51: Fragment of terracotta cult statue from Cyprus

In this episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by Dr Anastasia Christophilopoulou, an archaeologist and curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the 2023 Sir Charles Nicholson Lecturer. Together they discuss the Being An Islander project and associated Islanders: The Making of the Mediterranean exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, as well as Anastasia's archaeological interests in material culture in island environments, including Crete, Sardinia and Cyprus, where they discuss an Archaic period cult sanctuary site called Salamis Toumba.

Guest: Dr Anastasia Christophilopoulou is Curator of Greece, Rome and Cyprus at the Department of Antiquities of the Fitzwilliam Museum. She is responsible for research and exhibition projects and permanent displays in the fields of Greek, Cypriot and Roman collections of the museum. Anastasia gained her PhD in Classical Archaeology at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (2008) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Topoi Excellence Cluster, Freie Universität Berlin (2009-2010), prior to joining the Fitzwilliam Museum. She served as leader of the 4-year research project ‘Being an Islander’: Art and Identity of the large Mediterranean Islands, (2019-2023) which aimed to critically re-examine the concept of island life through material culture.
In 2023 she visited the University of Sydney as the Chau Chak Wing Museum's Sir Charles Nicholson Lecturer. Follow Anastasia on X: @AChristophilop1

Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on X and Instagram.

Objects details:
Fragmentary human head, terracotta, Salamis Toumba, Cyprus, Cypro-Archaic, 750-475 BC.
Donated by the Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge 1947 [NM47.388]