Dr. Manolis Mikrakis

Manolis Mikrakis is currently active in the field of digital cultural heritage, working for the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, in co-operation with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Crete, on the digitisation of antiquities from the Paphos area. He has collaborated on numerous prehistoric and classical excavations in Crete, mainland Greece, Kos and Cyprus as well as in the re-opening of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and in the development of archaeological exhibitions focusing on Aegean interactions with Cyprus, Egypt and the Near East. After studying Archaeology and Ancient History at the Universities of Athens, Vienna and Cambridge, he received his PhD in Classical Archaeology from the University of Heidelberg in 2006 with a thesis on the performance of music in the Aegean and Cyprus during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. For his research, he received grants from the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and the Society of the Friends of Music, Athens. His current research interests include ritualised behaviour (feasting, funerary ritual, divine cult), technology and social interaction in the prehistoric and early historic cultures of the eastern Mediterranean.

Manolis Mikrakis has given conference papers and invited lectures in Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Israel and Turkey. His teaching activities include archaeological and culture-theoretical courses and field trips for the State Academy for Tourist Guides in Heraklion, the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection and Conservation of the Technological Educational Institute of the Ionian Islands on Zakynthos and other institutions. He is a founding member of the Institute of Eastern Mediterranean Studies in Archaeology (IEMSA), Athens.

Website
http://aegeanarchaeology.blogspot.com/

Publications

1. Saiteninstrumente der Bronze- und frühen Eisenzeit in der Ägäis und auf Zypern: Musikausübung und Kultur zwischen Kontinuität und Wandel, PhD Thesis, University of Heidelberg (forthcoming in German).
2. "The destruction of the Mycenaean palaces and the construction of the epic world: archaeological and philological perspectives", in: J. Driessen (ed.), Destruction: Archaeological, philological and historical perspectives, Louvain-la-Neuve, Centre d’étude des mondes antiques Université Catholique de Louvain, 24 – 26 November 2011 (forthcoming).
3. "Cross-cultural interaction in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age: A View from Seal Engraving", in: N. Stampolidis, C. Maner and K. Kopanias (eds.), Nostoi - Indigenous Culture, Migration and Integration in the Aegean Islands and Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, Istanbul, Research Centre for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University, 31 March – 3 April 2011, Istanbul (in press).
4. "The ‘Originality of Ancient Cypriot Art’ and the Individuality of Performing Practices in Early Iron Age Cyprus", in: M. Iacovou (ed.), Cyprus and the Aegean in the Early Iron Age: The legacy of Nicolas Coldstream. An Archaeological Workshop in memory of Professor N.J. Coldstream (1927–2008), Nicosia, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus, 13 December 2010, Nicosia (in press).
5. "Warriors into musicians: music-making, aristocratic self-representation and kalokagathia in the early Greek world", in: Y. Maurey, E. Seroussi, and J. Goodnick Westenholz (eds.), Sounds from the Past: Music in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean Worlds, Papers from the Conference held at the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem, 7 – 8 January 2008, Yuval - Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre 8, Jerusalem (in press).
6. "Kykladische Musikantendarstellungen", in: Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (ed.), Kykladen: Lebenswelten einer frühgriechischen Kultur, Karlsruhe & Darmstadt (in press).
7. "Technologies of Sound across Aegean Crafts and Mediterranean Cultures", in: A. Brysbaert (ed.), Tracing Prehistoric Social Networks through Technology: A Diachronic Perspective on the Aegean, London 2011, 48–71.
8. "Mit Schwert und Leier …", in: Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (ed.), Zeit der Helden: Die ‘dunklen Jahrhunderte’ Griechenlands 1200–700 v. Chr., Karlsruhe & Darmstadt 2008, 340–341.
9. "Ξύλινα χειρόμορφα κρόταλα από το Ακρωτήρι", ALS 5, 2007, 89–96 (Wooden hand-shaped clappers from Akrotiri, in Greek).
10. Entries no. 133, 135, 136a–b, 138, 139a, 140–142, 169, 266, 272–275 in the exhibition catalogue A. Karetsou et al. (ed.), Crete - Egypt. Three Thousand Years of Cultural Links, Catalogue, Heraklion - Cairo 2001, pp. 157, 158–163, 181, 265, 268, 271–275 (Greek and English editions).
11. "Μουσική στην Κρήτη και στην Αίγυπτο. Ένα ιδιαίτερο πεδίο ανάπτυξης πολιτισμικών δεσμών", in: A. Karetsou (ed.), Κriti – Aigyptos: Politismikoi Desmoi trion Chilietion, Studies, Athens 2000, pp. 162–169 (Music in Crete and in Egypt. A special field of cultural links, in Greek).
12. "Μουσικά όργανα στην Κύπρο μέχρι την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Σιδήρου", Mousikotropies 5, 1995, pp. 38–47 (Musical instruments in Cyprus until the Early Iron Age, in Greek).

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