Site Director

Kottaridi began her studies of Archaeology and Art History with the Faculty ofAUTHwhere she graduated with honors. Shortly thereafter, she was awarded a scholarship from Germany to continue her postgraduate studies in areas including Classical, Proistoriki and Medieval Archaeology, the History of Art, Ancient and Medieval Studies in Ethnology, and Theatre Studies at the University of Cologne. It was from this university where she earned her doctorate.

After completing her formal education, she worked as an assistant of Manolis Andronikos excavating in Vergina. In 1989 she applied and was accepted to join the Ministry of Culture. In this role, she oversaw Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, as a curator of antiquities, and managed archaeological sites as well as the Museum of Aigai.

Kottaridi has worked extensively excavating historically historically significant sites around the world. Kottaridi’s work initially focused in Aiges, where excavations in the city, the necropolis and surrounding area have continued for 35 years. Her field experiencie also includes exploratory activity in the Pieria mountains, where the ancient Macedonian centers Levaiis and Vermio were located. In Germany, she collaborated to excavate a medieval fortress. More recently she worked in Kuwait in the Hellenistic fortress of Failaka island.

In 1993 Kottaridi organized a series of exhibitions in Greece and abroad (Montreal, Athens, Hanover, Rome, Delhi, New York, Oxford, Paris, etc.) which highlighted the exhibition “From Herakles to Alexander the Great.” Treasures from the royal capital of Macedon, a Hellenic Kingdom in the age of Democracy “held at Oxford Asmolean museum in 2011.

In addition to her work excavating high profile sites, Kottaridi is active in the maintenance, preservation and promotion of major archaeological sites. Her work includes drafting a proposal to include Aigai as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as additional sites including Vergina.

She is the author of five books and 122 scientific articles, studies and presentations on topics spanning the excavations at Aigai and Makedonida lands, burial customs, art culture, Macedonian culture, ancient painting, architecture, Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic world, magic, myth, religion and women in ancient times as well as the challenge  of socializing archaeology and communicating the importance of ancient world philosophy today.

Since 2006 she has continually served as a member of the Council of Museum Affairs for the Ministry of Culture, and served as President and General Secretary of the Association of Greek Archaeologists. In 2008 her scientific work was awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of the Greek Republic. She is a distinguished speaker and lecturer having taught at Oxford University, the University of Athens, and other universities.