Yannis A. Sakellarakis ( el, Γιάννης Α. Σακελλαράκης; 1936 – October 28, 2010) was a prominent

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

who specialized in

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

Prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

Career

Sakellarakis studied archaeology at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

(Dept of History and Archaeology) and later pursued graduate studies at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, where he was awarded a doctorate in 1969. Sakellarakis taught at the Universities of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and Athens. He served as the curator (1963-68) and then director (1980-87) of

Heraklion Archaeological Museum The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one of the greatest museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains by far the most important and complete collection of artefacts o ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

and curator (1970-80) and later deputy director (1987-94) of the National Archaeological Museum in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He excavated sites at

Archanes Archanes ( el, Αρχάνες, Godart & Olivier abbreviation: ARKH) is a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Archanes-Asterousia, of which it is a ...

Kythira Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an Greek islands, island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Io ...

and

Mount Ida In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which was also known as the '' Phrygian Ida'' ...

. Sakellarakis attracted international attention in 1979, when, while excavating the hill of

Anemospilia Anemospilia ( ell, τα Ανεμόσπηλια) is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan temple on Crete. Geography The temple is located on the northern end of Mount Juktas. Modern Heraklion can be seen from the site. The site is in th ...

with his wife Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki, he discovered evidence for

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

by the Minoans. Another major discovery took place in 1982, when Sakellarakis unveiled a large, two-story Minoan building at

Zominthos Zominthos ( el, Ζώμινθος, alternative spellings ''Ζόμινθος'' or ''Ζόμιθος'') is a small plateau in the northern foothills of Mount Ida (Psiloritis), on the island of Crete. Zominthos is roughly 7.5 kilometers west of the vil ...

, a small plateau at an altitude around 1200 m in the northern foothills of

(Psiloritis). For his scientific achievements, Sakellarakis was awarded high honors and medals, including the Golden Cross of the Greek Order of Honour and the Gold Medal of the

University of Crete The University of Crete (UoC; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης) is a multi-disciplinary, research-oriented institution in Crete, Greece, located in the cities of Rethymno (official seat) and Heraklion, and one of the country's most aca ...

. He was a member of the Academy of Athens and a corresponding member of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

and the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

Personal life

Archanes Denkmal Giannis Sakellarakis 04

Despite not being a Cretan by birth, Sakellarakis became strongly bonded to the island of Crete and its people, considering himself a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Cretan. Sakellarakis was married to his colleague and long time coworker Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki.Γεύση ενός αναπότρεπτου χωρισμού, Καθημερινή onLine, 2 Νοεμβρίου 2010
archive
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References

External links

Zominthos project
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Archeologist Yannis Sakellarakis Passes at 74
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakellarakis, Yannis 1936 births 2010 deaths Archaeologists from Athens Minoan archaeologists Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Gold Crosses of the Order of Honour (Greece) National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Heidelberg University alumni People from Athens

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links