Mitrou Archaeological Project

PDFs may be downloaded from academia.edu, or, for recent publications, interested readers are welcome to email Aleydis Van De Moortel at avdm@utk.edu for copies.

2025 

• Van de Moortel, A. “Water Management in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Coastal Community of Mitrou, Central Greece,” in R. Laffineur, G.J. van Wijngaarden, J.P. Crielaard, J. Crouwel, J. Driessen, and J. Hilditch (eds.), Hydor. Water Resources and Management in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 20th International Aegean Conference, University of Amsterdam, 11-16 June, 2024 (Liège and Leuven: Peeters) 271-280. Aegeaum 50.  

• Vitale, S. “Koinè and Regional Variation in Mycenaean Tableware Pottery: From Theory to Case Study,” in B. Lis (ed.), Regional Variation in Mycenaean Pottery (Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences) 341-365. 

• Van de Moortel, A. “Turning Military Conquest into Fabulous Wealth: the Drainage of the Copaic Basin and the Consolidation of Palatial Power in Central Greece,” in S. Allen, M. Lee, R. Schon, and A. Smith (eds.), Power and Place in the Prehistoric Aegean and Beyond. Studies in Honor of James C. Wright (Philadelphia: INSTAP) 109-116. 

• Hale, C.M., and J.H. Sterba, “From Pottery Provenance to Multiscale Diachronic Connectivity at Middle Bronze Age Mitrou, Greece,” European Journal of Archaeology 2025: 1-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2025.9 

2024 

• Stafford, V. Detection and Interpretation of Organic Residues in Archaeological Pottery. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Tennessee, Department of Chemistry. 

• Van de Moortel, A. “A Middle Helladic III – Late Helladic I Phase 1 Updraft Potter’s Kiln at Mitrou, East-Lokris, and its Societal Context,” in A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), Proceedings of the 6th Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central Greece 2015-2018. From Prehistory to the Contemporary Period, Volos, March 1-3, 2018 (Volos) 897-910. 

• Jazwa, K. “Utilitarian Ceramic Trays from Mitrou: Introducing a New Artifact Class,” In: A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), Proceedings of the 6th Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central Greece 2015-2018. From Prehistory to the Contemporary Period, Volos, March 1-3, 2018 (Volos) 889-895. Paper delivered at 5th AETHSE (Feb. 26 – March 1, 2015). 

• Vitale, S., C. Hale, A. Van de Moortel, and N. Herrmann. “It’s Absolutely Relative: The Late Helladic I Stratigraphic and Ceramic Sequences from Mitrou and their 14C Anchor Points,” in J. Driessen and T. Fantuzzi (eds.), Chronos. Stratigraphic Analysis, Pottery Seriation and Radiocarbon Dating in Mediterranean Chronology (Leuven: Peeters) 295-320. Aegis 26. 

2023 

• Montagné, M.-P. Usage et fonction de l’obsidienne et du silex à l’âge du Bronze en Grèce Centrale: Étude tracéologique de l’industrie lithique taillée de Mitrou (Phtiotide) et de Kirrha (Phocide). PhD dissertation, University of Aix-Marseille, France. 

• Hale, C.M. “Pottery Imports from the Southern Aegean Islands at Middle Bronze Age Mitrou,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 51: 1-13. 

• Hale, C.M. “Love thy (Middle Bronze Age) Neighbor: A Network Model for Central and Northern Greece,” The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 18.4: 635-661. 

• Hale, C.M. “Gray Minyan in the Middle: Reconsidering Central Greek and Cycladic Middle Bronze Age Synchronisms,” Hesperia 92.1: 1-42. 

2022 

• Van de Moortel, A. “Constructing Authority at Prepalatial Mitrou, Central Greece,” in J. Driessen and G.J. van Wijngaarden (eds.), Political Geographies of the Bronze Age Aegean. Joint Workshop by the Belgian School at Athens (EBSA) and the Netherlands Institute at Athens, Athens, May 31, 2019 (Leuven: BABESCH Supplements) 185-195. 

• Ntinou, M., Karathanou, A., Pagnoux, C., and S.M. Valamoti. “Land Management and Food Resources in Bronze Age Central Greece. Insights from Archaeobotanical Assemblages from the Sites of Agia Paraskevi, Kynos and Mitrou (Phthiotida),” in S.M. Valamoti, A. Dimoula, and M. Ntinou (eds.), Cooking with Plants in Ancient Europe and Beyond: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Archaeology of Plant Foods (Leiden) 71-91. 

