Ourania Kouka

Biography

She was born in Piraeus, Greece. Undergraduate Studies at Ethnikon & Kapodistriakon University at Athens, Greece: B.A. in History and Archaeology (1985). Graduate studies in Prehistory and Protohistory, Classical and Christian Archaeology at the Ruprecht-Karls Universitat Heidelberg (Ph.D. 1997 at the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie). She worked at the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in Komotini, Thrace for the Archaeological and Ethnographical Research Project on Samothrace (1982–1989). She was a scientific assistant at the Institute for Prehistory, Protohistory and Archaeology of the Near East, University of Heidelberg (1991–1996). As the Head of the Group for Prehistory and Protohistory, Foundation of the Hellenic World-Internet Applications Systems she was responsible for the organization of the production, planning, research and composition of texts of web sites on all periods of the Aegean Prehistory (1997–2000). Furthermore, as a scientific collaborator of the programme ‘Corpus Artis Cycladicae’ under the auspices of the Archaeological Society at Athens and the scientific supervision of Prof. emer. Chr.G. Doumas, she worked on the organization of the documentation, publication and editing of volumes, including various categories of Early Cycladic artefacts (e.g. marble vases, marble figurines) stored at Museums and Private Collections in Greece (2000–2003).She tought ‘Archaeological Documentation’ within the frame of the academic program of the «College Year in Athens» (2001-2002, 2002–2003). Furthermore, she was a visiting lecturer in: the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies and the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete on the ‘Management of Cultural Heritage’ (2002–2003); in the graduate program of the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete (2003–2004); in the graduate program of the Department of History and Archaeology of the Univeristy of Cyprus, where she taught Prehistory of the Aegean and Anatolia (2003-2004, 2004-2005). Since September 2005 she is member of the Academic staff of the Department of History and Archaeology and the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. 2008 she was elected as a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute. She is also member of the European Association of Archaeologists, of the Archaeological Institute of America of the Institution of Theran Studies. She participated to numerous conferences and has given public lectures on the Aegean and Anatolian Prehistory in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Germany, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Irland and the USA. Her postgraduate studies as well as studies, publications, postdoctoral and other research projects have been granted by the following institutions: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Institute of Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP), American School of Classical Studies at Athens and American Research Institute in Turkey, A.G. Leventis Foundation, Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung, The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation, OREA Institut-Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, University of Cincinnati-UC Classics Margo Tytus Visiting Scholar Program Fellowship.

Research Interest

Historiography of Prehistoric Archaeoloy in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches in Prehistory. Process of Neolithization in the Near East and Europe. Transition from the Stone to the Early Bronze Age. Fourth and Third mill. BC in the Aegean, Anatolia, Cyprus and the Near East. Second mill. BC in the Aegean and Anatolia. Island Archaeology – diachronic approaches. Inter- and intra-site organization in Prehistory. Policy, economy and society in Prehistory. Industrial installations, early metallurgy, ceramic technology in Prehistoric Aegean and Anatolia. Trade and cultural networks in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Stone and Bronze Ages.