Rodney D. Fitzsimons
Associate Professor
Office: DNA C220
Lab: DNA C206
Department of Anthropology
Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9J 7B8
Phone: (705) 748-1011 ext. 7264
Fax: (705) 748-1613
E-Mail:rodneyfitzsimons@trentu.ca
Education
BA, MA (University of Toronto), PhD (University of Cincinnati)
Research Interests
Bronze Age and Iron Age Greek archaeology; architectural studies, monumental architecture, energetics; socio-political organisation, early state formation; mortuary practices; cultural identity
Profile
Professor Fitzsimons has been at Trent University since 2004, first as a member of the Department of Ancient History & Classics (2004-2015), and more recently as a member of the Department of Anthropology. He is a prehistoric archaeologist whose research is based in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Aegean and focuses on monumental architecture, funerary practices, socio-political and cultural identity, and early state formation. He has participated in a number of archaeological projects in Albania and Greece, including excavations at Kommos, Mallia, and Midea; since 2002, he has served as the site architect for the Azoria Project excavations at Azoria, Crete (Greece), and since 2009, has been co-director of the Ayia Irini Northern Sector Archaeological Project, based at Ayia Irini on the island of Kea (Greece). Before coming to Trent, he taught at Miami University of Ohio and Iowa State University, and was the Jacob Hirsch Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and since his arrival here, he has taught courses on the archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean (the Greek and Roman worlds, the Bronze Age Aegean, Iron Age Greece, Archaic Crete, and ancient Athens), Greek literature and ancient Greek language, and has also led archaeological field schools at Azoria (2005, 2006, 2014, and 2015) and Ayia Irini (2010).
Recent Publications
E. Gorogianni, J. Cutler, and R.D. FITZSIMONS. 2015. “Something Old, Something New: Non-Local Brides as Catalysts for Cultural Exchange at Ayia Irini, Kea?” In Nostoi: Indigenous Cultures, Migration and Integration in the Aegean Islands and Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. Proceedings of an International Conference Held at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey, March 31-April 3, 2011, edited by N. Stampolidis, Ç. Maner, and K. Kopanias, 889-921. Istanbul: Koç University Press.
R.D. FITZSIMONS. 2014. “An Energetic(s) Approach to Late Helladic Tomb Construction: Funerary Architecture and State Formation at Bronze Age Mycenae.” In Meditations on the Diversity of the Built Environment in the Aegean Basin and Beyond. Proceedings of a Colloquium in Memory of Frederick E. Winter, Athens 22-23 June 2012, edited by D.W. Rupp and J. Tomlinson, 83-120. Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece 8. Athens: Canadian Institute in Greece.
R.D. FITZSIMONS. 2014. “Urbanization and the Emergence of the Greek Polis: The Case of Azoria, Crete.” In Making Ancient Cities: Studies of the Production of Space in Early Urban Environments, edited by A. Creekmore and K.D. Fisher, 288-338. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
R.D. FITZSIMONS. 2011. “Monumental Architecture and the Construction of the Mycenaean State.” In State Formation in Italy and Greece: Questioning the Neoevolutionist Paradigm, edited by N. Terrenato and D.C. Haggis, 75-118. Oxford: Oxbow.
D.C. Haggis, M.S. Mook, R.D. FITZSIMONS, C.M. Scarry and L.M.Snyder. 2011. “The Excavation of Archaic Houses at Azoria in 2005-2006.” Hesperia 80: 431-489.
D.C. Haggis, M.S. Mook, R.D. FITZSIMONS, C.M. Scarry, L.M.Snyder and W.C. West. 2011. “Excavations in the Archaic Civic Buildings at Azoria in 2005-2006.” Hesperia 80: 1-70.
Recent Scholarly Talks
“Monuments for the Living, Monuments for the Dead: A Stone-by-Stone Guide to Mycenaean State Formation,” to be delivered in a session entitled, Architectural Energetics, at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida, April 6-10, 2016.
“Monuments for the Living, Monuments for the Dead: A Stone-by-Stone Guide to Mycenaean State Formation,” to be delivered at Methodologies in Ancient Material Culture, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, October 2-4, 2015.
“Taking a Seat at the Minoan Banquet: An Architectural Approach to the Minoanisation of the Aegean Islands,” Minoan Architecture and Urbanism, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, January 7, 2015.
“Building a State One Stone at a Time: Architectural Energetics and Early State Formation in the Bronze Age Argolid,” Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Canada, Montreal, Quebec, May 6-11, 2014.
“Building a State One Stone at a Time: Architectural Energetics and Early State Formation in the Bronze Age Argolid,” Space, Place, and Architecture in the Mediterranean Bronze Age, at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas, April 25, 2014.
“Construction Technology and State Formation in the Bronze Age Argolid,” Technology, Society, and Economy in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Traill College, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, April 6, 2013.
“Laying the Foundations for Mycenaean State Formation: Late Helladic Tomb Construction as a Measure of Socio-Political Complexity in the Bronze Age Argolid,” 114th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Seattle, Washington, January 3-6, 2013.
“Awash in Waves of Architectural Change: Reassessing the Adoption and Adaptation of Minoanizing and Mycenaeanizing Architectural Elements in the Southern and Eastern Aegean,” Minoanization and Mycenaeanization. Two Sides of the Same Coin?, at the 114th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Seattle, Washington, January 3-6, 2013.