December 2017
Bioarchaeology Seminar
The students of the Graduate Seminar in Mortuary Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens are visiting the Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens for a hands-on session in Bioarchaeology by Eleanna Prevedorou: human osteology, sexing skulls and pelves, measuring juvenile long bones for age-at-death estimation. Feel the thrill of a bone workshop!
December 2017
Visit at the SNFCC
Stella Chrysoulaki and Jenifer Neils looking at the excavation site at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.
November 2017
Lukas just came from Vienna full of enthusiasm
We are welcoming PhD student Lukas Waltenberger who won a 6-month scholarship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences to join the Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project research team. Lukas is working on the skeletons buried in cist graves. Here, he is taking sophisticated notes on burial position using photos and drawings while excavating a thorax block -see how fun bioarchaeology really is?
October 2017
Conservation of the Esplanada mass grave begins
Selected skeletons from the large mass grave recovered at the Esplanada area at Phaleron in 2015 were removed and transferred to the Wiener Laboratory for curation and study. Photo from left to right: Tatiana Panagopoulou (Head conservator, Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica, Piraeus and the Islands), Varvara Giannakena (Conservator, Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica, Piraeus and the Islands), Eleanna Prevedorou (Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project Coordinator), Zoe Chalatsi (Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project Conservator), and Dimitris Michailidis (M. H. Wiener Laboratory Coordinator). Great start!
September 2017
Heavy lifting
Our conservator Zoe Chalatsi repositioning the rib cage of a skeleton before excavation.
August 2017
The messy side of the conservation lab
Our conservator Panagiotis Papavasileiou taking photos during excavation of a torso.
July 2017
New conservation intern
We welcome Iliana Argyriadi, senior at the Vocational Training Institute Petra, who joined us for her 6-month practicum. Here, Iliana is excavating a soil block with a pelvis from a pit burial from Phaleron.
June 2017
Our conservation team is growing!
Petros Zimperdikas (left), senior at the Vocational Training Institute Petra, will be with us for his 6-month practicum in conservation of antiquities. Panagiotis Papavasileiou (middle) is a conservation technician and a new addition to our staff. Ioannis Mpraziotis (right), conservation technician, joined our team of interns to be trained in conservation of archaeological skeletal remains. Welcome everyone!
May 2017
Aliya’s visit
Aliya Hoff, a graduate student at ASU, is starting her dissertation research on the Phaleron human remains. Here Zoe, Aliya, and Eleanna in action!
Society for American Archaeology, 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver 2017
Curating the Past: The Practice and Ethics of Skeletal Conservation
Great session, wonderful people! Jennifer Newton, Patricia Powless, Harriet “Rae” Beaubien, Christine Lee, Martha Palma Malaga, Carolyn Freiwald, Eleanna Prevedorou, Jane Buikstra, Anna Novotny, Katherine Miller Wolf (left to right). Thank you all for your interest on the Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project!
April, 2017
Welcome Fernando!
Fernando Bentué Martínez, is a student in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, currently doing his study abroad at the Technological Educational Institute at Athens. Here is Fernando’s first day working on the infant remains from jar burials under the supervision of Eleanna and Zoe.
March, 2017
Science through the shades
New members in our team! Marialena Andrikopoulou, Eleni Neofytou and Matina Papasarantou, seniors at the Archaeology Department, University of Athens, cataloging and photographing cremation burials.
February, 2017
Conservation update
Conservation of the deviant burials has began. Here Zoe working on a skeleton found in a mass burial with the hands tied at the back. Note the development of the muscle attachments at the nuchal area at the back of the skull -very robust!
February, 2017
Welcome!
Marianna Manali, a graduate of the MSc program in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology at UCL, and Aliki Giannikou, a conservator and a recent graduate of the Department of Archaeology, University of Ioannina, just joined our wonderful team of volunteers!
February, 2017
Bird buried with infant
Skeletal elements of a dove were identified with the human remains of a young infant buried within a jar at Phaleron cemetery. Many thanks to the Wiener Lab Coordinator Dimitris Michailidis (paleoornithologist) for his contribution!
The Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project and the Wiener Lab feature in Kathimerini:
http://www.kathimerini.gr/889635/gallery/multimedia/vinteo-k/oi-desmwtes-sto-csi
One of the skeletons from the Phaleron mass burials preserving the arms tied at the back at the Wiener Laboratory storage area.
January, 2017
Safe storage
Storing the os coxae in ethafoam sheets during the curation process.
December, 2016
Conservators in action
Conservation never ends at the Wiener Lab. Zoe working with conservation apprentices Dimitris Kotsaptis and Spyridoula Magoula. Volunteer Thomas Iossifidis, undergraduate student in archaeology at the University of Athens, is being trained in cleaning skeletal elements while learning human osteology. Thank you all for your help!
Zoe, Dimitris, and Spyridoula
Zoe and Thomas
November, 2016
Ambassador visit
U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic Geoffrey R. Ryatt visited the Wiener Laboratory and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Here, at the conservation lab of the Phaleron human remains with Eleanna Prevedorou and incoming ASCSA Director Jenifer Neils.
October, 2016
Welcome Dimitris
Dimitris Kotsaptis, senior at the Public Vocational Training Institute in archaeological conservation (IEK Ilioupolis), will do his 6-month practicum with us.
September, 2016
Conservation
Conservator Zoe Chalatsi working on the cranium from a jar burial.
July, 2016
Inventorying
Conservator Panagiotis Papavasileiou and volunteer Dan Ehrlich organizing and inventorying hundreds of crates with human skeletal remains.
June, 2016
Transferring the Phaleron material
The Phaleron human skeletal remains are being transferred at the Wiener Laboratory of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Here, Jane Buikstra, Melinda Zeder, and Jenifer Neils peeking in on the crates at the storage area.
June, 2016
New Wiener Lab Opening
Jane Buikstra and Malcolm Wiener before the inauguration of the new building for the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, wherein the Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project is housed.
October 6, 2015
Visit at the SNFCC
Jane Buikstra and Takis Karkanas visited the ongoing excavations at the Phaleron cemetery.
Stella Chrysoulaki and Jane Buikstra during the excavation tour.
Jane Buikstra looking at an exposed burial against the stratigraphy.
Jane Buikstra and Takis Karkanas in front of a burial removed with the “block technique” stored inside the climate controlled facility.