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This collection contains digital images that were scanned from 35mm slides created by Hugh Sackett as he traveled throughout Greece from the 1950s to the 1980s. He documented his findings from various archaeological sites, along with candid cultural aspects of the country’s people and places.
Dr. Leyland Hugh Sackett (1928-2020), a famed archaeologist honored with the Archaeological Institute of America’s Gold Medal in 2014, led and assisted in excavations at some of the most important sites such as Minoan Palaikastro (1962-1963, 1983), Iron Age Lefkandi (1962-1963, 1964-1990), and the Minoan Palace of Knossos in 1957. Aside from fieldwork, he taught courses in archaeology at the British School of Athens and the Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts.
The slides feature images following five main motifs: people, or the national identity of Greek people and their customs; landscapes, mainly sweeping views of the sea and the Greek islands’ terrain; architecture, including both ancient and modern buildings; excavations, the main two being Palaikastro and Lefkandi; and artifacts, or the documentation of his discoveries and educational resources about them. Together, these themes form a more complete picture of Greece through Sackett’s lens – not only of his work with ancient materials, but also the interactions between his team, Greek people, and their traditions spanning three decades.
Sackett’s slides are valuable because they preserve not only his work with significant archaeological sites, but also act as a window into the life of a skilled excavator in the late 20th century.
Images from this collection have been curated into online exhibits by students in Dr. Miriam Clinton's Greek Art classes. Each exhibit is meant to illustrate a thematic facet found within the slides, from Minoan frescoes and the myth of the Cave of Zeus to the methods used by Dr. Sackett’s and his team.