March 15th – Abstract submission opens
May 31th – Deadline for abstract submission
June 15th – EXTENDED Deadline for abstract submission
July 1st – Announcement of abstracts decisions
July 1st – Registration opens
Aug. 1st – Preliminary program available
Sept. 15th – Registration closes
Oct. 1st – Meeting details and final program available
Oct. 15th–18th – YRA2024 in Nicosia
Oct. 31st – Certificates sent to participants
General information
Hosted at: 
Sponsored by: 
We are happy to announce that the 7th Workshop Young Researchers in Archaeometry will be held at The Cyprus Institute, in Nicosia, Cyprus. The conference will be held in person from October 15th to 18th, 2024 and will welcome early career researchers (masters, PhD, post-docs up to six years after their PhD) in archaeological sciences and cultural heritage studies.
With this workshop, we aim to offer a relaxed atmosphere to encourage interdisciplinary exchange between early career researchers. We are pleased to invite you for oral and poster contributions in all fields of natural sciences about archaeological and anthropological topics. In particular, early career researchers in archaeology, art history, anthropology, biological anthropology, environmental archaeology, chemistry, conservation, cultural heritage, earth science, and material science are welcome to submit an abstract for an oral presentation or poster.
Programme and social events
All times are given in Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3).
Abstracts of all papers can be found in the abstract repository.
Lecture halls:
- Fresnel – John Ioannides Auditorium (all sessions)
- Mouskos Auditorium (keynote lecture and movie screening on Wednesday, 16th of October)
Address: The Cyprus Institute, Kavafi 20, 2121, Aglatzia, Cyprus
Presentations will be streamed on Zoom
(https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88340660574 | Meeting ID: 883 4066 0574 | Passcode: 081518)
| 20:00 |
Ice breaker (self-paid) at Charátsi |
| 09:00 – 09:30 |
Welcoming and registration |
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Session 1: Cultural heritage/non-invasive methods |
| 09:30 – 09:50 |
Archaeometric analysis of the inks in two 15th century Greek paper manuscripts: a preliminary comparative study
Katerina Grigoriadou |
| 09:50 – 10:10 |
Non-invasive material analysis of Egyptian Shabtis by XRF, Raman spectroscopy and CT Scanning
Stelios Aspiotis, Olivier Bonnerot, Samaneh Ehteram, Leah Mascia |
| 10:10 – 10:30 |
Multi-analytical investigation on the carved oriental lacquerwares
Shang-ying Liu, Patrizia Tomasin, Luca Nodari, Marta Boscolo Marchi, Alfonso Zoleo |
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| 10:30 – 10:50 |
Coffee break |
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| 10:50 – 11:10 |
Revealing Hidden Histories: Using High-Resolution Portable Computed Tomography for Closed Cuneiform Tablets
Samaneh Ehteram |
| 11:10 – 11:30 |
3D Visualization and Digital Recording of Sculptures through Photogrammetry: An Iconometric Examination of the Hoysala Sculptures
Poorva Salvi |
| 11:30 – 11:50 |
Shallow Offshore Archaeological Prospection in Ancient Olous, Crete
Angelos Plageras, Dimitrios Oikonomou, Nikos Papadopoulos |
| 11:50 – 12:10 |
Breaking into the “Black Box”: The contribution of ethnographic work in decoding Late Cypriot household structures
Chara Theotokatou |
| 12:10 – 12:30 |
KWAMTENG: Sustaining And Promoting an Intangible Cultural Heritage for future generations
Paul Nkwap |
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Session 2: Ceramics, part 1 |
| 12:30 – 12:50 |
Clay for pots. Raw Material Determination of Sântana “Cetatea Veche” Ceramics and Determination of Firing Methods in Late Bronze Age
Alexandra Stache, Ágnes Gál, Florin Gogâltan |
| 12:50 – 13:00 |
The Master, PhD, training Programs offered by The Cyprus Institute
Head of the Graduate School, Cyprus Institute |
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| 13:00 – 14:00 |
Lunch break |
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| 14:00 – 14:20 |
