Professor Joanita Vroom investigates medieval Greece with The Packard Humanities Institute grant
In 2024, Professor Joanita Vroom received a substantial grant from the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) in support for her Hinterlands of Medieval Chalcis Project (HMC Project) in Greece. PHI, a California-based non-profit organization, is dedicated to archaeological research as well as to the preservation of film, music, and historical archives.
Chalcis Hinterland
The prestigious grant of 250.000 Dollars from PHI enables Vroom and her team to continue and expand their research into the medieval archaeology and history of the region around Chalcis, a multiperiod harbour city on the Greek island of Evia (Euboea).
Since 2013 Leiden University researchers and students have been studying with Greek and British colleagues of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea (EAE) and the Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies (HSNES) in the hinterland of this important settlement, which in medieval times was called Negroponte by the Latin-Venetian conquerors who settled in the region.
Due to its strategic location, Chalcis/Negroponte became a hub for inter-regional trade in the Middle Ages, with its own ceramics industry exporting products throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. To date, hardly any archaeological study has been undertaken to shed light on the archaeology of the Byzantine, Latin or Venetian presence in Euboea. Together with Greek/international collaborators, the HMC Project started to document, protect and preserve the archaeological record, which includes impressive remains of surviving Medieval monuments (such as fortresses, towers, churches, farmsteads and water mills). Thanks to the support of the Packard Humanities Institute, Vroom and her team from Leiden University can proceed with their archaeological work in the coming years, which also includes public outreach events about their research (ranging from lectures to hands-on education for children) for the local community on the island.