• Smith, Z. Purple Dye Production at the Bronze Age Site of Mitrou: A Case Study into the Scale of Murex Purple Dye Production and Its Relationship with the Emergence of a Political Elite (B.A. Honors Thesis, University of Tennessee). 

2021 

• Montagné, M.-P. “Fish Exploitation During the Early Bronze Age in Central Greece: The Contribution of Use-Wear Analysis at Mitrou,” Actes de colloque d’AWRANA (Association of Archaeological Wear and Residue Analysts) 2018, Nice, France, Sidestone Press. 

• Van de Moortel, A., and S. Vitale, “Changing Political Landscapes: Mitrou, East Lokris, and the Palatial Polities of Boeotia,” in E. Karantzali and P. Kounouklas (eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd International International Interdisciplinary Colloquium. The Periphery of the Mycenaean World. Recent Discoveries and Research Results, Lamia, May 18-21, 2018 (Lamia) 231-240. 

2020

• Vitale, S., and A. Van de Moortel, “The Late Helladic IIIB Phase at Mitrou, East Lokris: Pottery, Chronology, and Political Relations with the Palatial Polities of Thebes and Orchomenos/Glas,” Annuario della Scuola archeologica di Ateneedelle missioni italiane in Oriente 98: 9-59. Peer-reviewed.
  
• Jazwa, K. “Comparing the Labor Investment and Production of Early and Late Bronze Age Ceramic Roofing Tiles in Mainland Greece,” In E. Hasaki and M. Bentz (eds), Reconstructing Scales of Production in the Ancient Greek World: Producers, Processes, Products, People, Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology. Cologne/Bonn, 22-26 May 2018. Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World (Heidelberg) 3-16. 
• Lis, B., Kiriatzi, E., Batziou, A., and Š. Rückl. “Dealing with the Crisis. Mobility of Aeginetan-Tradition Potters around 1200 BC,” BSA 115: 269-327. doi:10.1017/S0068245420000052. 
• Van de Moortel, A. “Sea Peoples from the Aegean: Identity, Socio-Political Context, and Antecedents.” In A. Gilboa and A. Yasur-Landau (eds.), Nomads of the Mediterranean: Trade and Contact in the Bronze and Iron Ages (Leiden) 318-335. 
• Van de Moortel, A. “Middle Helladic Architectural Practices and the Formation of Elite Architecture at Mitrou, East Lokris, Early in the Late Helladic Period.” In A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), Proceedings of the 5^th Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central Greece 2012-2014. From Prehistory to the Contemporary Period, Volos, Feb. 26 – March 1, 2015. (Volos) 877-890.

2019

• Van de Moortel, A., S. Vitale, B. Lis, and G. Bianco. “Honoring the Dead or Hero Cult? The Long Afterlife of a Prepalatial Elite Tomb at Mitrou.” In E. Borgna, I. Caloi, F. Carinci, and R. Laffineur (eds.), MNHMH/MNEME. Past and Memory in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 17th International Aegean Conference, University of Udine and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 17-21 April 2018 (Liège and Leuven: Peeters) 277-292. Aegaeum 43.
• Schmidt, C.W., Remy, A., Van Sessen, R., Willman, J., Krueger, K., Scott, R., Mahoney, P., Beach, J, McKinley, J., D’Anastasio, R., Chiu, L., Buzon, M., De Gregory, J.R., Sheridan, S., Eng, J., Watson, J., Klaus, H., Da-Gloria, P., Wilson, J., Stone, A., Sereno, P., Droke, J., Perash, R., Stojanowski, C., and N. Herrmann “Dental Microwear Texture Analysis of Homo sapiens sapiens: Foragers, Farmers and Pastoralists,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23815

