McMaster Stelida Naxos archaeological project hosts first exhibition in Canada

A McMaster archaeology team excavating on the Greek island of Naxos is hosting their first exhibition outside of Greece, right here in Hamilton.

The exhibition at Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church will explore the work of the Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project (SNAP), which has been operating on the island since 2013.

Though the team has hosted an exhibition before, this will be the first one outside Greece. Tristan Carter, professor of anthropology at McMaster and director of SNAP, says this exhibition marks an important milestone in the project’s history.

“Among various exciting aspects of this exhibition is the fact that this is the first time we’ve done it in Canada,” he said. “We did an exhibition back in 2018 that was just purely on Naxos. But now it’s time to give back to our local community.”

The other exciting aspects are the actual discoveries, he said.

“We don’t want to give everything away right now, but we will be talking about the oldest evidence for seafaring in the Northern hemisphere. And we may also have archaeological evidence that give us a backstory for the great myth of Theseus and Ariadne.”

The poster- and video-based exhibition will begin with an opening night lecture on March 28, and then will be open on the following two weekends.

The project is a collaboration between the Canadian Institute in Greece and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. It’s an excavation on the largest of the Cycladic islands in Greece, investigating a deep time archaeological site from Neanderthal toolmakers through Bronze Age worshippers.

WHAT: Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project Exhibit

WHERE: Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 22 Head Street, Hamilton, L8R 1P9

WHEN: Opening night lecture March 28th at 7 p.m. Exhibit then open noon to 4 p.m. on March 29 and 30, and April 5 and 6.

Reserve a spot for the opening lecture on Eventbrite.