Aufgabengebiet

Project: CHANGING WORLD - Changing worldviews at the end of the European Bronze Age: Societal insights from technology and lifeways before and after the Mycenaean palatial collapse in Greece (1300-1000 BC)

Worldviews are infused in materials and expressed through technology. Changing World aims to evaluate how deep social transformations during late prehistory in the Greek mainland interfered with cultural processes through the lens of metallurgical technology. As the Mycenaean palaces collapsed in the 13th-12th c. BC, Late Bronze Age Greek society witnessed dramatic cultural changes. This had a profound impact on most aspects of every day life including social organisation, modes of communication, as well as human interactions with the natural environment and, thus, technologies. Examining metal and metallurgical tools and by-products from 1300 to 1000 BC will provide unique insights into the impact of the palatial collapse on the management of raw materials, the decision-making processes over production and use of the metal objects, and the local and long-distance trade and exchange networks.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • 2009-2015
    PhD Archaeological Science & Archaeometallurgy
    Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK
    Thesis: Early Iron Age Greek copper-based technology: votive offerings from Thessaly (supervisor: Prof. Th. Rehren)
  • 2008-2009
    MSc Technology & Analysis of Archaeological Materials (Distinction)
    Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK
    Thesis: Bronze grave offerings from the Toumba cemetery in Lefkandi, Euboea: metallographic characterisation and compositional analysis
  • 2003-2007
    4-year BA History, Archaeology & Cultural Resources Management (Excellent)
    Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of Peloponnese, Greece

Postdoctoral Research

  • 2023-2024
    MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, LMU Munich
    Project: Changing worldviews at the end of the European Bronze Age: Societal insights from technology and lifeways before and after the Mycenaean palatial collapse in Greece (1300-1000 BC) (Changing World – GA #101067234)
  • 2019-2022
    ERC Postdoctoral Research Scientist, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Ireland
    Project: The Fall of 1200 BC (GA #772753), awarded to Assoc. Prof. Barry Molloy
  • 2016-2019
    Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Department of Geoscience & Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University, Denmark
    Projects: Metalwork from the urban contexts at the Northwest Quarter at Jerash, Jordan, and Ribe, Denmark
  • 2015-2016
    Postdoctoral Researcher & Scientific Collaborator, Musée du Louvre & Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Paris, France
    Project: ISLAMETAL: Investigation of medieval Iranian metal wares from the 10th to the 15th c. CE

Additional Collaborations

Since 2023 The metallurgical assemblage at Middle Bronze Age Pecica, in partnership with the Museum of Arad, Romania, and the University of Michigan
• Since 2021 The Chalcis Treasure, in partnership with the British Museum and Dumbarton Oaks
• Since 2019 Excavations at Nikoleika, Achaia, Greece, in partnership with the Greek Ministry of Culture
• Since 2018 Votive metals from Tegea, in partnership with the University of Peloponnese and NSCR Demokritos
• 2020-2022 The metallurgical assemblage at Late Bronze Age Șagu, in partnership with the Museum of Arad, Romania, and University College Dublin
• 2017-2019 Soil analysis of a Viking Grave, in partnership with Skanderborg Museum and Aarhus University
• 2016-2018 Votives from the temples at Sounion, in partnership with Dr. Zetta Theodoropoulou-Polychroniadis (GACUK)
• 2007-2011 Excavations at Antikythera, in partnership with excavation director Dr. Aris Tsaravopoulos

Science Communication, Outreach and Funding

Science Communication & Outreach
• Since 2023 Vice President for Social Media, Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS)
• Since 2022 Blog Editor, European Association of Archaeologists (EAA)
• Since 2020 Co-ordinator of writing group Archaeosnack, part of Scisnack
• Since 2018 Mentor in schools, 100mentors & The Tipping Point in Education

Board membership
• Since 2021 Member of the Managing Committee, Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens (IIHSA)
• Since 2021 Member of the Editorial Board, Scientific Culture (SC)
• Since 2019 Member of the Editorial Board, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry (MAA)

Funding bodies
Funding for post-graduate studies
• 2010-2013 Greek Archaeological Committee UK (GACUK) & A.G. Leventis Foundation
• 2008-2012 State Scholarships Foundation of Greece (IKY)
• 2008-2009 Onassis Foundation, Greece

Grants for dissemination activities
• 2021 Onassis Foundation, Greece
• 2020 Irish Research Council, Ireland
• 2018 Institute of Archaeometallurgical Studies (IAMS), UK
• 2016 Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, USA

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Orfanou, V., Amicone, S., Sava, V., O’Neill, B., Brown, L., Bruyère, C., Molloy, B. (2022). Forging a New World Order? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Management of Metalworking and Ideological Change in the Late Bronze Age Carpathian Basin. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. DOI: 10.1007/s10816-022-09566-6

Sulas, F., Shifter Bagge, M., Enevold, R., Harrault, L.C.P., Kristiansen, S.M., Ljungberg, T., Milek, K., Mikkelsen, P.H., Orfanou, V., Out, W., Portillo, M., and Sindbæk, S.M. (2022). Revealing the invisible dead: integrated bio-geoarchaeological profiling exposes human and animal remains in a seemingly ‘empty’ Viking-Age burial. Journal of Archaeological Science 141, 105589. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2022.105589

Orfanou, V., Birch, T., Sindbæk, S.M., Feveile, C., Barfod, G.H., and Lesher, C.E. (2021). On diverse arts: crucible metallurgy and the polymetallic cycle at Scandinavia’s earliest Viking town, Ribe (8th-9th c. CE), Denmark. Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13, 81. DOI:10.1007/s12520-021-01308-1.

