Stelida: 200,000 Years of Naxos’ History

At the heart of the conversation is Stelida on Naxos, a site of unique significance for the prehistory of the Cyclades and the Aegean. On the twin-peaked hill of Stelida, archaeological research has brought to light traces of human presence extending back hundreds of thousands of years, from the use of local chert during the Palaeolithic period to the remains of a Minoan-type peak sanctuary from the Bronze Age. Through this exceptionally dense archaeological landscape, Naxos emerges not only as an island of the historical Cyclades, but also as a place of deep time, movement, technical knowledge, and ritual.

In the first part of the event, Professor Tristan Carter will present the long-standing research at Stelida and its significance for understanding early human activity in the Aegean. Drawing on the archaeological evidence, the lecture will trace the successive histories inscribed in the landscape of Naxos: from the prehistoric production of stone tools to the social and ritual practices of the Bronze Age.

In the second part, Vanessa Gordon will present her new novel The Secrets of Stelida, written following an invitation from Professor Tristan Carter to use the Stelida excavation as the starting point for a new book in The Naxos Mysteries series. Combining archaeological research with fiction, the book transports the reader to a landscape where the beauty of the Cyclades meets the tension of discovery, and where the traces of the past coexist with more recent, darker secrets.

The event seeks to illuminate the ways in which archaeology can engage in a dialogue with literature, and how an archaeological site can become not only an object of scientific research, but also a field of narrative, memory, and imagination. From deep prehistory to the contemporary novel, Stelida emerges as a place where material traces, historical knowledge, and the stories born from the landscape come together, creating a bridge between scientific research and literature.

Following the presentation, Vanessa Gordon will sign copies of the book.

Tristan Carter

Tristan Carter is Professor of Archaeology at McMaster University, Canada. He received his PhD from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, in 1999, with a thesis on the relationship between obsidian and the societies of the southern Aegean during the Early Bronze Age. He has worked on Early Cycladic archaeology since 1987 and has studied material from major excavations and research projects in the Aegean. He was a scholarship student at the British School at Athens, taught at Stanford University, undertook postdoctoral research at the British Institute at Ankara, and subsequently joined McMaster University.

Since 2015, he has co-directed, together with Dr Demetris Athanasoulis, the Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project, a collaboration between the Canadian Institute in Greece and the Cycladic Ephorate of Antiquities. His research focuses on the prehistory of Eurasia, with a particular interest in the study of stone tools and in questions spanning the Lower Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age.

Vanessa Gordon

Vanessa Gordon studied English Literature at the University of Exeter and completed a PhD in Anglo-Irish Literature at the University of London, Bedford College. She went on to pursue a career in the world of classical music as a classical concert manager, while also travelling extensively throughout Greece, visiting archaeological sites and meeting people involved in the discovery, protection, and promotion of Greece’s cultural heritage.

She is the author of the novel series The Naxos Mysteries, as well as A Greek Feast on Naxos, a book dedicated to the cuisine of the Cycladic Islands. Through the mystery genre, Vanessa Gordon explores Greek antiquity, landscape, gastronomy, and human nature, creating narratives that combine historical discovery with fictional tension.

Her new book, The Secrets of Stelida, is published in 2026 and is the seventh instalment in The Naxos Mysteries series.