recent research on the field and by gaining valuable hands-on experience.

In 2023-24 I convene and teach CLAR3032 UG Dissertation (autumn), CLAR3005 The World of the Mycenaeans (spring), CLAR4011 Special Topic in Archaeology 1 (autumn), CLAR4012 Special Topic in Archaeology 2 (spring), CLAR4023 Special Topic in Classics 1 (autumn) and CLAR4024 Special Topic in Classics 2 (spring). I am also contributing to CLAR1013 Introduction to Art & Archaeology (autumn), CLAR1023 Great Discoveries in Archaeology (autumn), CLAR2006 Extended Source Study (autumn), CLAR1021 Understanding the Past I (autumn), CLAR1020 Understanding the Past II (spring) and CLAR3095-Heritage & Media (spring).

PhD/MRes Archaeology/MA SUPERVISION I am keen to supervise PhD theses and MRes/MA projects in Aegean prehistory and Early Iron Age Greece, the archaeology of Sparta and Laconia, the archaeology of death, the archaeology of cult and ritual, the archaeology of colour and fashion, maritime archaeology, and the archaeology of children and childhood.

Current PhD supervisees

Thea Wolff, The Potnia Theron in early Greek art

Imogen Worrall, Investigating Colour in Aegean Late Bronze Age societies: a view from the scientific analysis of Mycenaean glass

Current MA and MRes supervisees

Alexia Burrows Charalambidou, The Thousand Faces of the Face that launched a Thousand Ships: The Imagery of Helen of Sparta in comparative perspective (MA in Classics)

Jodie McColl, Evaluating gender-focused cults and religious ritual in the Lakonike: facts and developments (MA in Classics)

Ciara Murphy, Humans and Animals in Late Bronze Age Aegean (working title) (MRes Archaeology)

Hannah Parker, Tyche in the Roman Near East (MRes Archaeology)

David Sanderson, Cultural Memory and Societal Regeneration in Roman and Modern Sparta (MA in Classics)

Alexandros Tzikas, Children and Childhood in Early Bronze Age Aegean (working title) (MRes Archaeology)

Completed MA, MRes and PhD theses

PhD

Vasilki Brouma, Understanding Hellenistic Thanatos - Death, Ritual and Identity in the south-eastern Aegean in the 3rd to 1st c. BC (PhD)

Elisavet Fergadiotou, Early Islamic glass in the Persian Gulf (PhD)

Mila Andonova, Baskets and basketry in south-eastern European prehistory (PhD

Henry Cutten, A study of gravestones in inland Asia Minor during the early Roman period (PhD)

Fabio Saccoccio, Cultures at the edges: Iron Age interaction in the western Veneto, northern Italy (PhD)

Charlotte Round, Experience, Memory and Place in Classical Delphi (PhD)

Paz Ramirez Valiente, Figurines and Fragments from Neolithic Crete and Thessaly. Analysis of their context, age, sex, and gender (PhD)

Matt Thompson, Sparta's Monumental Agenda: The Celebratory and Commemorative Monuments of Archaic and Classical Sparta (PhD)

Keith Ross, The development of maritime technical capability 1500 BC to 200 AD and its impact on seafaring, navigation and trade routes (PhD)

Claudia Alonso, The end of the Mycenaean civilisation (visiting PhD student, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

MRes & MA by Research

Filia Kypraiou, Non-Funerary Metal Hoards in Bronze Age Aegean (MRes Archaeology)

Imogen Worrall, Scientific analysis of Late Bronze Age glass from Rhodes and Crete (MRes Archaeological Science)

Despoina Sampatakou, The talking dead in Late Bronze Age Dendra: storytelling, outreach and public engagement (MRes Archaeology)

Amy Jolliffee, The archaeology of post-palatial Achaia (MA by Research)

Joseph Jordan, A Comparative Analysis of Regional Feasting Practices in Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Aegean (MA by Research)

Michael Curtis, The contextualisation of three ports of Hellenistic and Roman Crete (MA by Research)

Petrus Scholten, Child burials in Middle Helladic Peloponnese (MA by Research)

Ioan Huw Espley, Recreating Maritime Trade in the Peloponnese During the Middle Helladic period (MA by Research)

Gerasimos Trasanis, Fortification and Defence systems in classical and Hellenistic Elis, Greece: the case of Triphyllia (MA by Research)

