Maria Kyritsi*
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Received Sylff fellowship in 2015
Academic supervisor: Eleftherios Platon
Current affiliation: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greek Ministry of Culture
Maria Kyritsi is a field archaeologist and ceramic specialist with expertise in Minoan Archaeology. She earned her PhD in Prehistoric Archaeology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2021, focusing on family-level social structures and their relationship to architecture and household organization. Dr. Kyritsi has participated in excavations and research projects in Crete, the Cyclades, and mainland Greece. A member of the Zakros Study and Publication Team since 2009, she has contributed to numerous fields of the archaeological documentation of ancient buildings and movable finds.She also taught a course on Minoan Art (February-July 2024) and currently works at the National Archaeological Museum under the Greek Ministry of Culture.
Academic Achievements, Social Engagement Initiatives:
PhD in Prehistoric (Minoan) Archaeology. Adjunct lecturer of Prehistoric Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University (spring semester 2024)
Summary of Support Program Activities:
The primary objective of my SRG project is to explore the nature of prehistoric ritual practices through the analysis of a six-room complex in the West Wing of the Minoan palace at Kato Zakros, Crete, by integrating excavation data, fieldwork information, museum cataloguing and digital illustrations of both movable artifacts and immovable architectural features into an online database. During the initial phase of the research period, both the fellow and the research assistants will gather and digitize existing information, construct an online database, and input collected data, followed by a fieldwork expedition to Crete to document on-site particulars, culminating in the subsequent stage of elucidating ritual practices and the comparing our case-study with pertinent scholarly literature. The forthcoming outcomes of the SRG project will form part and contribute to the ongoing study and multivolume publication of the Zakros palace, disseminating findings within the scientific community through scholarly articles to serve as a paradigm and methodological exemplar for comparable investigations centered on Minoan Crete, while concurrently fostering broader societal significance by enhancing public awareness of an archaeologically remote site and elucidating the means by which a societal cohort articulated its profound religious convictions and beliefs.