Kladouri, N.K., Karydas, A.G., Orfanou, V., Kantarelou, V., and Zacharias, N. (2021). Bronze votive pins from the sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea, Arcadia, Greece, 9th-7th c. BCE: A microscopic and compositional study using portable micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (micro-XRF). Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 37, 102975. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102975.

Orfanou, V., Birch, T., Lichtenberger, A., Raja, R., Barfod, G.H., Lesher, C.E., and Eger, C. (2020). Copper-based metalwork in Roman to early Islamic Jerash (Jordan): Insights into production and recycling through alloy compositions and lead isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 33, 102519. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102519.

Birch, T., Orfanou, V., Lichtenberger, A., Raja, R, Barfod, G.H., Lesher, C.E., Schulze, I. and Schulze, W. (2019). From nummi minimi to fulūs – small change and wider issues: characterising coinage from Gerasa (Late Roman to Umayyad periods). Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Science 11, 5359-5376. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00866-9.

Orfanou, V., Collinet, A., El Morr, Z., and Bourgarit, D. (2018). Archaeometallurgical investigation of metal wares from the medieval Iranian world (10th-15th c): the ISLAMETAL project. Journal or Archaeological Science 95, 16-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2018.04.008.

Orfanou, V. and Rehren, T. (2015). A (not so) dangerous method: pXRF vs. EPMA-WDS analyses of copper-based artefacts. Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Science, 7, 387–397. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-014-0198-z.

Book chapters

  • Orfanou, V., Sulas, F., Ljungberg, T., and Kristiansen, S.M. (2021). Mapping the invisible traces: Soil geochemistry of the horseman burial floor at Fregerslev. In: Pedersen, A. and Schifter Bagger M. (eds), Horse and rider in the late Viking Age: Equestrian burial in perspective. Papers from the international conference, Skanderborg 27-28 June 2019. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 83-99.
  • Sulas, F., Orfanou, V., Ljungberg, T., and Kristiansen, S.M. (2021). Mapping the invisible traces: Soil micromorphology at Fregerslev II. In: Pedersen, A., and Schifter Bagger M. (eds), Horse and rider in the late Viking Age: Equestrian burial in perspective. Papers from the international conference, Skanderborg 27-28 June 2019. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 101-112.
  • Kontogiannis, N.D. and Orfanou, V. (2019). The Chalcis Treasure: a 14th-15th century hoard from Euboea, Greece – first thoughts and preliminary results. New Research on Late Byzantine Goldsmiths’ Works (13th-15th Centuries). Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident 13, 115-125.
  • Theodoropoulou-Polychroniadis, Z., and Orfanou, V. (2019). Copper-based offerings from the sanctuaries of Poseidon and Athena at Sounion, Attica: typological and analytical investigation. In: Baas, Ph. (ed.), Proceedings of the XXth International Congress on Ancient Bronzes: Resource, Reconstruction, Representation, Role (17-21 April, 2018), University of Tübingen, Germany. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 331-344.
  • Orfanou, V. and Birch, T. (2018). Viking-age metals and urbanisation: the case of Ribe in Denmark. In: Raja, R. and Sindbæk, S., Urban Network Evolutions. Towards a high-definition archaeology. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 189-195.
  • Birch, T. and Orfanou, V. (2018). Small change in big cities: characterising the development of everyday coinage in Jerash. In: Raja, R. and Sindbæk, S., Urban Network Evolutions. Towards a high-definition archaeology. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 117-12.
  • Orfanou, V. (2015). Early Iron Age Greece, ancient Pherae and the archaeometallurgy of copper. 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 UK. Oxford: Archaeopress, 107–116.
  • Orfanou, V. (2015). Divine Bronze: Investigating Early Iron Age copper-based production in Thessaly. In: Proceedings of the 4th Archaeological work in Thessaly and Central Greece, Volos 2012 Volos: Ministry of Culture; University of Thessaly, 201–207.
  • Orfanou, V., Doulgeri-Intzesiloglou, A., and Arachoviti, P. (2014). Archaeometric investigation of copper-based fibulae from the Enodia sanctuary at ancient Pherae: preliminary results [in Greek]. In: D. Karamberopoulos, ed. Hypereia 6, Vol A. Volos: Epistimoniki Etaireia Meletis Feron-Velestinou-Riga, 213–222.
  • Orfanou, V., The technology of Venetian and Byzantine goldsmith workshops as seen in the Chalcis Treasure, contribution in Kontogiannis, N.D. (In prep), Goldsmiths, Merchants and Bankers in the Late Medieval Mediterranean: The evidence from the Chalcis Treasure.

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Contributor in volume

Collinet, A. and Bourgarit, D. (authors), el Morr, Z., and Orfanou, V. (contributors) (2021). Précieuses matières. Les Arts du métal dans le monde iranien médiéval. Volume I, Xe - XIIIe siècles. Paris: Musée du Louvre Editions