MA Classics/Classical Antiquity/DL Archaeology

Athanasia Panopoulou, Interpreting identical votive offerings from 8th c. BC Sparta and Tegea: the contribution of visual evidence (MA Classical Antiquity)

Stephenie Tsoi, Spartan Women in comparative perspective: a view from China (MA Archaeology)

Lena Nieves, Early Bronze Age harbour towns in the Peloponnese in their wider Aegean context (MA Archeological Research)

Eleni Itsou, Basketry and weaving in Neolithic Greece: The evidence from western Macedonian bone tools (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Keith Ross, Assessing risks in maritime trade in the 2nd millennium Mediterranean (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Anja Kuehn, The use of drugs and stimulants in Bronze Age Crete (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Kyriakos Xanthopoulos, Osteoarchaeological analysis of two Byzantine cemeteries in the prefecture of Aitoloakarnania in western Greece (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Alison Roberts, The evolution of Neolithic burial architecture and practices in the Aegean region (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Effimia Angeli, Comparative study for the development of painted ware in Central Greece and Thessaly during the Middle Neolithic and Late Neolithic I. The case of Halai in East Lokris (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Janet Morris, Boat imagery on the Minoan minor arts (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Tiffany Campbell, The Minoan Double Axe (DL MA Mediterranean Archaeology)

Ellen Smithies, Horns and Hunting. An analysis of two iconographic motifs from the Bronze Age Aegean (MA Classical Antiquity)

Paige Ellis, The representation of Sparta in Assassins Creed Odyssey (MA Classical Antiquity)

Tessa Coudert, The portrayal of children and childhood in Minoan art (MA in Classics)

Lydia Kingsley, Love magic in the Graeco-Roman world: A comparative study (MA in Classics)

Current Research

I specialise in Aegean prehistory and my research focuses on four main strands: the archaeology of death, the archaeology of cult and ritual, the archaeology of children and childhood, and the archaeology of Sparta and Laconia.

I am keen to supervise PhD and MA projects in Aegean prehistory and Early Iron Age Greece, the archaeology of Sparta and Laconia, the archaeology of death, the archaeology of cult and ritual, the archaeology of colour and fashion, maritime archaeology, and the archaeology of children and childhood. For previous and current PG supervision experience, see under 'Teaching & Learning'.

I serve on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Greek Archaeology and on the editorial board of the Childhood in the Past. An International Journal

Recent and current research projects:

Rethinking Mycenaean Death - A view from Lakonia (Principal Investigator). This project offers fresh insight into how Mycenaean society conceived of death and the afterlife, with focus placed on the under-studied deathscape of Laconia in southern Greece. The results of the project were recently published in my monograph Death in Mycenaean Laconia. A Silent place (Oxbow, 2020).

The Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project (archaeological co-ordinator for the UoN; Co-PI). The project, which included a survey and a small scale trial excavation (2009-2011), aims to establish the history of occupation at the now submerged Laconian site (domestic and funerary, its diachronic role and function within the wider Aegean world (Final Neolithic to the transitional LBA/EIA period), and through a systematic study of the geomorphology of the area, when and how the town and the Elaphonisos Strait became submerged.

Tiny Archaeologies: Reconstructing the world of children in Late Bronze Age Greece (Principal Investigator). Moving beyond traditional approaches, this project puts forward a child-centred approach in which Mycenaean children are linked to aspects of time, space, culture and identity, and can reveal their own identities and form their own relationships to their peers and to the adult community.

Past Research

My PhD thesis studied the evidence for the performance of ancestor veneration in Mycenaean Greece with emphasis placed mainly on the data from Mycenaean tholos and chamber tombs, excavated in the central areas of the Mycenaean world (the Argolid, Korinthia, Attica, Boeotia and Euboea), during the acme of Mycenaean civilisation (LH IIIA-B). The results of the thesis were published as a monograph in 2005: Gallou, C. (2005) The Mycenaean Cult of the Dead [BAR International Series 1372]. Oxford: BAR Publishing.

Future Research

Sparta (Re)United. International Research & Heritage Management Project, led by the University of Nottingham (UK) in partnership with Dartmouth College (USA) and the City of Sparti (Greece) - Project Director and Principal Investigator

This cross-disciplinary research project aims to study, digitize and digitally reunite the archaeological and archival material from the old excavations of the British School at Athens at the sanctuaries of ancient Sparta (the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, the sanctuary of Athena Chalkioikos on the acropolis, Lycurgus' Altar, the 'Leonidaion' or shrine of Karneios Oiketas, the Heroon of Astrabacus, the Achilleion or 'the shrine on the Megalopolis Road', the Eleusinion at Amyklai, and the sanctuary of Zeus Messapeus at Aphyssou). Through a strategic partnership with the City of Sparti, the project also aims to promote the global 'Sparta' brand name to secure long-term cultural, touristic, and economic benefits to the city and to engage the public with the history, archaeology and heritage of Sparta at a local and global level.

  • GALLOU, C., HENDERSON, J., SPONDYLIS, E. and CAVANAGH, W.G., 2023. Localism and interconnectivity in a post-palatial Laconian maritime landscape (Late Helladic IIIC to Submycenaean/Early Protogeometric). In: SMITH, D.M. and CAVANAGH, W.G., eds., The Wider Island of Pelops: Proceedings of a workshop on Prehistoric pottery in memory of Professor Christopher Mee Archaeopress. 68-84
  • CAVANAGH, W.G., GALLOU C., SPONDYLIS, I. and HENDERSON, J., 2022. Southern Laconia in the Middle and Earlier Late Bronze Age. Pottery from Pavlopetri and other sites. In: WIERSMA, C. and TSOULI, M., eds., Middle and Late Helladic Laconia: Competing Pricipalities? Sidestone Press. 33-45
  • GALLOU, C., 2021. ‘… As we carry a robe to the Dawn Goddess...': Luxurious Textiles in Spartan and Lakonian sanctuaries. In: HODKINSON, ST. and GALLOU, C., eds., Luxury and Wealth in Sparta and the Peloponnese The Classical Press of Wales. 31-56
  • GALLOU, C., 2021. Children and Death in the Bronze and Early Iron Age Aegean. In: L. BEAUMONT, M. DILLON and N. HARRINGTON, eds., Children in Antiquity: Perspectives and Experiences of Childhood in the Ancient Mediterranean Routledge. 436-455
  • HODKINSON, ST. and GALLOU, C., eds., 2021. Luxury and Wealth in Sparta and the Peloponnese The Classical Press of Wales.
  • GALLOU, C., 2020. Death in Mycenaean Laconia: A Silent Place. Oxbow Books.
  • GALLOU, C., 2020. LH IIIC and Submycenaean Laconia. In: MIDDLETON, G.D., ed., Collapse and Transformation: The Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age in the Aegean. Oxbow. 51-59
  • GALLOU, C., 2018. White Hair and Feeding Bottles: Exploring Children—Elderly Interactions in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. In: LILLEHAMMER, GR. and MURPHY, E., eds., Across the Generations: The Old and the Young in Past Societies.: Proceedings from the 22nd Annual Meeting of the EAA in Vilnius, Lithuania, 31st August — 4th September 2016. AmS-Skrifter 26. Arkeologisk Museum, University of Stavanger. 61-75
  • GALLOU, C., 2017. Review of P. Militello and H. Öniz (eds), SOMA 2011. Proceedings of the 15th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, held at the University of Catania, 3-5 March 2011’ Journal of Greek Archaeology. 2, 478-486
  • C. GALLOU, 2016. Mycenaean skulls: “αμενηνά κάρηνα"or social actors in Late Helladic metaphysics and society? In: Metaphysis. Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 15th International Aegean Conference, Vienna, Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Aegean and Anatolia Department, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna, 22-25 April 2014, edited by E. Alram-Stern et al.. 405-414
  • GALLOU, C., 2016. Review of D. Lancy, The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings (revised edition, 2015) Childhood in the Past. An International Journal. 9(1), 82-83
  • C. GALLOU, 2015. "What would the world be to us if the children were no more?": The archaeology of children and death in LH IIIC Greece. In: Z. THEODOROPOULOU-POLYCHRONIADIS and D. EVELY, eds., Aegis. Essays in Mediterranean Archaeology presented to Matti Egon by the Scholars of the Greek Archaeological Committee. Arcchaeopress. 57-67