2018

• Vitale, S. “The Troubled Century? Potting Practices and Socio-Political Changes at Mitrou, East Lokris, Between the End of the 14^th and the Beginning of the 12^th Century,” in I. Caloi and C. Langohr (eds.),  Technology in Crisis. Technological Changes in CeramicProduction during Periods of Trouble (Louvain: Presses universitaires de Louvain) 151-176. Aegis 16.
• Jazwa, K. “The Construction of the Early Helladic II Ceramic Roofing Tiles from Mitrou, Greece: Influence and Interaction,” Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 18.2: 153-173.
• Karkanas, P., and P. Goldberg Reconstructing Archaeological Sites: Understanding the Geoarchaeological Matrix (London: Wiley-Blackwell). ISBN: 978-1-119-01640-3.
• Van de Moortel, A., E. Zahou and J.B. Rutter “Mitrou and Proskynas in Prehistoric East Lokris: Chronology, Interconnections, and Society,” in M. Papakonstantinou, H. Kritzas, and I.P. Touratsoglou (eds.), Pyrrha.Meletes gia tin archaiologia stin Kentriki Elladha pros timin tis Fanourias Dakoronias, Vol. I. Proistorikoi chronoi (Athens) 169-193.

2017

• Van de Moortel, A. “A New Typology of Bronze Age Aegean Ships: Developments in Aegean Shipbuilding in Their Historical Context.” In J. Litwin (ed.), The Baltic and Beyond. Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Gdańsk, September 21-25, 2015 (Gdańsk) 263-268.
• Gauss, W., Kiriatzi, E., Lindblom, M., Lis, B., and J.E. Morrison. “Aeginetan Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Cooking Pottery,” In J.A. Hruby and D.A. Trusty (eds.), From Cooking Vessels to Cultural Practices in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (Oxford: Oxbow) 46-56.
• Lis, B. “Mycenaean Cooking Pots: Attempt at an Interregional Comparison.” In J.A. Hruby and D.A. Trusty (eds.), From Cooking Vessels to Cultural Practices in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (Oxford: Oxbow) 39-45.
• Lis, B. “Foodways in Early Mycenaean Greece: Innovative Cooking Sets and Social Hierarchy at Mitrou and Other Settlements on the Greek Mainland,” AJA 121.2, 183-217.

2016

• Van de Moortel, A. “Politics of Death at Mitrou, East Lokris,” in A. Dakouri-Hild and M. Boyd (eds.), Staging Death: Funerary Performance, Architecture, and Landscape in the Aegean. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 89-116.
• Fuehr S.M. Isotopic Study of Diet During the Bronze and Early Iron Ages at Mitrou and Tragana Agia Triada, Greece. M.A. Thesis, Mississippi State University.
• Hale, C. “The Middle Helladic Fine Gray Burnished (Gray Minyan) Sequence at Mitrou, East Lokris,” Hesperia 85.2, 243-295.
• Rückl, Š., and L. Jacobs, “‘With a Little Help From My Wheel.’ Wheel-Coiled Pottery in Protogeometric Greece,” Hesperia 85.2, 297-321.
• Anderson, L.B. A Geoarchaeological Analysis of Ground Stone Tools and Architectural Fragments from Mitrou, East Lokris, Greece. Knoxville, M.A. Thesis, University of Tennessee.

2015

• Zahou, E., and A. Van de Moortel “Αρχαιολογική έρευνα στη νησίδα Μήτρου της ανατολικής Λοκρίδας. Συνεργασία της ΙΔ΄ ΕΠΚΑ με το Πανεπιστήμιο Tennessee και την Αμερικανική Σχολή Κλασικών Σπουδών στην Αθήνα,” Αρχαιολογικοί Χώροι και Μνημεία στα  Όρια του Δήμου Λοκρών: Το Σημερινό Στάδιο της Αρχαιολογικής Έρευνας, Atalante, 74-85.
• Hale, C. “Middle Helladic ‘Dull Painted’ and ‘Matt Painted’ Pottery at Mitrou. An Important Distinction,” Melbourne Historical Journal: The Amphora Issue 42.2, 32-58.
• Lis, B. “From Cooking Pots to Cuisine. Limitations and Perspectives of a Ceramic-based Approach,” in M. Spataro and A. Villing (eds.) Ceramics, Cuisine and Culture: The Archaeology and Science of Kitchen Pottery in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 104–114.
• Hale, C. The Middle Helladic Ceramic Sequence at Mitrou, East Lokris: A Diachronic Quantitative Analysis and its Implications for Inter- and Intra-regional Interaction in Central Greece during the Middle Bronze Age. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Melbourne. Nominated for Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis.

