Adelphi University Professor Anagnostis Agelarakis Receives the Distinction of Having One of Archaeology Magazine's Top 10 Discoveries

Adelphi University is pleased to announce that Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Environmental Studies Program Anagnostis Agelarakis received the distinction of having one of the most exciting Top 10 Discoveries named by Archaeology magazine, a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. The annual list aims to highlight sites, artifacts, and scientific studies which enrich our knowledge of the past.

For nearly two decades, Dr. Agelarakis, an archaeologist and expert in physical/forensic anthropology and paleopathology, has worked to unearth the untold stories of people buried some 2,800 years ago at the site of Orthi Petra in Eleutherna, Crete, illuminating the role of women in the “Dark Ages” of Greece. Last summer, the remains of four females who shared a genetic dental trait, ranging in age from about seven to seventy, were excavated in an eighth-century B.C. monumental funerary building. Rare jewelry and other precious artifacts from the tomb, including a stone altar, a miniature bronze saw and ladle, and a rare glass phiale for rituals and for pouring libations, suggest these women played an important role in Eleutherna. The discovery of a powerful female bloodline where an important high priestess and her three female protégés were laid to rest, challenge the scholarly community to reevaluate their importance and role in the “Dark Ages” of Greece.

Dr. Agelarakis joined Adelphi University in 1990. A specialist in archaeological anthropology, human ecology, and ethnography, he has contributed to numerous excavations spanning the millennia throughout the eastern Mediterranean, and in recent years, has written for Archaeology magazine. Since 1990, more than 100 Adelphi students have had the opportunity to assist him on numerous research trips to Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and Israel during summer field seasons. In addition, more than 50 of his undergraduate students have been nationally recognized for their research in forensics and physical anthropology.

Caitlynn Brown 10, an Anthropology major in the Honors College, who will be pursuing graduate studies in Museology with an emphasis in Anthropology at George Washington University starting in fall, with Professor Anagnostis Agelarakis working in site.