A Dangerous Tradition: Asbestos-tempered Pottery in Prehistoric and Modern Eskişehir, Türkiye
Ashley Cercone |
| 14:20 – 14:40 |
Disclosing Production Process by the Archaeometric Analysis of Bronze to Iron Age Ceramic Jars from Qatna (Central Syria)
Bianca Costi Farias, Lara Maritan, Claudio Mazzoli, Marco Iamoni, Daniele Morandi |
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Session 3: Environmental Archaeology and Bioarchaeology |
| 14.40 – 15:10 |
Ongoing Archaeobotanical Research in Mycenaean Iklaina, Messenia, Greece
Symeon Gkinoudis, Evi Margaritis |
| 15:10 – 15:30 |
Phytolith analysis for the investigation of plant exploitation in Bronze Age Cyprus
Georgia Kasapidou |
| 15:30 – 15:50 |
Fuelling Ancient Idalion: Charcoal Analysis and Insights into 1st Millennium BCE Cyprus
Panagiotis Koullouros |
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| 15:50 – 16:30 |
Coffee break (room: Mouskos) |
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| 16:30 – 16:35 |
Welcome address by the President of the Cyprus Institute |
| 16:35 – 17:15 |
Keynote: Domesticity, craft production and ritual: Changing patterns of human life in the 3rd millennium BCE Aegean (room: Mouskos)
Assoc. Prof. Evi Margaritis, Dr. Michael Boyd (The Cyprus Institute), Prof. Lord Colin A. Renfrew (University of Cambridge) |
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| 17:30 – 19:00 |
Screening of the movie: Buried Secrets of Keros (room: Mouskos), National Geographic, UK (Watch the official trailer on Youtube) |
| 09:00 – 09:20 |
Paint It, Red: A Technological and Compositional Study of Classical Pottery from Nea Paphos, Cyprus
Geneviève Lascombes, Edyta Marzec, Lara Maritan |
| 09:20 – 09:40 |
The Clay of a Gateway Community In Cyprus – Domestic Pottery from Soli
Marie-Louise Jahn Hansen |
| 09:40 – 10:00 |
Late Hellenistic braziers from Delos; provenance study and characterisation of ‘Cycladic’ type
Athena Konstandara, Edyta Marzec |
| 10:00 – 10:20 |
Influence of decantation on Mediterranean clay: An experimental archaeological approach
Vania Filippou, Lara Maritan, Virginie Renson, Daria Pasqual, Silvia Cattò, Eleni Nodarou, Emma Cantisani, Maria Dikomitou Eliadou, Zomenia Zomeni |
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| 10:20 – 10:40 |
Coffee break |
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| 10:40 – 11:00 |
Envisioning Pre-Colombian Regional Trade Patterns Through Elemental Analysis of Archaeological Ceramics from Western Panama
Carly Pope, Scott Palumbo, Laure Dussubieux |
| 11:00 – 11:20 |
µ-LIBS imaging as spatially-resolved and quantitative characterization method for pottery
Nicolas Herreyre, Valérie Merle, Anne Schmitt, Christine Oberlin, Clothilde Comby-Zebino, Vincent Motto-Ros |
| 11:20 – 11:40 |
Fragments of the Past from Zeytinli Bahçe Höyük: Deciphering Cultural and Technological Interactions from the Late Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age through Ceramic Petrography
Rosa Crocco |
| 11:40 – 12:00 |
Knowledge exchange in pottery production in Neolithic Northwest China: a petrographic study and the resulting development of a digital tool for petrographic image analysis in archaeology
Evgenia Dammer |
| 12:00 – 12:20 |
More Than Just a Pot? An Archaeometrical Investigation of Unusual Chalcolithic Small-Sized Biconical Closed Pots from the Archaeological Sites of ”Gumelnița” and ”Măriuța-La Movilă”
Bogdan Manea, Ioana Dinca, Vasile Opris, Daniel Stoicescu, Adrian Sima, Dragos Mirea, Ana García-Vázquez, Valentin Parnic, Ion Tiseanu, Catalin Lazar |
| 12:20 – 12:40 |
Mineralogical and Petrographic Study of Tuyères from Pongsolo (Lekie, Central Cameroon)
Epossi Ntah Zoila Luz-Kroll, Thomas Rose |
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| 12:40 – 13:40 |
Lunch break |
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| 13:40 – 15:40 |
Session 5: Posters (The list of posters can be found in the Poster tab) |
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| 15:40 – 16.00 |
Coffee break |