2014

• Maran, J., and A. Van de Moortel  “A Horse Bridle Piece with Carpatho-Danubian Connections from Late Helladic I Mitrou and the Emergence of a Warlike Elite in Greece During the Shaft-Grave Period,” American Journal of Archaeology 118.4: 529-548.
• Karkanas, P., and A. Van de Moortel “Micromorphological Analysis of Sediments at the Bronze Age Site of Mitrou, Central Greece: Patterns of Floor Construction and Maintenance,” Journal of Archaeological Science 43: 198-213.

2013

• Vitale, S. “Two Late Helladic IIIA1 Deposits from Mitrou, East Lokris. A Chronological, Typological, and Functional Analysis of the Pottery,” in G. Graziadio, R. Guglielmino, V. Lenuzza, and S. Vitale (eds.), Φιλική Συναυλία. Volume of Studies in Honour of Mario Benzi (Oxford) 123-134. BAR-IS 2460.

2012

• Van de Moortel, A., and E. Zahou  “Five Years of Archaeological Excavation at the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Site of Mitrou, East Lokris (2004-2008). Preliminary Results,” in A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), Proceedings of the 3^rd Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central  Greece 2006-2008. From Prehistory to the Contemporary Period (Volos) 1131-1146.
• Vitale, S. “Local Traditions and Mycenaeanization in North-Central Greece. A Preliminary Report on the Late Helladic II to Late Helladic IIIB Pottery from Mitrou, East Lokris, and Its Significance,” in A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), 3^rd Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central Greece 2006-2008. From Prehistory to the Contemporary Period (Volos) 1147-1158.
• Lis, B. “Aeginetan cooking pottery in Central Greece and its wider perspective,” in A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), 3^rd Archaeological Meeting of Thessaly and Central Greece 2006-2008. From Prehistory to the Contemporary Period (Volos) 1203-1211.
• Fuson, H. A Preliminary Analysis of the Ground Stone Tool Assemblage at the Prehistoric Site of Mitrou, Central Greece. Unpublished BA Honors Thesis, University of Tennessee.
• Van de Moortel, A.  “The Middle Bronze Age Boat of Mitrou, Central Greece,” in N. Günsenin (ed.), Between the Continents. Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Istanbul Oct. 2009 (Istanbul) 17-26.
• Tsokas, G.N., A. Van de Moortel, P. Tsourlos, A. Stampolidis, G. Vargemezis, and E. Zahou, “Geophysical Survey as an Aid to Excavation at Mitrou. A Preliminary Report,” Hesperia 81: 383-432.
•  Lis, B. Late Bronze Age Cooking Pots from Mitrou and Their Change in the Light of Socio-Economic Transformations. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Polish Academy of Sciences.
• de Gregory, R. Dental Microwear and Diet Change during the Greek Bronze and Iron Age in Coastal East Lokris, Greece. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Mississippi State University.

2011

• Van de Moortel, A., and E. Zahou,  “The Bronze Age-Iron Age Transition at Mitrou, in East Lokris: Evidence for Continuity and Discontinuity,” in A. Mazarakis Ainian (ed.), The “Dark Ages” Revisited. Acts of an International Symposium in Memory of William D.E. Coulson, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, 14-17 June 2007 (Volos) 287-303.
• Vykukal, R.L. Purpurae Florem of Mitrou: Assessing the Role of Purple Dye Manufacture in the  Emergence of a Political Elite (Knoxville). Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Tennessee.
• Green, M.D., “A geographical analysis of the Atalanti alluvial plain and coastline as the location of a potential tourist site, Bronze through Early Iron Age Mitrou, East-Central Greece,” Applied Geography 32: 335-349.
• Vitale, S. “Late Helladic IIIA2 Pottery from Mitrou and its Implications for the Ceramic Chronology of the Mycenaean Mainland,” in W. Gauß, M. Lindblom, A. Smith, and J.C. Wright (eds.), Our Cups are Full. Pottery and Society in the Aegean Bronze Age. Papers Presented to Jeremy B. Rutter on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (Oxford) 331-344. B.A.R. Int’l Series 2227.
•  Lis, B., and Š. Rückl“‘Our Storerooms are Full.’ Impressed pithoi from LBA/EIA East Lokris and Phokis and their socio-economic significance,” in W. Gauß, M. Lindblom, Smith, and J.C. Wright (eds.), Our Cups are Full. Pottery and Society in the  Aegean Bronze Age. Papers Presented to Jeremy B. Rutter on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (Oxford) 154-168. B.A.R. Int’l Series 2227.
• Veropoulidou, I.C. “Spondylus gaederopus Meals and Tools in Central Greece from the 3rd to the Early 1st Millennium BC,” in R. Ifantidis and M. Nikolaidou (eds.), Spondylus in Prehistory: New Data and Approaches – Contributions to the Archaeology of Shell Technologies (Oxford) 191-208. B.A.R. Int’l Series 2216.

