Expertise
In the earlier years of his career, he carried out field and/or lab archaeo-anthropological research projects focusing on the organizational abilities and capacities of the human condition during the Holocene in SE (1), (2), (3) and SW Asia (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), the Middle East (10), (11), (12), the American Northeast (13), (14), (15), and the Caribbean (16), and (17).
The central areas of his research remain however, the Eastern Mediterranean with a focus on the ancient world of the Greeks, at the cross-fertilizing roads and sea routes of three continents. Under the domains of Bio-Archaeology, Forensics, and Funerary Archaeology, he studies the biological profiles, the demographic, and palaeopathological records of human skeletal populations from prehistoric periods to the late medieval era (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (50), (51), (54), and (56).
Based on the skeletal record, he investigates issues relative to weapons, battle tactics, and the changing dynamics of ancient warfare, the developments of the art of medicine, particularly in trauma surgery and healing, as well as aspects on the decipherment of kinetic and occupational changes permanently recorded on bones and teeth (29), (30), (31), (32), (33), (34), (35), (36), (37), (38), (39), (40), and (53). Further, he searches through archaeological anthropology for evidence that may fine-tune our perceptions on gender roles, and our understanding of the decorum and symbolism of burial customs and practices, always considering and juxtaposing literary and historic records (41), (42), (43), (44), (45), (46), (48), (49), (52), (55), and (57).
In the area of Ethnohistory he tends to investigate the conditions and environments that were afforded on Byzantine populations (47) since the desecration and pillage of Constantinople by the Forth Crusade in 1204.
In the area of Ethnography he has been studying aspects of the diachronic roots and cultural traditions of shepherding and mixed shepherding / agricultural communities in the biome of mountainous Crete, Greece.
Fields of Speciality
- .Physical Anthropology. (Active Research: Cremations, Forensic Osteology & Dental Anthropology, Mass Graves, Paleopathology, Bioarchaeology).
- .Anthropological Archaeology. (Active Research: Complex Stratigraphic Documentation and Recovery, Aegean Funerary Archaeology, Warfare, Trauma and Early Surgery, Prehistoric to Late Byzantine Periods).
- .Ethnohistory. (Active Research: Ethnoarchaeology of Byzantine Populations following the 4th Crusade; Ethnohistory of Hellenic Refugee Populations between 13th-20th c.; Environmental Anthropology of Extant Mountainous Populations in Crete).
- .Environmental Studies. (Active Research: Human Ecology, Taphonomic Impacts in Archaeological Sites)