Research Associate
Research
I am currently a research fellow at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), Koç University, where I am working on the project entitled “Making an Artisan for the Potter’s Wheel in the Prehistoric Aegean: An Anthropological Interdisciplinary Approach to Artifacts.” This research explores the connectivity between pottery chaînes opératoires in mainland Greece and western Anatolia in the third millennium BCE by employing an innovative interdisciplinary approach that combines archaeological inquiry, scientifically based methods, and social theories of practice and embodiment.
I hold a BA from the University of Athens and a MA and PhD from the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Before my current position, I have been a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Louvain (2016–2018), the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens (2019), the University of Athens (2020–2022), and the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University (2022–2023). In 2021, I was an adjunct professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki. My research revolves around the Aegean prehistory, pottery forming techniques and the anthropology of technology. My projects investigate the appropriation and transfer of the innovation of the potter’s wheel in the Aegean during the Bronze Age, placing special emphasis on the role of body techniques in shaping social roles and cultural knowledge. I am involved in various field and research projects in Greece and Turkey, while being co-editor of the Greek journal on human sciences called Krisi – Biannual Scientific Review.
Selected Publications
- Choleva M., Jung R. & Kardamaki E in press. Working on the potter’s wheel: technological insights into the Mycenaean pottery production, Egypt and the Levant (accepted).
- Choleva M. 2020. Travelling with the potter’s wheel in the Early Bronze Age Aegean, The Annual of the British School at Athens 115: 1–46.
- Choleva Μ. 2020. L’histoire d’un savoir-faire. La transmission du tour de potier et l’émergence de nouvelles traditions technologiques dans le monde égéen pendant 3e millénaire, Annales de la Fondation Fyssen 33:192–234.
- Choleva M. 2018. Παράγοντας έναν τεχνίτη για τον τροχό στο προϊστορικό Αιγαίο της 3ης χιλιετίας π.Χ: προς μια κοινωνική θεώρηση της τεχνικής πράξης», Krisi 3: 55-96.
- Choleva M. 2018. Craft behaviours during a period of transformations. The introduction and adoption of the potter’s wheel in central Greece during Early Bronze Age, in: I. Caloi & C. Langohr (eds.), Technology in Crisis. Technological changes in ceramic production during periods of trouble, Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain: 45-74.
- Choleva M. 2015. Περιστρέφοντας τον κεραμικό τροχό στο Παλαμάρι Σκύρου: νέες τεχνολογικές πρακτικές και κεραμικές παραδόσεις στο Αιγαίο της Πρώιμης Εποχής του Χαλκού, in: L. Parlama, M.D. Theochari, C. Romanou & S. Bonatsos (eds.), The fortified prehistoric settlement at Palamari on Skyros, Athens: 143-166.
- Choleva M. 2012. The First Wheel-Made Pottery at Lerna: Wheel-Thrown or Wheel-Fashioned?, Hesperia 81 (3): 343-381.