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Papers by James Whitley

Antiquity, 2015

This is a brief review of a German publication of Greek excavations at the important site of Verg... more This is a brief review of a German publication of Greek excavations at the important site of Vergina in Greek Macedonia.

Antiquity, 2003

Mike Pitts (2003) is certainly right to claim that contemporary interest in ancestors is widespre... more Mike Pitts (2003) is certainly right to claim that contemporary interest in ancestors is widespread. In A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh Piglet insists that he has an ancestor, 'Trespassers Will[iam]', whose (alas, fragmentary) sign is set beside his house, and whose presence 'legitimates' Piglet's claim to his home. Some of course may suspect that Piglet is mistaken, and that one should use the term ancestor in a strict, anthropological sense, as I advocated in my paper (Whitley 2002). Ancestors are not simply the dead, but more specifically those dead who have had descendants who also choose to remember them. In adopting a colloquial or populist sense of the term ancestor-'people who came before us'-Pitts puts himself very much in the 'Piglet' camp. Ancestors help you to feel in touch with the past, whether or not they are your actual forebears. It is only from this perspective that it makes sense to equate 'supernatural entities such as the god Woden and other monsters, demons and elves' with 'ancestral creatures'. Here ancestors have been detached from any notion of kinship or descent. This perhaps explains Pitts' reluctance to deal with the knotty problem of descent groups. He presents no hard evidence-osteological or biological evidence that is-that those buried together in long barrows or successively in round were related to one another. He falls back on assertion-'it would be perverse to deny that people must have [emphasis mine] been aware of their own ancestors'. That the criterion for people being buried together in the same place might be sodality, gender, class or rank rather than ancestry or kinship is nowhere even considered. 'The dead' and 'the ancestors' are treated as synonyms. Loose terminology of this kind is the enemy of intellectual seriousness. If British prehistorians wish to engage in a productive conversation with anthropologists or other archaeologists about the role of ancestors and ancestry in pre-modern societies they will have to learn to treat their terms with greater respect.

Archaeological Reports, 2007

The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2010

The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1988

An interest in the Greek idea of the hero, and in the cults established in Greek states to histor... more An interest in the Greek idea of the hero, and in the cults established in Greek states to historical or legendary figures endowed with this status, has for long been one of the chief concerns of research into Greek philology and religion. But it is only through the gradual accumulation of archaeological evidence of Geometric and Archaic date that the origins of ‘hero cults’ have begun to be seen as an historical problem requiring an historical explanation. The most recent general works on Geometric and Archaic Greece, by J. N. Coldstream, Anthony Snodgrass and François de Polignac, have long sections devoted to discussing the significance of hero cults, and general ‘pan-hellenic’ explanations have been offered for their occurrence. Whilst there may be much truth in their suggestions, such ‘pan-Hellenic’ explanations ignore important local differences in the archaeological and material manifestations of hero cults. These differences, I would argue, relate in part to the different pa...

The Classical Review, 2006

The Classical Review, 2001

Sixth-century Athens is an era we ought to know something about. In fact, most of what we know ab... more Sixth-century Athens is an era we ought to know something about. In fact, most of what we know about its politics (and about sixth-century politicians such as Peisistratos) comes from two sources: Herodotos, and the Athenaion Politeia, a source clearly based in turn on Herodotos. The problems inherent in reliance on both these sources have been much discussed. Need they be discussed again? The contributors to this volume (based on seminar papers given in Utrecht in 1993) obviously think so. All make a stab at reassessing the various kinds of literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological evidence which has, for one reason or another, been linked to the ‘Peisistratid tyranny’. Unfortunately many of the contributors succumb to the cardinal temptation of ‘source based’ approaches—that of letting the sources themselves dictate the questions we ask. The results are often unsatisfactory. Singor (on the military side), Blok (on Phye’s procession), and Wallinga (on the naukraroi) are keen to tell us all they know about the sources. Their own interpretations are peppered with terms such as ‘probably’, ‘surely’, and ‘must have been’. Boersma (on building activity) and Van der Vin (on coins) are, by comparison, brief and to the point (though it is a pity, in a volume that relies so heavily on material evidence, that there is not one illustration). There are nonetheless a number of papers that take a refreshingly sceptical look at these ‘sources’. The combined e¶ect of reading Boersma, Slings (on literature), and the two excellent articles by the editor herself is to destroy any naive belief one might have had that the sources could be made to yield a coherent political narrative, or that there could be precise and meaningful correlations between a political narrative and the material record. Notions such as ‘Peisistratid propaganda’ or ‘a Peisistratid building programme’ are ruthlessly demolished. Archaeological data cannot be dated precisely enough to be linked with episodes of Peisistratid rule, and the sources for such episodes (based, it seems, on oral testimony collected from di¶erent sources several generations after the events they purport to describe) are hopelessly confused. Sancisi-Weerdenburg e¶ectively skewers the idea that, because Herodotos is all we have, Herodotos must perforce be believed. Talk of a ‘Peisistratid cultural policy’ is an anachronism, as is the idea that either Peisistratos or Hippias could have occupied any well-deμned position within the Athenian constitution. But if the ‘sources’ cannot yield a political narrative, what is the alternative? In the time between the presentation and publication of these papers, other scholars—notably Sanne Houby-Nielsen on Athenian burials—have been quietly getting on with the business of archaeological synthesis and analysis. It may eventually, then, be possible to write a viable ‘archaeological history’ of sixth-century Athenian culture and politics, even if the personalities of Peisistratos and his sons remain as far away as ever.

