Institute for Mediterranean Studies

Research Projects

MAPFARM

Mapping the Early Farmers in Thrace

Τhe Laboratory of Geophysical-Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeo-environment participates in the project MAPFARM which is held under the auspices of the Democritus University of Thrace and funded by Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation. The lab has undertaken the task of the large scale geophysical mapping of various neolithic sites in Xanthi and Rodopi.

JaNet

Janissaries in Ottoman Port-Cities: Muslim Financial and Political Networks in the Early Modern Mediterranean

ERC

European Research Council Starting Grant scheme (StGr2019 no. 849911, Funded under: H2020-EU.1.1.)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Yannis Spyropoulos
Start date: 1 February 2020, End date: 31 January 2025
Overall budget: € 1,498,389
Hosted by: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece

DE.F.I.C.I.T

DEcision system For Irrigation in Crete based on Innovative Technologies - DE.F.I.C.I.T

The purpose of the proposed project is to establish an integrated spatial decision-making system in large-scale (Crete Water District) with the aim of: (a) precisely identifying irrigation needs, according to optimal crop yields and proper management of water resources; b) designing optimal adaptation scenarios for the agricultural sector in the light of upcoming climate change; and c)  the dynamic integration of the above information through the creation of a platform for immediate and real-time updated information to be provided to businesses and entities, whose actions are directly related to the optimal design and management of land improvement projects in the Region of Crete.

Aegean Sponge Fishing

Aegean Sponge Fishing and the Island of Kalymnos, 19th-20th Centuries

Project Co-ordinator: Professor Gelina Harlaftis
Funded by: IMS-FORTH
Duration: 2019-2023
Research team ΙΜS/FORTH: Professor Joyce Goggin, Michaela Stergiopoulou

Ierapetra Harbour Survey

Geoarchaeological research in the broader area of Ierapetra harbour, Crete

In October 2019 the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in collaboration with the Laboratory of Geophysical Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeoenvironment of IMS-FORTH undertook a scoping survey of the ancient harbour of Ierapetra (anc. Hierapytna) in Eastern Crete. The objective was to increase our understanding of the ancient harbour and its relationship with the present landscape. The survey examined the eastern mole, the modern harbour area and the western foreshore. The survey revealed a complex landscape, with changes over time that had not been previously noted and which affected the interpretation of the location and access to the ancient harbour. A series of previously unrecorded Roman structures were also identified.

DIATOPO

Διαχρονικά τοπία πολιτισμού της Κρήτης: Αναδεικνύοντας τον θαλάσσιο και ορεινό πλούτο του Μιραμπέλου

Κεντρικός στόχος του έργου ΔΙΑΤΟΠΟ αποτελεί η ανάπτυξη κατάλληλου πλαισίου εφαρμογής πρακτικών τεκμηρίωσης και ανάδειξης του θαλάσσιου και ορεινού πολιτιστικού και φυσικού περιβάλλοντος και πρόληψης κινδύνων συνδεδεμένων με φυσικούς και ανθρωπογενείς παράγοντες, με έμφαση στο ανατολικό Μιραμπέλο. Το έργο πρόκειται να ενεργοποιήσει και να εφαρμόσει δράσεις που θα περιλαμβάνουν την συλλογή πρωτότυπου αρχαιολογικού και ιστορικού υλικού, την ενοποίηση του θαλάσσιου (Ελούντα) και του ορεινού (Οξά) τοπίου στο πλαίσιο της δημιουργίας συνδυαστικών θαλάσσιων και χερσαίων γεωαρχαιολογικών διαδρομών, την μελέτη και ανάλυση των περιβαλλοντικών συνθηκών των αρχαιολογικών θέσεων, την τεκμηρίωση και χαρτογράφηση θέσεων με μεθόδους γεωπληροφορικής (αεροφωτογράφιση, υποβρύχια τεκμηρίωση, παράκτια, χερσαία και υποθαλάσσια γεωφυσική χαρτογράφηση, τρισδιάστατη τεκμηρίωση τοπίου και αρχιτεκτονικών δομών), την υλοποίηση εφαρμογής εικονικής πραγματικότητας για την ανάδειξη και προβολή του φυσικού και πολιτιστικού τοπίου και την ευρεία διάχυση των αποτελεσμάτων. Το έργο βρίσκεται σε συμφωνία με τις προτεραιότητες της περιφερειακής στρατηγικής της έξυπνης εξειδίκευσης και της βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης και τα αποτελέσματά του θα ενδυναμώσουν την περιφερειακή οικονομία στον τομέα του εναλλακτικού τουρισμού και της τουριστικής επισκεψιμότητας, μέσω της ανάδειξης της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς και του φυσικού περιβάλλοντος, ως βασικών πυλώνων στην προσπάθεια εμπλουτισμού και αναβάθμισης του τουριστικού προϊόντος.

