Comparing Cyprus and Sicily: Scientific Approaches

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Durham University | 26–27 March 2026

Venue: D104, Dawson Building

The international workshop Comparing Cyprus and Sicily: Scientific Approaches takes place at Durham University on 26–27 March 2026, bringing together scholars from across Europe to explore the long-term historical, environmental and cultural trajectories of two Mediterranean islands through comparative and interdisciplinary scientific perspectives.

Cyprus and Sicily, both shaped by mobility, exchange, resource exploitation and layered histories, offer rich case studies for understanding island societies in the Mediterranean world. Across two days, the workshop examines themes including prehistoric and historic landscapes, copper production, ceramics, archaeozoology, archaeobotany and human–environment interactions, highlighting both parallels and productive contrasts between the two islands.

Cyprus features prominently throughout the programme, with a strong presence of Cypriot and Cyprus-based researchers from the University of Cyprus, the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, and international institutions. Their work places Cyprus at the centre of contemporary Mediterranean research, in dynamic dialogue with parallel case studies from Sicily.

The workshop culminates in the keynote lecture Cyprus and Sicily: Shared Identities by Anastasia Christophilopoulou, offering a reflective perspective on island identities, memory and cultural connections across the Mediterranean.

The workshop is supported by Durham University, the University of Liverpool, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Cultural Section of the Cyprus High Commission.

Programme

Day 1 — Thursday, 26 March 2026

09:45–10:00

Welcome and introduction

C. de Lisle, M. Giobbe, B. Pestarino

Session 1: Comparative Perspectives

10:00–12:20

10:00–10:35
Lisa Briggs (Barca Archaeology Ltd)
DNA and organic residue analysis of shipwreck artefacts from Sicily and Cyprus: expect the unexpected
10:35–11:10
Victor Klinkenberg (University of Cyprus)
A Decade at Palloures: New Perspectives on Chalcolithic Cyprus
11:10–11:45
José María Martín Civantos (University of Granada)
Landscape transformations in Western Sicily from the Islamic conquest
11:45–12:20
Angus Graham (University of Uppsala) with Kristina Winther-Jacobsen (University of Copenhagen)
Cyprus, a copper island-scape: a view from Life at the Furnace

Session 2: Survey and Landscapes I

13:20–15:05

13:20–13:55
Oliva Menozzi (University of Chieti)
The MPM Project: from Survey to Archaeometry
13:55–14:30
Giovanni Scicchitano (University of Bari)
Coastal transformation under rising and falling seas: examples from Eastern Sicily
14:30–15:05
Karl Smith (University of Oxford)
Large-scale GIS coastal analysis and harbour “affordance”: a Sicilian/Cypriot comparison

Session 3: Ceramic Analyses

15:20–17:40

15:20–15:55
Sergios Menelaou & Edyta Marzec (Fitch Lab, BSA; NCSR “Demokritos”)
Multidisciplinary approaches and research advances on ancient and preindustrial ceramics from Cyprus
15:55–16:30
Simona Todaro (University of Catania)
Living under the volcano: an holistic approach to pottery production studies
16:30–17:05
Marcella Giobbe (University of Cyprus) with N. S. Müller, A. Charalambous, D. Ioannides, A. Georgiou
Cultural interconnections and interregional exchange in the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean: science-based ceramic evidence from Cyprus
17:05–17:40
Roberta Mentesana (Universitat de Barcelona) & Veronica Testolini (Independent)
From Hearth to Kiln: a journey through Sicilian ceramics from the Neolithic to the sixteenth century (Online)

Day 2 — Friday, 27 March 2026

Session 4: Archaeozoology and Osteoarchaeology

09:45–12:05

09:45–10:20
Angelos Hadjikoumis (The Cyprus Institute)
A kaleidoscope of human–animal interactions on a large Mediterranean island: a long-term review of Cyprus
10:20–10:55
Veronica Aniceti (University of Tor Vergata, Rome)
The role of animals in the Arab Agricultural Revolution in Al-Siqilliyya (Online)
10:55–11:30
Demetra Aristotelous (Department of Antiquities, Cyprus)
Peeping through the keyhole: osteoarchaeological insights from a Hellenistic tomb in Limassol, Cyprus (Online)
11:30–12:05
Roberto Miccichè (University of Palermo)
Zooarchaeological perspectives on religion and society in Western Sicilian Greek sanctuaries (Online)

Session 5: Archaeobotany

13:05–14:15

13:05–13:40
Claudia Speciale (Palermo)
Humans and vegetation on the biggest island of the Mediterranean: archaeobotany and Sicily’s environmental history (Online)
13:40–14:15
Maria Rousou (Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory, Athens)
Evolutionary history of the Cypriot flora and vegetation cover (Online)

Session 6: Survey and Landscapes II

14:25–16:10

14:25–15:00
Thanassis Vionis (University of Cyprus) & Giorgos Papantoniou (Trinity College Dublin)
Landscape archaeology and its allied sciences in the Xeros River Valley, Larnaka, Cyprus
15:00–15:35
Matteo Randazzo with Margherita Riso (Independent)
Sacred Landscape Sicily Project (2022–23): phenomenological approaches and digital technologies
15:35–16:10
Ralph Vandam (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Landscape and environmental changes in Cyprus