(Dr. Amanda Laoupi)

Amanda Laoupi did not join us in person for the Conference in Villaines-la-Gonais, having prior committments of a private nature. Alfred de Grazia read her contribution on "Comets and Diseases in circum-Mediterranean Disaster Myths." Amanda Laoupi Fires from Heaven. Comets and Diseases in circum-Mediterranean disaster myths Amanda Laoupi was born in Athens on August 19, 1968. She studied at the National and Kapodistrian University in Athens, as well as at the Universities of Patras and Ioannina. She has a PhD in Environmental Archaeology and has done post-doctoral work in Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies. She has an MSc in Environmental Protection and Management. She is the founder of the interdisciplinary scientific field of Disaster Archaeology. She is the Vice-President of the Interdisciplinary Institute for the Research of Ancient Cultures & Archaeoenvironments (IIRACA). She has worked for the Goulandris Museum of Natural History and for the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) Centre for the Assessment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning as an associate researcher. Her fields of research are in: •  Disaster Archaeology •  Reconstruction of archaeoenvironments •  Landscape Archaeology •  Risk Management of Cultural Heritage •  Disaster Mythology, Archaeomythology, Astromythology, Ethnoastronomy •  Palaeopathology •  Palaeoecology •  Underwater, Island,  Coastal & Environmental Archaeology •  Environmental Education •  Expert Systems in Archaeological Theory & Practice •  Spatial Technologies •  Environmental management The curriculum vitae of Dr Amanda Laoupi Comets and Diseases in circum-Mediterranean Disaster Myths Amanda Laoupi's website on Disaster Archaeology The grazian-archive website