Researchers from APAC Labs recently participated in the 4th International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (ICAS-EMME 4), which took place at the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, 15-18 May 2024.
Two sessions were chaired by APAC Labs team members: Nikolas Bakirtzis co-chaired the session “Climate change and Cultural Heritage” with Anthi Kaldeli from the Department of Antiquities; and Valentina Vassallo co-chaired the session “Combating illicit trafficking and looting of Cultural Heritage” with Marina Solomidou-Ieronymidou, Director Emerita of the Department of Antiquities. Both sessions brought together speakers from Cyprus, the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region, Europe and the US, offering new perspectives to challenges in the areas of climate change and illicit trafficking.
In addition, other APAC Labs members presented their latest research projects as papers across sessions in the conference: PhD candidate Mehmetcan Soyluoglu presented climate threats to wooden heritage in the Kyrenia mountains; Valentina Vassallo and Sorin Hermon presented updates from the European project ANCHISE; PhD candidates Nicolette Levy and Raphael Moreau, along with Ropertos Georgiou, presented a preliminary analysis on pigment palettes of icon painters Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean; and Marina Faka, Rahaf Orabi and Froso Egoumenidou, Professor Emerita from the University of Cyprus and member of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences,Letters and Arts, presented their documentation and digitization of the Koutraphas water mill. Marina Faka also presented case studies from the UrbanPERIsCOPE project. Each of these presentations gave our researchers the chance to share their work to colleagues across the region, paving the way for future collaborations between APAC Labs and other institutions throughout the EMME region and beyond.
