Meaning and Identity in a Greek Landscape: An Archaeological Ethnography

460 Pages·2007·14.09 MB·English

by  Hamish Forbes

meaning and identity in a greek landscape
Inthisinterdisciplinarystudy,HamishForbesexploreshowGreekvillagers
haveunderstoodandreactedtotheirlandscapesoverthecenturies,from
the late medieval period to the present. Analysing how they have seen
themselvesbelongingtotheirlocalcommunitiesandwithinbothlocaland
wider landscapes, Forbes examines how these aspects of belonging have
informedeachother.Forbesalsoilluminatescross-disciplinaryinterestsin
memoryandtheimportanceofmonuments.Basedondatagatheredover
twenty-fiveyears,Forbes’studycombinestherichdetailofethnographic
fieldwork with historical and archaeological time-depth, showing how
landscapeshaveimportantmeaningbeyondthereligioussphereinterms
ofkinshipandideasaboutthepastandintheirroleasproductiveassets.
Hamish Forbes is associate professor of archaeology at the University of
Nottingham.HehasexcavatedintheUnitedStates,Ireland,Britainand
Greece and conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Greece on Methana,
CreteandintheSouthernArgolid.Heisco-editorofARoughandRocky
Place:TheLandscapeandSettlementHistoryoftheMethanaPeninsula,Greece.

MEANING AND IDENTITY
IN A GREEK LANDSCAPE
AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL
ETHNOGRAPHY
HAMISH FORBES
UniversityofNottingham
cambridge university press
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(cid:1)c HamishForbes2007
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Firstpublished2007
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Forbes,HamishAlexander.
MeaningandidentityinaGreeklandscape:anarchaeologicalethnography/
HamishForbes.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn-13:978-0-521-86699-6(hardback)
isbn-10:0-521-86699-5(hardback)
1.MethanaPeninsula(Greece)–History. 2.MethanaPeninsula(Greece)–Antiquities.
3.Landscapearchaeology–Greece–MethanaPeninsula. 4.Excavations(Archaeology)–
Greece–MethanaPeninsula. I.Title.
df901.m54f67 2007
949.5(cid:2)12–dc22 2006039201
isbn 978-0-521-86699-6hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityfor
thepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsforexternalor
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Websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
To the women in my life: Anne, Helen, Janet and Lin
And to the memory of Michael H. Jameson,
whose ideas on the Greek
countryside led to the research described
here

CONTENTS
ListofIllustrationsandTables page xi
PrefaceandAcknowledgements xv
TransliterationConventions xxi
1 Introduction 1
2 Landscape Studies: From Frame-and-Tame to Visceral
Feeling 9
TheDevelopmentofLandscapeArchaeologyand
Anthropology 9
Phenomenology:ACriticalOverview 18
SensoryandVisceralLandscapes 30
TheoreticalApproachofthisStudy 44
3 Historical Background to the Landscape of Methana 50
Geology,GeomorphologyandSoils 51
MethanafromtheEndoftheMedievalPeriodto1821 56
From1821 totheFirstWorldWar 61
TheInterwarYears 83
TheSecondWorldWarOnwards 88
Conclusion 95
4 Conducting Fieldwork on Methana 97
CulturalEcologyStudies 97
ArchaeologicalSurvey 108
TheStudyofHouseholdsandHouseholdTransformation 110
vii
CONTENTS
ArchivalSourcesandMethanainthe1990s 111
PresentationoftheEvidence 113
Conclusion 114
5 Kinship, Marriage and the Transmission of Names
and Property 116
Introduction 117
FamilyandHousehold 118
OtherRelatives 124
ExtentoftheKinshipGroup 127
GreekKinshipandAnthropologicalKinship
Theory 136
MarriageAlliances 142
FictiveKin 149
Neighbours 152
KinshipObligations 152
NamesandNaming 157
DowryandInheritance 162
Conclusions 173
6 The Productive Landscape 177
Introduction 177
TheMethanaSettlementPatternasPartofa
Decision-MakingProcess 178
MethanaCommunitiesintheirLandscapes:Ethnographic
DataandArchaeologicalApproaches 184
TheMethanaLandscapeasaVerticalEconomy 190
TheCropRotationSystemintheLandscape 195
Site‘Territories’versusHousehold‘Territories’andthe
ProblemofAppropriateAnalyticalLevels 199
IndividualPlotsandtheirMeanings 203
Conclusion 205
7 The Historical Landscape: Memory, Monumentality
and Time-Depth 207
OfTimeandTime-Depth 207
OralTestimoniesandtheMemoryofPastEvents 210
KinshipandHistory:TheEffectofNameRecycling 212
OralTestimony,‘Official’HistoryandLocalHistory 219
viii
CONTENTS
TheMeaningfulPast 222
StructuresintheLandscape:MemorialsofPastTime 224
SettlementsandtheirLocationsasHistorical
Monuments 224
HousesasMonuments 227
Field-Houses 236
FieldsandTerraces 238
Wells,CisternsandLoutses 239
Ambaria 248
Grape-TreadingFloors 250
Churches 257
Cemeteries 259
TheWarMemorial 263
TheNatureofTime 264
Conclusions 284
8 The Kinship Landscape 286
Introduction 286
KinshipandtheVillageLandscape 287
KinshipandtheLandscapeoftheDead 314
KinshipandtheOrganisationoftheProductiveLandscape 318
KinshipandtheWiderLandscapeofMethana 327
TheKinshipLandscapeBeyondMethana 331
MethanitesinaLinguisticallyRelatedLandscape 333
Conclusions:AGreekLandscapewithRelatives 335
9 The Religious Landscape 343
TheSupernaturalintheLandscape 345
TheSupernaturalinMethanites’Lives 348
TheSupernaturalintheSettlementPattern 352
Panighiria 358
Extra-MuralChurches:EmptySpacesasCentralPlaces 359
TheReligiousLandscapeinthe1990s 374
TheDeadintheLandscape:Cemeteries 380
TheDeadintheLandscape:WaysideShrines 385
TheSupernaturalandMovementThroughtheLandscape 387
TheChangingImportanceofChurchesintheLandscape 391
Conclusions 392
ix