  • GALLOU, C. and HENDERSON, J., 2012. Pavlopetri, an early Bronze Age harbour town in South-East Laconia Pharos: Journal of the Netherlands Institute in Athens. 18(1), 79-104
  • J. HENDERSON, C. GALLOU, N.C. FLEMMING AND E. SPONDYLIS, 2011. The submerged prehistoric town at Pavlopetri in southern Greece. In: J. BENJAMIN, CL. BONSALL, C. PICKARD AND A. FISCHER, ed., Underwater Archaeology and the Submerged Prehistory of Europe Oxbow. 207-218
  • C. GALLOU AND M. GEORGIADIS, 2010. Funerary games and the Mycenaean cult of the dead Groniek. 185, 383-393
  • GALLOU, C., 2010. Children at work in Mycenaean Greece (ca. 1680-1050 BCE): a brief survey. In: BROCKLISS, L. and MONTGOMERY, H., eds., Childhood and violence in the Western tradition Oxbow Books. 162-171
  • CAVANAGH, W.G., GALLOU, C. and GEORGIADIS, M., eds., 2009. Sparta and Laconia from prehistory to pre-modern times: proceedings of the conference held in Sparta, organised by the British School at Athens, the University of Nottingham, the 5th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the 5th Ephoreia of Byzantine Antiquities 17-20 March 2005 British School at Athens.
  • M. GEORGIADIS AND C. GALLOU, ed., 2009. The Past in the Past: The significance of memory and tradition in the genesis and transmission of culture Archaeopress.
  • C. GALLOU, 2009. Epidaurus Limera: The tale of a Laconian site in Mycenaean times. In: W.G. CAVANAGH and C. GALLOU, eds., Sparta & Lakonia: From Prehistory to Pre-modern times:: Proceedings of the Conference held in Sparta, organised by the British School at Athens, the University of Nottingham, the 5th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the 5th Ephoreia of Byzantine Antiquities, 17-20 March 2005. British School at Athens. 85-93
  • C. GALLOU, 2008. Arcadian theriomorphic deities and their Mycenaean echoes. In: Y. PIKOULAS, ed., Stories for ancient Arcadia. International Symposium in honor of James Roy.: International Symposium in honor of James Roy. Horos Publications. 91-104
  • C. GALLOU, 2008. Between Scylla and Charybdis: Vatika in Mycenaean times. In: C. GALLOU, M. GEORGIADIS AND G.M. MUSKETT, ed., Dioskouroi.: Studies Presented to W.G. Cavanagh and C.B. Mee for their 30-year joint contribution to Aegean Archaeology BAR IS-1889. Archaeopress. 292-321
  • C. GALLOU, M. GEORGIADIS AND G.M. MUSKETT, ed., 2008. Dioskouroi. Studies Presented to W.G. Cavanagh and C.B. Mee for their 30-year joint contribution to Aegean Archaeology Archaeopress.
  • C. GALLOU AND M. GEORGIADIS, 2007. The cemeteries of the Argolid and the South-eastern Aegean during the Mycenaean period: A landscape and waterscape assessment Opuscula Atheniensia. 31-32, 171-182
  • GALLOU, C. and GEORGIADIS,M., 2006. Ancestor worship, tradition and regional variation in Mycenaean Greece. In: C. GALLOU AND M. GEORGIADIS, ed., The Archaeology of Cult and Death Archaeolingua. 125-149
  • M. GEORGIADIS AND C. GALLOU, ed., 2006. The Archaeology of Cult and Death Archaeolingua.
  • GALLOU, C., 2005. The Mycenaean cult of the dead Oxford: Archaeopress.
  • GALLOU, C., 2004. More than little perishers: child burials and the living society in Mycenaean Greece Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift. 45(2-3), 365-375
  • GALLOU, C., 2004. Tomb design and the Cult of the Dead in Mycenaean Greece In: Cult and Death. Proceedings of the Liverpool Interdisciplinary Symposium in Antiquity.. 17-28
  • 2004. Tomb Design and the Cult of the Dead in Mycenaean Greece. In: M. GEORGIADIS, G.M. MUSKETT AND D. NAOUM, ed., Cult and Death. Proceedings of the Liverpool Interdisciplinary Symposium in Antiquity Archaeopress. 17-28
  • C. GALLOU, 2002. Ες Hλύσιον πεδίον και πείραηα γαίης: The Mycenaean sea journey to the Underworld. In: M. GEORGIADIS AND G.M. MUSKETT, ed., The Seas of Antiquity University of Liverpool. 18-33

Department of Classics and Archaeology

University of Nottingham
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Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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