You are invited to a hybrid lecture (online and at the IIHSA premises in Athens) on Thursday March 6th 2025 at 7.00 pm (Greek time) by Dr Giorgos Papantoniou (Trinity College Dublin) on ‘Landscape Archaeology and Social Transformations: Voices from Cyprus.’

Abstract: A holistic approach to landscape archaeology considers ‘landscape’ as an expression of society within a system of cultural meaning; it gives equal consideration to built and natural environments, as well as humans and movable objects, seeking to ‘read’ place-making and materialisation of ideologies. This paper, using Cyprus as a case-study, aims to raise issues for discussion about the changes in the use and concept of sacred landscapes as developed in the Archaic and Classical periods under the Cypriot kings (the basileis), but then continued to function in a new imperial environment, that of the rule of the Ptolemaic strategos and later of the Roman proconsul. This diachronic, inter-disciplinary and Cypro-centric approach reveals that the new politico-economic Hellenistic and Roman structures were, as in the preceding periods, supported by the construction of symbolically charged sacred landscapes. Thus, during the long history of the island, we may identify three pivotal phases: first the consolidation of the Cypriot polities and the establishment of a ‘full’ sacred landscape as shown by the rise of the number of urban and extra-urban sanctuaries; then the transition from segmented to unitary administration under Ptolemaic and Roman imperial rule and the consolidation of a more ‘unified sacred landscape’; finally, as a conclusion, the establishment of a number of Christian bishoprics on the island and the movement back to a ‘full’ sacred landscape as shown by the establishment of a great number of urban and extra-urban basilicas.Case-studies will also be drawn from the archaeological surface survey project in the Xeros River Valley in Larnaka, where we have recently combined landscape, historical and community archaeology to address issues related to contemporary cultural heritage and societal transformations, such as healing of negative memories and contribute to various communities’ wellbeing. Moving beyond the particular example of Cyprus, this contribution offers a paradigm for the implications that the employment of the ‘sacred landscapes’ concept may have when addressing issues of socio-political and socio-economic transformations.

Please reserve an in person place:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iihsa-lecture-tickets-1262454628779?aff=oddtdtcreator

or register to join us online:
https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/meeting/register/VhOTsAsFS7uttQrz0w66Iw