Sharon (Shari) Stocker is an American
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
who is best known, along with her husband, archaeologist
Jack L. Davis, for leading an international team of researchers who discovered a previously undisturbed tomb of a Bronze Age warrior in southwest Greece. The 3500 year old intact grave was named the
Griffin Warrior Tomb
The Griffin Warrior Tomb is a Bronze Age shaft tomb dating to around 1450 BC, near the ancient city of Pylos in Greece. The grave was discovered by a research team sponsored by the University of Cincinnati and led by husband-and-wife archaeologis ...
by the research team during the initial excavation in May 2015.
Stocker is currently a senior research associate and the director of publications for the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
's excavations at the
Palace of Nestor
The Palace of Nestor (Modern Greek: Ανάκτορο του Νέστορα) was an important centre in Mycenaean times, and described in Homer's ''Odyssey'' and ''Iliad'' as Nestor's kingdom of "sandy Pylos".
The palace featured in the story of ...
in Greece. She was a co-director of archaeological surveys in the ancient cities of
Epidamnos
Epidamnos ''(Ancient Greek: Επίδαμνος, Albanian: Epidamn)'', later known as Dyrrachium ''(Latin: Dyrrhachium, Greek: Δυρράχιον, Albanian: Dyrrah)'', was a prominent city on the Adriatic coast, located in modern-day Durrës, Alb ...
and
Apollonia, Albania. Her professional expertise "lies in the analysis of ceramics of the Middle Bronze Age and Early Greek colonization in the Western Mediterranean."
In 2021 Stocker was named a Commander of the
Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
The Order of the Phoenix () is an Order (decoration), order of Greece, established on 13 May 1926, by the republicanism, republican government of the Second Hellenic Republic to replace the defunct Order of George I, Royal Order of George I.
T ...
by the Hellenic Republic.
Education
Stocker majored in history and
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
at
Denison University
Denison University is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio, United States. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called ...
(BA 1981). She did post graduate study in Classics at the University of Cincinnati (1982–1984) and at the
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...
(1991–1993). From 1993 to 2009, Stocker furthered her studies at the University of Cincinnati, earning an MA in Classics in 1996 and a PhD in Greek Prehistory in 2009.
Griffin Warrior Tomb
The
Griffin Warrior Tomb
The Griffin Warrior Tomb is a Bronze Age shaft tomb dating to around 1450 BC, near the ancient city of Pylos in Greece. The grave was discovered by a research team sponsored by the University of Cincinnati and led by husband-and-wife archaeologis ...
was discovered in May 2015 by an international team of researchers, led by Stocker and Davis, and sponsored by the University of Cincinnati. In October, 2015, Greece's Ministry of Culture announced the discovery: "More than 1,400 artifacts were uncovered, including a three-foot long bronze sword with an ivory hilt, four solid gold rings -- more than found at any single burial elsewhere in Greece -- and ivory combs and carvings, depicting griffons and a lion".
Pylos Combat Agate
Two years after the initial excavation of the Griffin Warrior Tomb, the University of Cincinnati team made another remarkable discovery which has become the most significant find to date: an intricately carved sealstone about 1.4 inches in length with details of the artifact visible only under magnification. Known as the
Pylos Combat Agate, the seal was encrusted in limestone, and it took researchers over a year to clean and restore it.
Selected publications
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See also
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Minoan seals
Minoan seals are impression seals in the form of carved gemstones and similar pieces in metal, ivory and other materials produced in the Minoan civilization. They are an important part of Minoan art, and have been found in quantity at specific s ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stocker, Sharon
American women archaeologists
American archaeologists
Denison University alumni
University of Illinois Chicago alumni
University of Cincinnati alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Archaeologists of the Bronze Age Aegean
21st-century American women