Archaeological Research in Sardinia, Crete, and the Cyclades, 2024–2025

In the summer of 2024, Sean Hemingway, John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge of the Department of Greek and Roman Art at The Met went to Sardinia. His visit followed the recent loan of “Manneddu,” a Sardinian Giant from Mont’e Prama, to The Met, which was displayed at the entrance to The Met’s Greek Art Galleries for six months. The trip afforded Hemingway the opportunity to visit the archaeological site of Mont’e Prama with the President of the Monte’ Prama Foundation, Anthony Muroni, as well as other important Nuragic sites including Su Nuraxi di Barumini, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Phoenician settlement of Tharros. The remarkable Cyclopean stonework of the Nuragic buildings, which are spread across the island, is hard to appreciate in photographs but amazing to behold in situ.

Hemingway presented a talk entitled “Representing Ancient Mediterranean Cultures at The Met: The Importance of International Collaborations” as part of the International Archaeological Festival held at the Cabras Archaeological Museum. The museum is spectacularly situated along the banks of a lagoon; a flock of flamingos flying by at sunset only added to the idyllic atmosphere. Numerous archaeologists were in attendance, with particularly strong representation from Sardinia, Italy, and Sicily. Connections made through this trip contributed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between The Met and the Mont’e Prama Foundation in March 2025, establishing a framework for future collaborations.

On Crete, Hemingway worked in the summer of 2024 and in 2025 for several days at Anavlochos, an early Greek site set on a small mountain on the northeast coast of the island, in the hinterland east of Mallia. As the metals specialist for the French-led excavations, he catalogued bronze and iron artifacts from recently excavated tombs. The site also boasts remains of an Iron Age and Archaic Greek settlement, sanctuary, and cemetery, which Bruce Schwarz, Senior Photographer at The Met, documented expertly. Hemingway also spent time at Palaikastro in Crete working with Colin MacDonald, a colleague from the British School at Athens, with whom he is collaborating on a publication on Building 4, a Minoan house at the site. In central western Crete, at the invitation of the Eleutherna Archaeological Museum Director Nikos Stampolidis, Hemingway went on an excursion for the press preview of the exhibition Archaic Elites: Warriors and ‘Princesses.’ This trip, as well as a viewing of the exhibition Hekatompolis: The World of Archaic Crete at the Herakleion Archaeological Museum, were both valuable experiences as Hemingway prepares for the upcoming exhibition at The Met that will feature important loans from Crete and Sardinia.

With the assistance of Greek archaeologist Georgios Gavalas, Hemingway arranged a two-part expedition to the Cyclades to take photographs of the Cycladic islands for The Met catalogue to accompany the ongoing installation of the Leonard N. Stern Collection of Cycladic Art on loan from the Hellenic Republic.

By boat, foot, and car, they were able to visit Amorgos, Antiparos, Despotiko, Herakleia, Keros, Koufonisia, Naxos, Paros, and Santorini. Again, Bruce Schwarz, working closely with Gavalas and Hemingway, was able to capture fantastic images of the landscape—sea, land, and sky—that give a sense of what the ancient Cyclades were like. Hemingway met with Demetris Athanasoulis, Ephor of the Cyclades, at the Naxos Archaeological Museum to learn about their major renovation project. Yiannos Kouragios gave a special tour of the ancient Greek sanctuary at Despotiko, where they were in the midst of excavations.

The research in the Cyclades builds on The Met’s historic agreement with the Ministry of Culture of the Hellenic Republic of 2022 around the repatriation of the Stern Collection of Cycladic Art and its long-term display at The Met, and will contribute to the upcoming workshop and public symposium that will be held at The Met in February 2026.

This work was made possible with the support of The Adelaide Milton de Groot Fund, in memory of the de Groot and Hawley Families, and Leonard N. Stern.