Archaeology and Ancient History: Breaking Down the Boundaries

219 Pages·2004·2.89 MB·English

by  Eberhard W. Sauer

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND
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ANCIENT HISTORY
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4 other than art and architecture is of little relevance to their work. This can
5 mean that territories or subjects for which there is little textual evidence can
6 be marginalized or not studied at all. Similarly, many historical archaeolo-
7 gists, dissatisfied with their ancillary role, assert that material evidence for
8 the ancient world can and should be studied independently.
9 Though efforts are being made in some quarters to erode these discipli-
20111 nary boundaries, in others they have become increasingly fossilized, and rifts
1 within subjects are leading to the development of ever more isolated new
2 sub-disciplines. While representatives of each different specialism may
3 believe they have found the path to historical truth, the real truth is that
4 the straitjackets of these divisions – whether generations old or fashionably
5111 novel – are stifling innovation, creativity and the possibility of illuminating
6 the past with all the knowledge at our disposal.
7 This collection of pieces from a wide range of contributors explores in
8 detail the separation of the human past into history, archaeology and their
9 related sub-disciplines. Each piece challenges the validity of this separation
30111 and asks how we can move to a more holistic approach. While the focus is
1 on the ancient world, particularly Greece and Rome, the lessons that emerge
2 are significant for the study of any time and place.
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4 Eberhard W. Sauer is lecturer in classical archaeology at the School of
5 History and Classics, University of Edinburgh. He is also an honorary lecturer
6 at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester.
7 Previously he was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Keble College
8 and the Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford.
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Edited by
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Eberhard W. Sauer
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First published 2004
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
© 2004 selection and editorial matter, Eberhard W. Sauer;
individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Archaeology and ancient history: breaking down the boundaries/edited by
Eberhard W. Sauer.
Includes bibliographic references and index.
1. Archaeology and history. 2. Classical antiquities. 3. Mediterranean
Region – Antiquities. I. Sauer, Eberhard W., 1970–
CC77.H5A685 2004
930.1–dc21 2003013490
ISBN 0-203-64371-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-66997-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–30199–8 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–30201–3 (pbk)
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CONTENTS
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3111 List of figures vii
4 List of contributors ix
5 Acknowledgements xi
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PART I
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General 1
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1 Introduction 3
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2 EBERHARD W. SAUER
3 2 The disunited subject: human history’s split into ‘history’
4 and ‘archaeology’ 17
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EBERHARD W. SAUER
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9 Greece 47
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1 3 Breaking down boundaries: the experience of the
2 multidisciplinary Olympias project 49
3 BORIS RANKOV
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4 The Aegean melting pot: history and archaeology for
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historians and prehistorians 62
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ALKIS DIALISMAS
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8 5 Field sports: engaging Greek archaeology and history 76
9 LIN FOXHALL
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6 Myth, expectations and the divide between disciplines in the
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study of classical Greece 85
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JANETT MORGAN
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CONTENTS
PART III
Rome 97
7 The uneasy dialogue between ancient history and archaeology 99
RAY LAURENCE
8 A matter of personal preference? The relevance of different
territories and types of evidence for Roman history 114
EBERHARD W. SAUER
9 A house divided: the study of Roman art and the art of
Roman Britain 134
MARTIN HENIG
10 Tacitus, Agricola and the role of literature in the archaeology
of the first century AD 151
BIRGITTA HOFFMANN
PART IV
Neighbouring cultures 167
11 Herodotus and the Amazons meet the Cyclops: philology,
osteoarchaeology and the Eurasian Iron Age 169
EILEEN M. MURPHY
12 Celtoscepticism: a convenient excuse for ignoring
non-archaeological evidence? 185
RAIMUND KARL
Index 200
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FIGURES
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4 3.1 The Olympias 50
5 4.1 Schematic representation of the relationship of history and
6 archaeology to the general study of past cultures 67
7 5.1 The Dema House, Attica 81
8 5.2 Late classical ‘farmsteads’ and proposed landholdings,
9 Flamboura, southern Argolid 83
20111 9.1 First-century mosaic at Fishbourne Roman palace, Sussex 138
1 9.2a Hellenistic intaglio cut upon a sardonyx depicting
2 Ptolemy XII, from Wroxeter, Shropshire 140
3 9.2b Italic (Roman Republican) intaglio of sard showing
4 Diomedes stealing the Palladium, from Verulamium,
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6 9.3 Pediment of the Temple of Sulis Minerva, Bath,
7 Somerset 141
8 9.4 Orpheus mosaic from the villa at Woodchester,
9 Gloucestershire 148
30111 11.1 Cranium of a Scythian period adult female from Aymyrlyg
1 with a grossly enlarged left orbit possibly indicative of
2 neurofibromatosis 175
3 11.2 Reconstruction of the spine and rib cage of a Hunno-
4 Sarmatian period adult female from Aymyrlyg with
5 congenital scoliosis 176
6 11.3 Depiction of ‘monstrous’ human beings in the world
7 chronicle of Hartmann Schedel of 1493 178
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CONTRIBUTORS
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3111 Alkis Dialismas studied at the University of Athens and is now a doctoral
4 research student at Jesus College and the Department of Archaeology of
5 the University of Cambridge.
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Lin Foxhallwas educated at Bryn Mawr College, University of Pennsylvania
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and the University of Liverpool. She taught at Oxford University and
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University College London. She is now Professor of Greek Archaeology
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and History at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University
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of Leicester.
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2 Martin Henig studied at the universities of Cambridge, London and Oxford.
3 He taught at Queen’s University, Belfast, the University of East Anglia
4 and the University of Wales, Newport. Currently he is a fellow of Wolfson
5111 College and a visiting lecturer in Roman Art at the Institute of
6 Archaeology, University of Oxford.
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8 Birgitta Hoffmann went to the universities of Freiburg i.Br. and Durham.
9 She taught at the University of Manchester and University College Dublin
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1 of Liverpool’s School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies.
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Raimund Karl was educated at the University of Vienna. He has taught at
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the University of Wales at Aberystwyth where he also held a post at the
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Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. Currently he is a lecturer
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in Archaeology and Heritage in the Department of History and Welsh
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History, University of Wales, Bangor, as well as external lecturer in Celtic
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Studies at the University of Vienna’s Department of Ancient History.
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9 Ray Laurencestudied at the universities of Wales (Lampeter) and Newcastle.
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1 Newcastle. He held a Rome Scholarship at the British School at Rome
2 and later a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Reading.
3 He is now a senior lecturer at the University of Reading’s Department of
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