Maria Mina is Assistant Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Department of Mediterranean Studies of the University of the Aegean. She is also a member of the Executive Board of the European Association of Archaeologists (2019-2022), a member of the Association for Coroplastic Studies and of the research group Archaeology and Gender in Europe. Furthermore, she has been a reviewer for the international journals Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Hesperia, The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, as well as for the organisation of The Prehistoric Society.
Maria Mina studied archaeology at the University of Southampton at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and completed her doctoral studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She has taught at the Hellenic Open University, the University of Cyprus and the University of the Aegean, she has worked as a researcher in the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus and she has participated in field projects in Greece and in Cyprus. She is also a member of the team of special scientists for the research program “Neolithic Knossos Publication Project”, under the aegis of the British School at Athens (directed by Drs V. Isaakidou and P. Tomkins).
Maria Mina has organised two international conferences entitled «Four Decades of Hiatus in Archaeological Research in Cyprus: Towards Restoring the Balance» (2016) and «Embodied Identities in the Prehistoric Eastern Mediterranean: Convergence of Theory and Practice» (2012, in collaboration with Drs S. Triantaphyllou and Y. Papadatos). She has also participated in a series of international conferences and workshops, such as the Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology Round Table, “Minoan Archaeology: Challenges and Perspectives for the 21st Century” (Heidelberg) or “Finds and Results of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition: A Gender Perspective” (Stockholm). Her publications include the following works:
Mina, M. and M. Stefanakis, 2018. «Neither Minoanised nor Mycenaeanised: Karpathos in the Bronze Age», Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 18.1 .
Pilides, D. and M. Mina (eds.), 2017. Four Decades of Hiatus in Archaeological Research in Cyprus: Towards Restoring the Balance. Proceedings of the International One-day Workshop, held in Lefkosia (Nicosia) on 24 September 2016, hosted by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus. Vienna: Verlag Holzhausen GmbH and Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
Mina, M., S. Triantaphyllou and Υ. Papadatos (eds.), 2016. An Archaeology of Prehistoric Bodies and Embodied Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Mina, M., 2016. «Was it a man’s world? Gender relationships at the transition to the Bronze Age in Cyprus», Journal of Near Eastern Archaeology 79.3, 140-147.
Mina, M., 2014. «Forging identities: metallurgical technology and embodied experiences in the Philia period», in J. M. Webb (ed.), Structure, Measurement and Meaning: Insights into the Prehistory of Cyprus: Studies in Honour of David Frankel (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology), 229-243. Uppsala: Paul Åströms Förlag.
Mina, M., 2008. Anthropomorphic Figurines from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Aegean: Gender Dynamics and Implications for the Understanding of Aegean Prehistory (British Archaeological Reports International Series 1894). Oxford: John and Erica Hedges.
Mina, M., 2008. «Carving out gender in the prehistoric Aegean: anthropomorphic figurines of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age», Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 21.2, 213-239.
Mina, M., 2008. «Figurin’ out Cretan Neolithic society», in V. Isaakidou and P. Tomkins (eds.), Escaping the Labyrinth: The Cretan Neolithic in Context (Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 8), 115-135. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Her research interests include the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age in the Aegean and Cyprus, prehistoric social organisation and identities, social complexity, issues of assimilation, adaptation or rejection of cultural practices, prehistoric technology as social practice, theoretical approaches in archaeology, Archaeology of Gender and Archaeology of the Body, anthropomorphic figurines, prehistoric metallurgy, dress and adornment.
