Dr. Ioanna Kostopoulou is an archaeologist specializing in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean, with particular expertise in ceramic analysis, intercultural contacts, and exchange networks in Cyprus and the Aegean. She earned her Ph.D. in Prehistoric Archaeology from Ghent University and the University of Tübingen in 2024, graduating magna cum laude. Her doctoral research, The Multicultural Character of the Settlement of Pyla-Kokkinokremos on Cyprus around 1200 BCE: Ceramic Analysis and Interpretation, examined one of the most significant Late Bronze Age settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean and explored questions of mobility, cultural interaction, and identity through the study of pottery.
Dr. Kostopoulou is currently a voluntary collaborator at Ghent University, where she continues her research on Late Bronze Age Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean. Since 2018, she has been an active member of the international "Cyprus-Pyla Excavation Project", directed by Joachim Bretschneider, Jan Driessen, and Athanasia Kanta. Her work focuses on the study, classification, dating, and interpretation of ceramic assemblages from the site, contributing to a deeper understanding of its multicultural character and its role within regional exchange networks during the final centuries of the Bronze Age. She remains actively involved in the project and continues to contribute to its ongoing research and publication program.
Her research has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, conference presentations, and an upcoming monograph on the Late Bronze Age pottery of Pyla-Kokkinokremos. She has presented her work at major international conferences, including the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE), and has published on topics ranging from imported ceramics and exchange networks to questions of social structure and cultural interaction in Bronze Age Cyprus. Her research has been supported by competitive international funding, including awards from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the DAAD-Stiftung, and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO).
