Dr Giannis Apostolou

Dr Giannis Apostolou

BA, MSt, PhD
Classics
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow from 2025

My research combines multi-disciplinary approaches in landscape archaeology integrating computational, analytical and groundtruthing strategies for the long-term understanding of human history. This means I work a lot with 3D photogrammetric reconstructions and multi-source modelling of past landscapes, GIS-based survey and advanced geospatial analyses–particularly for the detection and evaluation of archaeological sites, land-use systems and environmental change. I direct the Langadas Archaeological Project in northern Greece, where I explore the origins of the Macedonian Kingdom and, broader, questions around societal structure and state formation in Greece and the Balkans during the first millennium BCE. I also hold research positions in various projects in Greece and Spain, while I have served as associated lecturer at the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).

Research Areas
Long-term Cultural Landscapes
Spatial and Survey Archaeology
Geoarchaeology
Climate Change
Socio-environmental Interplay

Selected Publications

Long-term settlement dynamics in ancient Macedonia: A new multi-disciplinary survey from Grevena (NW Greece)

Apostolou, G., Venieri, K., Mayoral, A., Dimaki, S., Garcia-Molsosa, A., Georgiadis, M. and Orengo, H. A.in Land 13(11): 1769.

Holocene alluvial dynamics, soil erosion and settlement in the uplands of Macedonia (Greece): New geoarchaeological insights from Xerolakkos in Grevena

Apostolou, G., Mayoral, A., Venieri, K., Dimaki, S., Garcia-Molsosa, A., Georgiadis, M. and Orengo, H. A.in Quaternary Science Advances 15: 100206. 

Integrating legacy survey data into GIS-based analysis: The rediscovery of the archaeological landscapes in Grevena (Western Macedonia, Greece)

Apostolou, G., Venieri, K., Mayoral, A., Dimaki, S., Garcia-Molsosa, A., Georgiadis, M. and Orengo, H. A. in Archaeological Prospection 31(1): 37–52.

Surface survey and digital archaeology in action: The case of Grevena

Apostolou, G., Dimaki, S., Georgiadis, M., Garcia-Molsosa, A. and Orengo, H. A. in Y. Chatzikonstantinou (ed.) ARCHAEOZOOMS: Aspects and Potentials of Modern Archaeological Research. Propylaeum, Heidelberg University Library: 154–183.

A city against the current: A reconstruction of Holocene sea-level changes and the evolution of coastal landscapes in ancient Abdera (Thrace, Gr.)

Mayoral, A., Ejarque, A., Garcia-Molsosa, A., Georgiadis, M., Apostolou, G., Gaertner, V., Kallintzi, C., Kefalidou, E., and Orengo, H. A. in Catena 235: 107638.

Awards & Grants

Extraordinary Doctorate Prize for the best PhD thesis, University Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona. (2026)

The Richard Bradford McConnell Fund for Landscape Studies, The British School at Athens. (2025)

The A.S. Onassis Foundation Doctoral Research Scholarship. (2022-24)

The A. G. Leventis Foundation Educational Scholarship (2020-23).

Matti Egon I Scholarship, The Greek Archaeological Committee U.K. (2017-18)