Research Associate
Research
My research is mainly focused on the Middle Bronze Age of the Greek mainland and I am particularly interested in exploring patterns of pottery production, consumption and exchange in regional and inter-regional level. I have participated in various excavation and surface survey programs especially in southern Peloponnese (Ayios Vasileios-Xerocambi cemetery, Southern Laconia Survey, Melitzia cave) and I have also worked on Middle and Late Helladic ceramics from different sites at the Argolid (Argos, Midea), Attica (Plasi, Vranas, Thorikos, Ancient Agora, Kerameikos) and Elis (Kato Samikon-Kleidhi tumuli cemetery). My current research at the Fitch Laboratory involves the petrographic examination of Middle and Late Helladic clay artifacts (pottery, textile tools) from a number of sites across the Argosaronikos gulf and the NE Peloponnese, as well as from sites in Attica.
I received an MA in Prehistoric Archaeology and a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher of the F.R.S.- FNRS at UCLouvain, Aegis Research Group.
Selected Publications
- Balitsari A. 2023. “Children Under the Floor: An Emotional Response to a Middle Helladic Burial Practice”, Childhood in the Past. https://doi.org/10.1080/17585716.2023.2258947
- Balitsari A. 2022. “Κούπια με λίρες. Unexpected circumstances revealed in investigating a Bronze Age tumulus at Klopas, Marathon”, Athens University Review of Archaeology 5: 11-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.26247/aura5.1
- Philippa-Touchais A., Touchais G., and Balitsari A., 2021. “The social dynamics of Argos in a constantly changing landscape (MH II-LH IIIA1)”, in: B. Eder, and M. Zavadil (eds.), Social Place and Space in Early Mycenaean Greece, International Discussions in Mycenaean Archaeology, October 5-8, 2016, Athens, Wien, 453-478
- Déderix S., Papadimitriou N., Balitsari A., Cantoro G., Efstathiou A., Manataki M., Nazou M., Sarris A. and Laffineur R., 2021. “Prehistoric Thorikos: Preliminary report of the 2018 and 2019 fieldwork campaigns”, Thorikos Reports 12, 35-58
- Balitsari A., 2021. “Different shades of Gray Minyan: dissecting an ‘iconic’ ceramic class of Middle Bronze Age, mainland Greece”, IANSA 12 (online first)
- Philippa-Touchais A., and Balitsari A., 2020. “Attica in the Middle: Middle Helladic Pottery Traditions and the Formation of Cultural Identity”, in: Ν. Papadimitriou, J. Wright, S. Fachard, N. Polychronakou-Sgouritsa and E. Andrikou (eds.), Athens and Attica in Prehistory. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Athens, 27-31 May 2015, Oxford, 277-288
- Balitsari A., 2019. “The House of Pithoi: An early Middle Helladic (MH) household in the South Quarter of Argos (Argolid, Peloponnese)“, BCH 143, 455-543
- Balitsari A., and Papadopoulos J.K., 2019. “A Middle Helladic Tomb in the Athenian Kerameikos and Some Thoughts on the Early Connections of Attica”, BSA 114, 119-143
- Balitsari A., and Papadopoulos J.K., 2018. “A Cist Tomb on the South Bank of the Eridanos in the Athenian Agora and the Middle Bronze Age in Athens”, Hesperia 87, 215-277
- Philippa-Touchais A., and Balitsari A., 2018. “Μελέτη Προϊστορικών Τύμβων Βρανά-Μαραθώνος: Χώρος μεταξύ των Τύμβων Ι και ΙΙ. Μεσοελλαδική Κεραμεική”, Prakt 2016, 30-38
- Polychronakou-Sgouritsa N., Y. Papadatos, A. Balitsari, and E. Prevedorou, 2016. “Marathon in the Middle and Late Bronze Age: New Evidence from an Old Excavation. Preliminary results from the Excavation of the University of Athens at Plasi”, in: J. Driessen, ed., RA-PI-NE-U. Studies on the Mycenaean World offered to Robert Laffineur for his 70th Birthday [Aegis 10], Louvain, 311-321
- Philippa-Touchais A., and Balitsari A., 2016. “Μελέτη Προϊστορικών Τύμβων Βρανά Μαραθώνος: Μελέτη των ΜΕ οστράκων εκ των επιχώσεων του Τύμβου Ι”, Prakt 2015, 25-34
- Philippa-Touchais A., and Balitsari A., 2016. “Μελέτη Προϊστορικών Τύμβων Βρανά Μαραθώνος: Προκαταρκτική μελέτη κεραμικής Τύμβου ΙΙ-Μεσοελλαδική Κεραμική”, Prakt 2014, 47-59
- Balitsari A., 2016, “L’Aspis: Le matériel Mésohelladique-la céramique: Céramique de la ville basse”, BCH 139-140 (2015-2016), 804
- Philippa-Touchais A., and Balitsari A., 2014. “L’ Aspis: La céramique”, BCH 138.2, 738-744
- Balitsari A., and Philippa-Touchais A., 2012-2013. “La céramique mésohelladique des fouilles de Vollgraff: Musée d’Argos”, BCH 136-137, 805-807