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| 16:00 – 18:00 |
Lab tour |
| 18:00 – 19:00 |
Keynote: The prehistoric roots of the Mediterranean diet
Dr. Juan José García-Granero (Spanish National Research Council, Spain)
Join the live stream on YouTube |
| 19:00 – 20:00 |
Reception sponsored by the Spanish Embassy |
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| 20:30 |
Dinner at Fisa & Masa, Ledras 55, Nicosia 1011
Traditional Tavern with Cypriot mezes and live music
(self-paid, 25 € incl. unlimited soft-drinks, wine, beer) |
| 9:00 – 9:30 |
Keynote: The Future of Archaeological Science
Prof. Thilo Rehren (The Cyprus Institute) |
| 09:30 – 09:50 |
The elemental composition of bog ores in Masovia (Poland) and its affect on the reconstruction of the smelting process
Antonina Bebłowska-Bednarkiewicz |
| 09:50 – 10:10 |
Bronze Production in Archaic and Classical Northern Greece: A Archaeometric Approach to the Study of Bronze Objects from Ancient Argilos
Justine Lefebvre |
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| 10:10 – 10:40 |
Coffee break |
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| 10:40 – 11:00 |
Silver-lead and copper production on Early Bronze Age southern Sifnos: an overview
Magda Giannakopoulou |
| 11:00 –11:20 |
TerraLID: Further steps towards a new ecosystem for lead isotope data in archaeology
Thomas Rose, Tim Greifelt, Katrin J. Westner, Annette Hornschuch, Yiu-Kang Hsu, Helge Wiethoff, Sabine Klein |
| 11:20 – 11:40 |
Metalworking materials and practices from Late Antique Rome
Giulia Bison, Jose Cristobal Carvajal Lopez |
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Session 7: Metallurgy, part 2 and Archaeomaterials |
| 11:40 – 12:00 |
Commercial High Alumina Crucibles for Melting Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metal Salt Mixtures to Replicate Ancient Glass Production
Marcel Frenken, Meghna Desai, Thilo Rehren |
| 12:00 – 12:20 |
The Interaction between Persian Gulf and Indian Peninsula during the middle-late Islamic Period: Compositional Evidence for the High-Alumina Glass Bangles Discovered from Coastal Sites of Qatar and U.A.E.
Qian Cheng, Thilo Rehren, Robert Andrew Carter, Xueyan Zhang |
| 12:20 – 12:40 |
Identifying a Peloponnesian palette: pigment analysis of domestic architecture from Stymphalos
Alice Clinch |
| 12:40 – 13:00 |
The “production” of Minoan red serpentinite
Killian Regnier |
| 13:00 – 13:20 |
Awards ceremony and group photo |
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| 13:20 – 14:30 |
Lunch break |
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| 14:30 – 15:00 |
Keynote: Ritual Faunal Deposits in Prehistoric Sanctuaries: Zooarchaeological Insights from the Gymnesic Islands (Western Mediterranean)
Dr. Alejandro Valenzuela Oliver (Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (UIB-CSIC), Spain) |
| 15:00 – 15:10 |
Closing/ Final remarks |
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| 16:30 – 19:30 |
Experimental pyre: Food for the Gods Sacrificial Pyres in the Archaeological Record
(more details will be announced during the workshop) |
| tba |
Tour of the Cyprus Museum (self-paid) |
Trace element influence on phytolith dissolution and preservation: Investigating the role of strontium and barium
Nafsika C. Andriopoulou, Georgios E. Christidis |
Deciphering Past Coastal Environments: Beachrock Characterisation and Luminescence Dating in SE Lasithi, Crete, Greece
Nafsika C. Andriopoulou, Georgios C. Polymeris, Konstantinos C. Stamoulis, Michael Schöbel, Georgios E. Christidis, Stefanos Papadakis, Anna Novikova, Nikos Papadopoulos |
Exploring the Maritime Trade and Cultural Linkages across the East Coast: Case Studies based on Ceramic Analysis
Debankita Das |
A look upon chalcolithic pottery technology through the petrographic analysis of a batch from North of Danube
Mădălina Dimache, Cristian-Eduard Ștefan |
Furthering our understanding of the sources of the metal of Roman denarii – A multi-isotope and elemental analysis approach
Tim Greifelt, Sabine Klein, David Wigg-Wolf |
