The research interest of the Mediterranean Archaeological Research Institute (MARI) focuses in particular on Cyprus and the Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages. By viewing the material cultural of Cyprus and the Levant in relation to the material culture of the entire Mediterranean world, MARI aims at contributing to the elucidation of the socio-economic and cultural history of the Mediterranean world in antiquity. Two of our recent research projects, however, have a broader chronological and geographical scope as they centre on the study of the chaîne opératoire of two particular glass categories in northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean during, respectively, Roman and medieval times.

1. In collaboration with a Swedish team of the University of Göteborg (Director: Prof. Dr em. Paul Åström) Prof. Dr Karin Nys investigates the late Bronze Age settlement of the Cypriote harbour town 'Hala Sultan Tekke'. Our research centres in particular on the study of ceramics and terracottas in relation to finds from other sites in- and outside Cyprus. The interpretation of the chemical/physical analyses are carried out in collaboration with Prof. Dr Philippe Claeys of the department of Geology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

2. Ensuing from the latter study, a multidisciplinary project with Prof. Dr Philippe Claeys (GEOL) started in 2007 of which the goal is to study men and palaeoenvironment in southeast Cyprus (HOA 11). A part of this project concerns the identification of the provenance of raw material utilized in the production of pottery and potential source changes during the Late Bronze Age. It tests the use of lead and strontium isotopic signatures as a tracer of the pottery sources. Ma. Jan Coenaerts (MARI) and Ma. Virginie Renson (GEOL) are pursuing doctoral research in the framework of this project. Read more...

3. Ma. Melissa Samaes’ research focuses on sustainability in the past, more specifically on Late Bronze Age Cyprus. Her case-study concentrates on Hala Sultan Tekke and Kition and complements the aforementioned multidisciplinary geoarchaeological study of men and palaeoenvironment in southeast Cyprus.

4. Ma. Ariane Jacobs's doctoral research also pertains to the Cypriote Bronze Age: she studies the social stratification at Alassa during Late Cypriote II-III (c. 1425-1050 BC) with a particular focus on the Plain wares. Read more...

5. In Syria, Prof. Dr Eric Gubel directs the excavation of Area I at Tell Kazel (ancient Sumur-Simyrra) in the context of the American University of Beirut excavation project (Director: Prof. Dr Leila Badre). Uncovering the oldest Phoenician sanctuary on the Syro-Lebanese coast, research focuses on the material culture of the former kingdom of Amurru and its Mediterranean connections throughout the Iron Ages. Read more...

6. In the framework of a vast project on glyptic productions in the Levant, Ma. Vanessa Boschloos prepares a doctoral dissertation on the propagation of Egyptian scarabs in the Northern Levant. She is also participating in the Tell Kazel excavations. Read more...

7. Ma. Peter Cosyns studies the production and use of black glass in the entire Roman Empire during the 1st to 5th centuries AD. His doctoral research covers a diachronic study of a very specific subject within the Roman glass production by means of three different approaches – an archaeological one, a historical one and an archaeometric one. Read more...

8. Within the broader framework of a multidisciplinary research project that aims at developing a low-cost device for optic analyses based on the colour and the composition of glass (HOA 15), Ma. Hilde Wouters investigates the ways in which the Cistercian monasteries in northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean countries were glazed. Read more...