Launched in summer 2022, KLASP (Knossos Legacy And Sustainable archaeology Project) is a joined international effort that sees a collaboration between Tulane University (USA; Emilia Oddo), the University College Dublin (Ireland; Joanna Day and Conor Trainor). As implicit in its name, KLASP targets specifically the study of legacy material, focusing on the analysis of ceramic assemblages from different chronological periods (from Prepalatial through Neopalatial and down to early Roman times). The reason for choosing Knossos as setting for the project is simple: with a long excavation history, and a deep pre-historic and historical occupation, the site provides access to much unpublished material from different periods of antiquity and excavated at different times during the 20th century.

One of KLASP’s overarching goals is not only to contribute to archaeological knowledge, but also to involve undergraduate and graduate students, training them in ceramic analysis. Far from being just simple workers, KLASP students of every level receive the opportunity to develop and understand the importance of ceramic analysis, a fundamental skill in the archaeology of any period. Students joining the team are chosen through an application and an interview process, which ensures they are motivated, genuinely interested in the work, as well as a good fit for the team. Once at Knossos, they are trained one-on-one and as a group on both the methods of ceramic processing and the way each informs different research questions and agendas. This approach encourages inquisitive and collaborative learning in a friendly environment, where the research potential of archaeological data is explored at its fullest.  

KLASP includes three separate sub-projects: the North Front Soundings,  1987 (Joanna Day), the North West Palace (Emilia Oddo), and the Production Landscape of Historical Knossos (Conor Trainor). Each sub-project deals with material from a different location at Knossos and from different periods of its occupation, spanning from the Early Bronze Age through the Hellenistic times.