Time, Tradition and Society in Greek Archaeology

Classical archaeology is examined in the light of current theoretical archaeology and anthropology, so making it more relevant and valuable to the study of archaeology in the 1990s. An innovative and wide-ranging overview of the subject.

Time, Tradition and Society in Greek Archaeology is an innovative volume which examines the relevance of archaeological theory to classical archaeology. It offers a wideranging overview of classical archaeology, from the Bronze Age to the Classical period and from mainland Greece to Cyprus. Within this framework Spencer examines many of the issues which have become important in the study of archaeology in recent years - time, the `past', gender, ideology, social structure and group identity. The papers in this collection cover such diverse topics as the rural landscape, classical art and scientific methodologies.
Over the last century the study of classical archaeology has been orthodox and static. The essays in this collection examine it in the light of current theoretical archaeology and anthropology, making it more relevant and valuable to the study of archaeology in the 1990s. This is a diverse and topical collection, of great value to classicists, ancient historians, anthropologists and everyone interested in new approaches to archaeology.

'All the essays here are of a high standard, the contributors purposefully address the topics of group definition, tomb- and herocult, intra settlement change, the gendering of funerary sculpture and (too often neglected) the organization of domestic space.' - Times Higher Education Supplement'Heralds the coming out of classical archaeologists as proud of their special textual resources and adept at exploiting them to raise and to help tackle questions of which archaeologists have often fought shy.' - Robin Osborne, Archaeological Journal

Autorentext

Nigel Spencer

Klappentext

Time, Tradition and Society in Greek Archaeology is an innovative volume which examines the relevance of archaeological theory to classical archaeology. It offers a wideranging overview of classical archaeology, from the Bronze Age to the Classical period and from mainland Greece to Cyprus. Within this framework Spencer examines many of the issues which have become important in the study of archaeology in recent years - time, the `past', gender, ideology, social structure and group identity. The papers in this collection cover such diverse topics as the rural landscape, classical art and scientific methodologies. Over the last century the study of classical archaeology has been orthodox and static. The essays in this collection examine it in the light of current theoretical archaeology and anthropology, making it more relevant and valuable to the study of archaeology in the 1990s. This is a diverse and topical collection, of great value to classicists, ancient historians, anthropologists and everyone interested in new approaches to archaeology.

Inhalt
Foreword Colin Renfrew Introduction Nigel Spencer Approaches to ethnicity in early Iron Age of Greece Jonathan M. Hall Challenging preconceptions of Oriental barbarity' and Greek humanity': human sacrifice in the ancient world Louise Steel Multi-dimensional group definition in the landscape of rural Greece Nigel Spencer Tomb cult and hero cult: the uses of the past in Archaic Greece James Whitley Present-day Chora on Amorgos and prehistoric Thermi, Lesbos: alternative views of comunities in transition - Kyriakos Lambrianidis The organisation of space in Classical and Hellenistic houses from mainland Greece and the western colonies Lisa Nevett Dead women's society: constructing female gender in Classical Athenian funerary sculpture Karen Stears Monuments and monumentality: the archaeological impact of Greek constructions of time Lin Foxhall Bibliography