About

Trevor studied classics at the University of Victoria (BA, MA), before completing a PhD in archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017. He held postdoctoral fellowships from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Before coming to Warwick in 2024, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria, where he was awarded the Faculty of Humanities Early Career Excellence in Research Award. Since 2021, he has co-directed the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological ProjectLink opens in a new window, a multidisciplinary programme of research and excavation centered on ancient Eleon, Greece.

Research interests

I am currently involved in research on three regions of Greece—Athens and Attica, Boeotia, and Macedonia—extending diachronically from the Late Bronze Age into the Hellenistic period. My research is multidisciplinary, often involving close collaboration with scholars in art history, analytical sciences, and engineering. Broadly speaking, my research tackles questions concerning human-environmental interaction, collapse and resilience, urbanisation, ancient economics, colonialism, phenomenology, and intercultural interaction, through the multi-method study of large assemblages of pottery. Students interested in these topics are encouraged to get in touch.

Early Athens

My current book project, A New History of Early Athens (1450–650 BCE): Environmental, Technological, and Societal Transformations, reconsiders the early history of Athens, through a detailed study of pottery discarded from the Athenian Acropolis and excavated under the supervision of Oscar Broneer on the North Slope in the 1930s. This monograph draws renewed attention to the impact of climate variability and migrant communities in the development of the Iron Age polis. The latter insight contradicts Athenian claims of autochthony (indigeneity) that continue to be prevalent in historical treatments of Athens due to the influence of Thucydides and other classical Athenian authors. A prolegomenon to the final study titled “The Mycenaean Fountain and the Transformation of Space on The Athenian Acropolis from 1200–675 B.C.” appeared in the journal Hesperia. Since 2022, I have also participated in the Athenian Agora Excavations as a pottery specialist, and I am currently studying the prehistoric finds from the Athenian Agora made since the publication of Sarah Immerwahr’s seminal publication of Agora XIII in 1971.

Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project (EBAP)

EBAP is an ongoing programme of fieldwork and research centred on the site of ancient Eleon in east Boeotia. Our team has so far documented an important Early Mycenaean burial enclosure, a thriving Late Mycenaean settlement, and an extensive lower town enclosed by a Late Archaic fortification system. An overview of our work at the site of ancient Eleon titled “Ancient Eleon in Boeotia: A Preliminary Report on Fieldwork 2011–2018” can be found in the American Journal of Archaeology. In December 2023, I co-organized a two-day international conference, Recent Work on the Cults of Boeotia: Archaeology, Epigraphy, and History, which will be published as an edited volume in the near future. An important component of our work at ancient Eleon is the Digital Eleon initiative, which focuses on the 3-D modelling of significant artifacts and monuments with the end goal of developing an immersive VR experience. Students interested in participating in archaeological fieldwork or digital Humanities opportunities at ancient Eleon should contact me for more information about CX386, the archaeological field work module that will be next offered in summer 2025.

Ancient Methone Archaeological Project (AMAP)

AMAP documents the changing fortunes of an Eretrian colony located on the shores of the Thermaic Gulf in northern Greece. Notable finds, include a stratified sequence of deposits spanning the 7th century BCE including the remains of an apsidal household, and a deep, rock-cut shaft containing refuse spanning the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. My research on ancient Methone centers on understanding colonial encounters between Greeks and indigenous cultures in the north Aegean, as well as the rise of Macedonian imperialism. Forthcoming article-length studies include “An Early Iron Age Post Hole Structure from Ancient Methone and its Indigenous and Colonial Contexts” and “A 4th Century BC Pottery Deposit from Hypogeion 2 at Ancient Methone, Pieria”.

Select Publications

Van Damme, T. and B. Lis. Forthcoming 2024. “The Origin of the Protogeometric Style in Northern Greece and its Relevance for the Absolute Chronology of the Greek Early Iron Age.” Antiquity.

Lis, B., Mommsen, H., J. Sterba, and T. Van Damme. 2023. “Regional and Interregional Networks of Ancient Eleon During the Early 12th Century BCE as Seen from the Petrographic and Neutron Activation Analysis of Pottery.” Archaeometry 65, pp. 987–1003.

Van Damme, T. 2023. “The Mycenaean Fountain and the Transformation of Space on the Athenian Acropolis from 1200 to 675 B.C.” Hesperia 92, pp. 111–190.

Van Damme, T. and S. Lupack. 2022. “Chapter Four: Archaic and Classical Ceramics of Eleon.” In Preliminary Reports on the Canadian Excavations at Ancient Eleon (2011-2015), edited by B. Burke and B. Burns. Mouseion 18, pp. 86–133.

Lis, B. and T. Van Damme. 2022. “Chapter Three: A Preliminary Report on the Prehistoric Pottery from Ancient Eleon.” In Preliminary Reports on the Canadian Excavations at Ancient Eleon (2011-2015), edited by B. Burke and B. Burns. Mouseion 18, pp. 48–85.

Lis, B. and T. Van Damme. 2021. “From Text and Iconography to Use-Wear Analysis of Ceramic Containers: Investigating a Mycenaean Hand Washing Custom and its Changing Social Significance.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 32 [2020], pp. 185–210.

Burke, B., B. Burns, A. Charami, T. Van Damme, N. Herrmann, and B. Lis. 2020. “Ancient Eleon in Boeotia: A Preliminary Report on Fieldwork 2011–2018.” American Journal of Archaeology 124, pp. 441–476.

Van Damme, T. 2019. “Stoppers, Transport Stirrup Jars and the Wine Trade, 1450–1100 BC.” Annual of the British School at Athens 114, pp. 93–117.

Teaching and Supervision