Cultural Heritage and Repatriation and Restitution of Stolen and Illegally Acquired Artifacts: A Critical Analysis
Forbes Tapiwa Marumbei |
Petrographic Thin Section of 18th Century Iron Smelting Ceramics in Ugbene-Ajima, Southeastern Nigeria
John Ngonadi, Pamela Eze-Uzomaka |
Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and Tourism in Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Bridging the Gap
Zainab Popoola |
An application of XRF spectroscopy to heritage science - the case study of ancient roman building materials from Lebanon
Marcin Sokołowski |
Experimental clay processing and archaeometric analysis to determine the provenance of fine-ware ceramics from the Early Middle Ages in north-western Tuscany (Italy): preliminary results
Irene Strufaldi, Sara Longo |
The RETS Project - Revealing the Senne. A hidden landmark in the historical center of Brussels, Belgium
Dries Vergouwen, Ann Degraeve, Marc Meganck, Ralf Vandam, Yannick Devos |
Travel awards
SAS Travel Award
The Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS) sponsors a single travel award of USD 200 to support one student/ECR from low and middle income countries and/or with financial need.
The application for the SAS Travel award is integrated in the abstract submission form. Applications will be evaluated after abstract submission closed. The evaluation will be based on the applicant’s career status, location of affiliation, availability of alternative funding sources, and an motivation letter of 300 to 400 words. The SAS Travel Award can only be given to an applicant with an accepted abstract.
Travel awards of the Cyprus Institute
In addition to the travel grant provided by the Society for Archaeological Sciences, the Cyprus Institute offers two travel grants worth 200 Euro each to presenters at YRA2024. Applications will be evaluated after abstract submission closed. Evaluation criteria will be the same as for the SAS Travel Award.
Archaeological experiment: Food for the Gods
On the occasion of YRA2024, the archaeological experiment “Food for the Gods: Sacrifical Pyres in the Archaeological Record” will be carried out by a team from the Cyprus institute. The experiments aims to reproduce the archaeological remains of pyres. An altar will be build based on archaeological data, ancient iconography and contemporaneous written sources and different materials places as offerings. The pyre will be carefully lit, its temperature evolution recorded, and after being burned down completely carefully excavated.
How to get to the venue & accommodation
Transportation from and to the airports
Kapnos Airport Shuttle operates direct bus shuttles between Larnaca International Airport and Nicosia and between Paphos International Airport and Nicosia. At the exit of the arrivals, you will see “Kapnos Airport Shuttle”. You can purchase tickets for the shuttle either there or online. The bus takes about half an hour from/to Larnaca airport and around 100 minutes from/to Paphos airport. The stop in Nicosia is located at Kyrenias, Nicosia 2112, Cyprus (show in GoogleMaps). You will find taxis on the spot to take you to your hotel.
Timetables (will be updated by October):
- Larnaca International Airport <–> Nicosia
- Paphos International Airport <–> Nicosia
It is advised to be at the airport at least one and a half to two hours before departure of your flight.
Getting to the Cyprus institute and around in Nicosia
Solomou Square is the main bus station in the old city (show in GoogleMaps). Routes no. 3 and 4 are departing at Solomou square to the Cyprus Institute. Please check the homepage of the public transport (https://www.publictransport.com.cy/home/page/home) for timetables and fares.
Taxi Service: You can contact PRIMO Taxi Mr. Fotis (phone: 00357 99419378) for any taxi service you may need.
The address of the Cyprus Institute is:
The Cyprus Institute
20 Konstantinou Kavafi Street 2121, Aglantzia
Nicosia
Tel: 00357 22208700 / 00357 22208629
Show in GoogleMaps
Accommodation
Please find a list of recommended hotels in this guide
(Click on image for full size)