Events Calendar – British School at Athens

Daskalio Cave, Kalymnos, Photograph © Stathis Klimis

Online Friends’ Lecture

Dr Maria Mina (University of the Aegean), “Sacred caves outside Crete: Daskalio Cave on Kalymnos and its connections to Minoan ritual practices”

Abstract: We know from archaeological studies that occupied caves diachronically held prominent positions as visible landmarks or as nodal points in exchange networks and mobility routes. The lecture discusses the case of Daskalio Cave on Kalymnos as a site where Minoan ritual practices were performed outside Crete, and as a context where maritime identities were played out through an eclectic use of material culture.

The study investigates the Late Minoan occupation phase of Daskalio Cave on Kalymnos island to throw light on the use of coastal caves in connection to maritime travel in the prehistoric south-east Aegean. It is proposed that Daskalio Cave, which occupied a nodal position between the insular Aegean and the Anatolian mainland, was visited by maritime travellers. The evidence indicates the performance of ritual activities with clear references to Minoan cultural practices, which were emmeshed with local traditions, as attested by the presence of local pottery wares and shapes.

Finally, it is postulated that the coastal location of Daskalio Cave, its access by sea and the presence of imports, may suggest a close connection with maritime travel and seafarers for whom the cave may have marked a sacred landmark or a site of pilgrimage. It is possible that coastal caves that occupied liminal spaces, environmentally and symbolically, served as spaces where mobility and cultural exchanges created distinct maritime identities which drew on the cultural traditions of Crete and the Southeast Aegean.

Bio: Maria Mina is Assistant Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology in the Department of Mediterranean Studies: Archaeology, Linguistics, International Relations of the University of the Aegean. She studied archaeology at the University of Southampton, and completed her doctoral studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She has taught at the Hellenic Open University, the University of Cyprus and the University of the Aegean. She has also worked as a researcher in the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus and she has participated in field projects in Greece and in Cyprus. Maria Mina has organised two international conferences entitled ‘Four Decades of Hiatus in Archaeological Research in Cyprus: Towards Restoring the Balance’ (2016) and ‘Embodied Identities in the Prehistoric Eastern Mediterranean: Convergence of Theory and Practice’ (2012). Her research interests focus on the Neolithic and Bronze Age period of the Aegean and Cyprus, on anthropomorphic figurines, gender archaeology, social complexity and island archaeology. Since 2019 Maria Mina has been serving as a member of the Executive Board of the European Association of Archaeologists.

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