Polte De Weirdt

Biography

In 2021, during my MA in Art Studies and Archaeology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, I participated in the first season of the Hala Sultan Tekke Hinterland project which is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ralf Vandam. Here, I discovered my fascination for Cypriote archaeology and material culture – in particular of the Middle to Late Bronze Age and Iron Age periods – as well as my passion for landscape archaeology and human-environment interactions. Subsequently, I wrote my MA thesis, titled “Living Apart Together – A Diachronic Spatial Analysis on the South-Western Hinterland of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus”, on the first preliminary results from the first survey season in Cyprus after which I graduated with greatest distinction. This passion quickly developed into a serious research interest in diachronic site patterning, settlement design and human-landscape interactions on Cyprus in the long durée, as well as production resource management and symbolic landscapes which.  

Parallel with the Hala Sultan Tekke Hinterland project I also work as research assistant to Dr. Karin Nys on digitizing and interpretating legacy data of over 50 years of excavation material from the Late Bronze Age settlement complex at Hala Sultan Tekke, located within the southeastern coastal plain of Cyprus. By integrating the legacy datasets into a photogrammetric model of the site I aim to construct a state-of-the-art digital framework to bring both old and new excavation datasets together and to bridge the gap between multidisciplinary interpretations on the site’s rich and valuable material record.

Apart from the Cypriote Archaeological community I am also active in the Belgian – Flemish archaeological stage where I actively participate in rescue archaeology projects. This entails first and foremost an initial assessment of potential destruction of archaeological remains by construction projects, after which a follow up assessment is conducted to measure, determine, and simulate past human activity. Eventually the endangered archaeological remains are subjected to archaeological excavations in order to record and preserve the valuable information of our past. 

Keywords

Landscape archaeology, Human-Environment interactions, Eastern Mediterranean archaeology, Cypriot archaeology, Diachronic settlement patterns, Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age – Iron Age transition, Early Bronze Age, Digital modelling, Agent-Based modelling, Spatial Analysis in archaeology

Photos

The beautiful stage of the survey project in the coastal lowlands of southeastern Cyprus. 

Surveying at the southeastern foothills of the Troodos Ophiolite next to Mount Stavrovouni is always a delight.