Postdoctoral Project

Cooking practices in the Aegean during the Bronze Age. A multi-scale approach on the use of cooking vessels.

Supervisor : Dr. Prof. Charlotte Langohr (F.R.S.-FNRS - UCLouvain, AegIS).

The principal aim of the project is to study cooking practices and traditions as a window on social behaviors and cultural exchanges in the Aegean during the Bronze Age, through the in-depth study of use of Minoan cooking vessels. The definition of the cooking practices is approached by studying a large array of ceramic vessels that were used in the Minoan cooking process, and the different ways these were used. The integrated approach to the study of Minoan cooking practices rests on a multi-scale analysis of the use of cooking vessels which includes three stages: A) the study of first-hand information, i.e. ceramic cooking vessels from different settlements in Central and East Crete, and Santorini in the Cyclades; B) experimental applications on cooking vessels’  performance; and C) the spatiotemporal contextualisation of the results, with a view to better define the Minoan cooking traditions.

The systematic examination of unpublished first-hand data from a large corpus of cooking vessels, and the re-examination of cooking assemblages from old excavations using a new methodology, will provide new knowledge and interpretative frameworks of Minoan cooking processes and cuisine.

The diachronic focus of the study, from the Protopalatial to the Postpalatial periods (1700-1200 BCE), and the analysis of a corpus covering different regions of the island, aims to report on the potential relationships between changes or developments in cooking traditions, when important environmental (e.g. the Santorini Volcano eruption) and historic events (e.g. establishment, destruction and rebuilding of the palaces), as well as sociopolitical and cultural developments, were endured by the communities of Crete. The examination of cooking practices under this spatiotemporal context will help to better understand aspects of shared or distinct cooking traditions and to evaluate the level of cultural exchanges between Cretan social groups.

Education

• 2024-2025: Early Career Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University (2024–2025).

• From 2023 : PhD “The function and use of cooking vessels in Minoan Crete. An interdisciplinary study on ceramic assemblages from Sissi and Malia (MM IIIA–LM IIIB, 1750–1200 B.C.)” (Research Fellow UCL-F.R.S. 2017-2021) at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain – Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). 

• 2015 : Master of Arts (Excellent) in Prehistoric Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).

• 2011 : Bachelor of Arts (Very Good) in History and Archaeology – specialized in Archaeology and History of Art at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).

Choice of publications/conferences (5 max.)

• Tsafou, Evgenia. "Archaeology of Mediterranean Cuisine: Cooking traditions from the 2nd millennium BC in the Aegean." CHS Research Bulletin 13 (2025). https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HLNC.ESSAY:106352554

• Claeys T., Dautais L., Dubois R., Regnier K., Tsafou E., Vendramin D. & Wolf D., (eds. 2024) Towards an archaeology of fragmentation in the Aegean Bronze Age, AEGIS 29, Presses universitaires de Louvain.

• Tsafou E. and Dubois R. (2024) From fragmented evidence to the identification of kitchens and cooking practices. A diachronic approach from Minoan Crete, In Proceedings of SCAPECON 2022, No escape from bits and pieces. Towards an archaeology of fragmentation in the Aegean Bronze Age, AEGIS series.

• Roumpou M. and Tsafou E. (2023) Culinary practices and pottery use in Minoan Crete. Integrating lipidic residue analysis in the study of cooking vessels from Sissi and Malia, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 50, 2023, 104050, ISSN 2352-409X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104050.

• Tsafou E. and García-Granero, J.J. (2021) Beyond staple crops: exploring the use of ‘invisible’ plant ingredients in Minoan cuisine through starch grain analysis on ceramic vessels. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13: 128, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01375-4