Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens appoints new Director

The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (AAIA) has announced the appointment of a new Director, Professor Tamar Hodos, who will join the University of Sydney from the University of Bristol (UK) in early August this year.

Professor Hodos is a world-leading expert in the Mediterranean Iron Age, and her research examines the broader impact of Hellenic culture in the region, colonisation and diasporas and the construction and expression of social identities, which she sees as relevant to contemporary debates in Australia and beyond: ‘My research is all about identity – what makes us who we are today and how we carry multiple identities within us’.

Based at the University of Sydney and with a presence in Athens, the AAIA is one of 18 foreign archaeological research institutes in Greece. It brings together as institutional members all Australian universities with programmes in classical archaeology, classics and ancient history and Greek studies undertaking research in Greece.

The appointment of Professor Hodos marks the beginning of a new era for the AAIA. Its former Director, the late Professor Alexander Cambitoglou, AO, worked tirelessly to promote Australian research in Greece, beginning in 1967 with establishing the first Australian excavation at the Early Iron Age settlement of Zagora on the Aegean island of Andros.

The AAIA will continue to promote a distinctive Greek-Australian perspective in all its endeavours, reflecting its membership and numerous ‘friends’ groups – not least the Greek diaspora in Australia.