Flo Lloyd James

Research

Thesis

'Migrant Camp to Mega City' - Understanding Urbanism and Urbanisation at Knossos through Continuity and Change in the West Court and Theatral Area

This thesis contributes to an understanding of urbanism through research into the urban centre of Knossos, Crete. I provided a reinvestigation of the West Court and Theatral Area of Knossos, Crete, from the Neolithic to the Late Antique periods, but with a particular focus on the Minoan period.  

Through an detailed study of previously under-explored excavation records and finds, I present a new series of plans showing a revised stratigraphical sequence for this area of the site. In doing so, I provide an overview of the development (and decline) of urban life across a 7000 year period; bring together over 100 years of excavation work, much of which has been underexplored; and discuss theoretical concepts of power through the choreography of urban space. As the meeting point of causeways and roads, and sitting just outside the Minoan palace walls, an overview of the different manipulations of the built environment of the West Court and Theatral Area provides an exciting and unique opportunity to understand town life in Knossos as navigated outside, but within the sphere of, the central elite. 

Funding sources

Funded through South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP) as part of a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA), in partnership with University of Cardiff, University of Bristol, and the British School at Athens.

Biography

2023-current: Student Intern - Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition (IGRCT)

Honours and awards

• MA Principles of Conservation, Distinction, UCL - 2020
• BA (Hons) Archaeology and Anthropology, First Class, University of Oxford - 2018

Supervisors

James Whitley

Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology