The Azoria Project Field Conservation and Public Outreach Program

The Azoria Project Field Conservation and Public Outreach Program, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, is a continuing effort to preserve and develop the site of Azoria as a cultural, educational, scholarly, and economic/touristic resource in the region, and more broadly as a contribution to the preservation of Greece’s cultural and historical heritage. The long-term goal of the project is to create an archaeological park centered on the site and environs of Azoria, while establishing informational signage and infrastructure that will encourage educational, touristic, and economic development in the village and wider region. While our current work centers on architectural conservation, path construction, and landscape stabilization, we are constructing an on-line visitors’ resource, “Azoria: A Walking Tour of the Site,” which is an introduction to the site developed in collaboration with the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Public engagement at Azoria has taken many forms–e.g., site tours to university groups, high schools, local elementary-school students and cultural organizations are routinely conducted, alongside participation in local and regional conferences, lecture series, and cultural events.

The Project’s zooarchaeologist, Flint Dibble, who is active in the public sphere, has recently published a episode on the Arch and Anth Podcast (Episode 37), “What can we learn in classical archaeology from the study of animal bones at Azoria, Crete?” (5 August 2019), and an episode of Live from the Lab (Episode 1, 24 May 2020), a production of the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, discussing important aspects of the Project’s investigation of ancient foodways at the site.