Archaeologists in Greece are fired
The debt crisis is wreaking havoc in the Archaeological Service in Greece, According to reports, a large number of senior archaeologists will be forced to retire this year. The consequences will be dire for many ongoing projects. On the whole 95 archaeologists are being removed, thus reducing the total number to 890. This action happened on top of the cancellation of all six-month contracts of junior archaeologists.
Among them is Lilian Acheilara, the director of the Sixteenth Ephorate of Classical and Prehistoric Archaeology in Thessalonica, who was responsible for the Ancient Macedonia exhibition in the Louvre. Another one is Antonis Vasilakakis, the manager of excavations Cephalonia. After he is removed the entire island will be left with one archaeologist. We should not forget the example of Aris Tsaravopoulos, the only archaeologist of Cythera. The inhabitants of the island have already complained about his removal. In this case, he was receiving only a salary of 1500 euros a month. He was covering his own travel expenses, while the local society was covering the expenses for his excavation. As for the museum at Cythera, it remains closed since the 2006 earthquake.
Despite the fact that there is need for more staff in the Archaeological Service, the government intends to reduce further the number of active archaeologists by 30 per cent.
