Unearthing Ancient Lyktos: ISAW/NYU Team Featured in a Film by an Award-winning Director

By Soraya Garcia
10/02/2024

Since 2021, Dr. Antonis Kotsonas, ISAW Associate Professor of Mediterranean History and Archaeology, has been co-directing excavations at Lyktos, a major Greek and Roman city on the island of Crete, Greece.

Lyktos, celebrated by ancient authors like Homer, Hesiod, and Aristotle, had previously received limited archaeological attention. The current project aims to shed light on the so-called “Archaic Gap” of 6th century BCE Crete, a period traditionally associated with material impoverishment and population decline. To bridge this gap, and to address the methodological problems which underpin it, they have been exploring settlement and burial areas that largely date from the period. The project team comprises experts and students from ISAW, other American and European universities, and institutions across North America, Europe, and Australia. In 2024, the team encompassed current ISAW members (Christina Stefanou, Dominic Pollard, Dylan Winchell, and Manolis Mavromatis pictured below), as well as former members, including Georgios Tsolakis and Cicek Beeby.

From award-winning director Giorgos Didimiotis and his collaborator Leto Theodosiou comes a look into the daily life of the excavation team at Lyktos this summer! They are excited to share with you the extraordinary results accompanied by the music of Xylouris White (Album: Goats, Song: Suburb).

Lyktos, Crete, Greece: The wind rises and the scribbles on the wrinkled pages of the excavation notebooks rustle like the foliage of the olive trees perched on the acropolis. Picks and shovels, small brooms and brushes, hands and fingers feel and move the earth. Artifacts of the past emerge, bringing the rich cultural heritage of ancient Lyktos back into the light. ISAW/NYU’s team enjoys the refreshing shade during a brief break, sharing stories and wide smiles. A return from the field with the profound satisfaction of a day full of discoveries. 

A fuller version of the film showing their work at Lyktos will be projected at the upcoming exhibition ‘Crete of the Hundred Cities’, to be held at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum in the next months. Do not miss it!

Watch a clip of it now on Facebook HERE or Instagram HERE.

Upcoming Exhibition: https://www.heraklionmuseum.gr/periodiki-archaiologiki-ekthesi-ekatompolis-poli-politeia-politevma-stin-archaiki-kriti/

 

A woman wihth a camera on a strap around her neck stands in a rectangular, excavated area. She looks up at the camera.

Christina Stefanou, ISAW graduate student, conducting photography/photogrammetry at the cemetery.

Two men stand in a large sunny area under a large umbrella, evidenly conversing. In front of them, a large table is covered with fragments of pottery, some of it separated into groups on one side or other of a thin wooden divider.

Dominic Pollard, ISAW 2022-2024 Visiting Assistant Professor (right), and Dylan Winchell, ISAW graduate student (left), examining pottery at the lab.

A man in a white shirt and white cap stands in a deep, polygonal excavation with very straight sides. Next to him, a massive stone structure, possibly a fortification wall or building platform, can be seen. He is holding a tall pole with a flat disk on its top. Behind him, some trees are visible, as well as a tree-covered hill in the distance.

Manolis Mavromatis, ISAW graduate student, operating a Differential Global Positioning System (D-GPS) on the settlement.