A few words about me

Call for Contributions

I am a prehistoric archaeologist specializing in the Neolithic period. My research focuses on practical activities, technological traditions, networks of interaction, and ritual practices of prehistoric communities, as well as on the social characteristics of these societies. I also investigate the long-term transformations that gradually led from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. In simpler terms, my work explores how prehistoric communities lived, what shaped their daily lives, moments, habits, and customs, and how these practices changed through time.

I am engaged in both field research and object-based studies, with a particular emphasis on ceramic analysis, using methodologies that include detailed observation and systematic documentation through database recording. I work at the Ephorate of Paleoanthropology–Speleology of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and collaborate in interdisciplinary research projects on prehistoric settlements and caves. From 2005 to 2011, I taught Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of the Aegean.

My research experience includes Neolithic sites such as the Cave of the Cyclops (Northern Sporades), Theopetra Cave (Thessaly), Alepotrypa Cave (Mani), sites on Samos, the settlement of Koutroulou Magoula (Thessaly), and Neolithic settlements in northern Attica. I also study the Bronze Age in caves and settlements, including Koukounaries (Paros) and Helike (Achaia). More recently, I have begun a systematic project on the documentation and diachronic use of caves in Aetolia-Acarnania.

Across all these projects—and in my research more broadly—I seek to integrate both micro-historical perspectives and the long-term, large-scale narratives of prehistoric societies.

Recent work

2025, S. Katsarou, Ritual journeys tο caves during the Greek Neolithic: an integrated perspective of rituals, voyaging and caves, Acta Archaeologica 95(2), pp. 262-282. https://doi.org/10.1163/16000390-09501001

2025, S. Katsarou, A. Nagel, A. Karadima, Akarnania’s ancient caves in modern times: new archaeological research and material evidence, Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Western Greece and Beyond. Farewell to Franziska Lang, International Conference, Technical University of Darmstadt, 11-12 December 2025 (Organizer: Technical University of Darmstadt).

2025, S. Katsarou, Caves and ritual activity in prehistory. In: F. Georgiadis, A. Gadolou (eds.), In the Cave. Stories from Darkness Brought to Light. Publication Realized on the Occasion of the Exhibition “In the Cave: Stories from Darkness Brought to Light” Organized by the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology and the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, in May 2025, pp. 130-147. Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology & Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Editions Melissa.

2025, S. Katsarou, Cave excavations and their contribution to understanding Greek prehistory, Half a Century of Cave Protection and Research. Symposium Dedicated to the Memory of Evangelia Protonotariou-Deilaki, Athens, Epigraphic Museum, 9 October 2025 (Organizer: Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology). [in Greek]

2024, S. Menelaou, E. Marzec, F. Georgiadis, S. Katsarou, A. Siros, A. Darlas, Ritual use, consumption and depositional practices at Agriomernos Cave, northwest Samos (Greece): a ceramic analytical approach, Advances in Archaeomaterials 5, 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aia.2024.100041

Books

2021, S. Katsarou, A. Nagel (eds.), Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece. New Approaches to Landscape and Ritual. London/New York. Routledge. ISBN 9780367859169. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003015765

2009,V. Vasilopoulou, S. Katsarou-Tzeveleki (eds.), From Mesogeia to Argosaronikos. Second Eforeia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities: Works of a decade, 1994-2003. Proceedings of a Conference (Athens, 18-20 December 2003). Ministry of Culture & Municipality of Markopoulo, Mesogeia. [in Greek]

2008, D. Katsonopoulou, I. Petropoulos, S. Katsarou (eds.), Archilochos and His Age. Paros II: Second International Conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades (Paroikia, Paros, 7-9 October 2005). Athens. The Paros and Cyclades Institute of Archaeology. Paros II.