Το πρόγραμμα εντάσσεται στο Επιχειρησιακό Πρόγραμμα «Κρήτη», “Έργα επίδειξης πειραματικής ανάπτυξης, που προωθούν την έρευνα και καινοτομία σε τομείς της RIS3Crete” της Περιφέρειας Κρήτης, και θα έχει τριετή διάρκεια στην περίοδο Μάρτιος 2019-Μάρτιος 2022 με συνολικό προϋπολογισμό 212.266,25 Ευρώ. Συμμετέχοντες φορείς Ίδρυμα Τεχνολογίας και Έρευνας (Συντονιστής) Εφορεία Εναλίων Αρχαιοτήτων Εφορεία Αρχαιοτήτων Λασιθίου Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης/Τμήμα Ιστορίας-Αρχαιολογίας.

RICONTRANS

RICONTRANS: Visual Culture, Piety and Propaganda: Transfer and Reception of Russian Religious Art in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean (16th - early 20th c.)

ERC

The Russian religious artifacts (icons and ecclesiastical furnishings), held in museums, church or monastery collections in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, constitute a body of valuable monuments hitherto largely neglected by historians and historians of art. These objects acquire various interrelated religious, ideological, political and aesthetic meanings, value, and uses. Their transfer and reception constitutes a significant component of the wider process of transformation of the artistic language and visual culture in the region and its transition from medieval to modern idioms. It is at the same time a process reflecting the changing cultural and political relations between Russia and the Orthodox communities in the Ottoman Empire and its successor states in the Balkans over a long period of time (16th- early 20th century). In this dynamic transfer, piety, propaganda and visual culture appear intertwined in historically unexplored and theoretically provoking ways. Applying the cultural transfer approach in combination with the recent challenging openings of art history to visual studies and social anthropology, RICONTRANS aims: to map the phenomenon in its long history by identifying preserved objects in the region; to follow the paths and identify the mediums of this transfer; to analyze the moving factors of this process; to study and classify these objects according to their iconographic and artistic particularities; to inquire into the aesthetic, ideological, political and social factors which shaped the context of the reception of Russian religious art objects in various social and cultural environments; to investigate the influence of these transferred artifacts on the visual culture of the host societies.

BIOnian

Actions to protect and promote the biodiversity of ecosystems and of areas of natural beauty of the Ionian Islands through "smart" systems of detection, recording, digital mapping and pressures management

The BIOnian project aims at identifying, recording, mapping and developing "smart" tools for monitoring and identifying the Ionian Islands Region species that are related, supported or used as habitat for the Region's territorial resources.

ClimaMED

Innovative technologies for climate change mitigation by Mediterranean Agricultural Sector

LIFE17 CCM/GR/000087

Total project Budget: 2,859,783€
Total eligible project budget: 2,771,090€
European Community contribution: 1,662,654€ (60% of the eligible budget)
Beneficiaries contribution: 1,197,129€

SettleinEastCrete

Spatial Dynamics and Settlement Patterns in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian Period

This project attempts to highlight the developments of the settlement patterns in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian period. The main goal is to enlighten the transition from the ancient autonomous city-states to the medieval cities and villages. This work aims to a better understanding of the economic, social, political and also environmental issues that influenced that evolution.

Concentrating on the eastern part of Crete, it is the occasion to see how, on a same territory but on a long chronological period, through very different administrative systems, population has organized itself, balancing between a centralized and a disseminated mode of settlement.

NAYS

Promotion and material and technical documentation of Greek shipbuilding and naval history – the naval battles of Salamis and Navarino

The aim of this project is to highlight Greek maritime heritage with the creation of three exhiibtions in Eugenidis Foundation in Athens.

UnSaLa

Unlocking Sacred Landscapes (UnSaLa)

This inter-disciplinary network is concerned with the diachronic study of the temporality, spatiality and materiality of Mediterranean sacred landscapes in general.

5DARE

Development of an integrated 5 Dimensional space based methodology for Assessing and modeling the Response of Erosion dynamics to land use and climatic changes in Mediterranean watersheds

The purpose of the project is to develop integrated methodologies for using  space technology to estimate soil erosion rates in Mediterranean basins. 5DARE project will assess the impacts of a changing climate, land use, soil moisture, hydrology and vegetation cover on the quantity of erosion processes in catchments areas in the Mediterranean.

CURE

Cultures and Remembrances

CuRe: Cultures and Remembrances – Virtual time travels to the encounters of people from the 13th to 20th centuries: The Cretan experience

αποφ.ενταξης αρ.πρωτ. 87542/Ι4/29-5-2018

GHOST

Geographies and Histories of the Ottoman Supernatural Tradition: Exploring Magic, the Marvelous, and the Strange in Ottoman Mentalities

ERC

The project will explore Ottoman concepts and beliefs about the supernatural. Its main objectives will be to examine the significance and content of the various perceptions of the "supernatural", to place them within the various Ottoman world images, to analyse the changes that have occurred over time and to relate them to the emergence of different cultural levels and social groups.