Matteo Randazzo

Cotsen Traveling Fellow, Gennadius Library

Research Topic: Exploring New Directions in the Study of the Islamic Emirate of Crete (820s-961): Archival Resources and Cultural Memory

I was awarded my PhD in Archaeology from Edinburgh University in 2021. My main research focus is the period of the Byzantine-Islamic transition in Crete and Sicily (8th-10th c. AD). Through the Cotsen Travelling Fellowship I will process uncatalogued documentary records stored at the archives of the Gennadius Library (notebooks, photos and drawings), pertaining 1960s excavations led in Heraklion by George Miles. Miles is a prominent historic figure of the American School and a pioneer in Islamic studies on Crete. This archival research could reveal new precious insights to enhance the knowledge of those excavations, which remain amongst the fewest to have investigated phases of the Islamic Emirate of Crete (820s - 961).