2010

• Lis B. “Cooking Pottery in the Aegean – an Attempt at a Methodological Approach,” in B. Horejs, R. Jung, and P. Pavuk (eds.), Pottery Analysis (Bratislava) 235-244. Studia Archaeologica et Medievalia 10.
• Hale, C. Middle Helladic Minyan Mischief: A Preliminary Analysis of the Middle Helladic Grey Minyan Ceramic Sequence at Mitrou and its Potential Implications. Unpublished BA Honors Thesis, Macquarie University, Sydney. 1^st Class Honours.

2009

• Lis, B. “Handmade and Burnished Pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean at the End of the Bronze Age – Towards an Explanation of its Diversity and Geographical Distribution,” in Bachhuber and G. Roberts (eds.), Forces of Transformation: The End of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean (Oxford) 150-161. Oxbow.
• Lis, B.”The Sequence of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age Pottery from Central Greek Settlements –A Fresh Look at Old and New Evidence,” in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and Baechle (eds.), Late Helladic IIIC Late and the Transition to the Early Iron  Age. Late Helladic IIIC Chronology and Synchronisms, Feb. 23-24, 2007 (Vienna) 203-220. Austrian Academy of Sciences.
• Van de Moortel, A. “The Late Helladic IIIC-Protogeometric Transition at Mitrou, East Lokris,” in Deger-Jalkotzy and A. Baechle (eds.), Late Helladic IIIC Late and the  Transition to the Early Iron Age. Late Helladic IIIC Chronology and Synchronisms, Feb. 23-24, 2007 (Vienna) 359-372. Austrian Academy of Sciences.

2008

• Vitale, S. “Ritual Drinking and Eating at LH IIIA:2 Early Mitrou, East Lokris. Evidence for Mycenaean Feasting Activities?” in L. Hitchcock and R. Laffineur (eds), DAIS. Proceedings of the 12th International Aegean Conference, organized by the  University of Liège and the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, April 2008 (Liège) 229-237, pls. XL-XLVIII.
• Rückl, Š. Spatial Layout of the Protogeometric Settlement at Mitrou, East Lokris (Central Greece). Social Reality of a Greek Village in the 10th Century B.C. (Sheffield). Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Sheffield.
• Kramer-Hajos, M., and K. O’Neill. “The Bronze Age Site of Mitrou in East Lokris: Finds from the 1988-1989 Surface Survey,” Hesperia 77: 163-250.

2007

• Karkanas, P. “Identification of Lime Plaster in Prehistory Using Petrographic Methods: A Review and Reconsideration of the Data on the Basis of Experimental and Case Studies,” Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 22: 775-796.
• Rutter, J.B. “How Different is LH IIIC Middle at Mitrou? An Initial Comparison with Kalapodi, Kynos, and Lefkandi,” in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and M. Zavadil (eds.), LH III C Chronology and Synchronisms, II. LH III C Middle. Proceedings of the International Workshop held  at the Austrian Academy of Sciences at Vienna, October 29th and 30th, 2004 (Vienna) 287-300.
• Van de Moortel, A. “The Site of Mitrou and East Lokris in Homeric Times,” in S. Morris and R. Laffineur (eds.), EPOS. Reconsidering Greek Epic and Aegean Bronze Age Archaeology.  Proceedings of the 11th International Aegean Conference, organized by the University of Liège and UCLA, Los Angeles, April 21-23, 2006 (Liège) 243-254. Aegaeum 28.

2005

• Moore, S. An Assessment of Protogeometric Apsidal Buildings in Greece. Unpublished BA Honors Thesis, University of Tennessee.

2003-2004 (published 2005)

• Van de Moortel, A., and E. Zahou  “2004 Excavations at Mitrou, East Lokris,” Aegean Archaeology 7: 39-48.

Annual reports submitted to the Archaiologikon Deltion (Greece), Archaeological Reports of the Journal of Hellenic Studies (U.K.), and Chronique des Fouilles of the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (France) toponym = Mitrou