The Classical Review, 2008

The Classical Review, 1994

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2013

In recent years, material culture studies have come to embrace contemporary Melanesia and Europea... more In recent years, material culture studies have come to embrace contemporary Melanesia and European prehistory, but not classical archaeology and art. Prehistory is still thought, in many quarters, to be intrinsically more ‘ethnographic’ than historical periods; in this discourse, the Greeks (by default) become proto-modern individuals, necessarily opposed to Melanesian ‘dividuals’. Developments in the study of the Iron Age Mediterranean and the world of Homer should undermine such stark polarities. Historic and proto-historic archaeologies have rich potential for refining our notions both of agency and of personhood. This article argues that the forms of material entanglements we find in the Homeric poems, and the forms of agency (sensu Gell 1998) that we can observe in the archaeological record for the Early Iron Age of Greece (broadly 1000–500 bc) are of the same kind. The agency of objects structures Homeric narrative, and Homeric descriptions allow us precisely to define Homeric...

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2002

Aegean prehistory still has to deal with the legacy of ‘Homeric archaeology’. One of these legaci... more Aegean prehistory still has to deal with the legacy of ‘Homeric archaeology’. One of these legacies is the ‘warrior grave’, or practice of burying individuals (men?) with weapons which we find both in the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in the Aegean. This article suggests that the differences between the ‘weapon burial rituals’ in these two periods can tell us much about the kind of social and cultural changes that took place across the Bronze Age/Iron Age ‘divide’ of c. 1100 BC. In neither period, however, can items deposited in ‘warrior graves’ be seen as straightforward biographical facts that tell us what the individual did and suffered in life. Rather, the pattern of grave goods should be seen as a metaphor for a particular kind of identity and ideal. It is only in the Early Iron Age that this identity begins to correspond to the concept of the ‘hero’ as described in the Iliad. One means towards our better understanding of this new identity is to follow up work in anthr...

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2010

Reviews haps Härke's most enlightening judgement on the subject, exists at the heart of all the c... more Reviews haps Härke's most enlightening judgement on the subject, exists at the heart of all the contributions, if more explicitly in some than in others. As the flyleaf claims, the book will undoubtedly provide a wide range of accessible case studies for students of the early Middle Ages (the continental studies being especially welcome). Whether it sets a new agenda for mortuary archaeology might be more questionable, but it certainly engages with and showcases a wide and inspiring range of current debates.

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2008

Archaeological Reports, 2006

By James Whitley, Sophia Germanidou, Dusanka Urem-Kotsou, Anastasia Dimoula, ... Irene Nikolakopo... more By James Whitley, Sophia Germanidou, Dusanka Urem-Kotsou, Anastasia Dimoula, ... Irene Nikolakopoulou, Artemis Karnava and Eleni Hatzaki ... INTRODUCTION As the cover page of this year&amp;amp;#x27;s Archaeological Reports should make clear, this year&amp;amp;#x27;s Archaeology in Greece ...

Archaeological Reports, 2010

Palaiomanina (near mod. Astakos). Apogevmatini, Ethnos (29/03/2007), Vradyni (22/03/2007) and Ele... more Palaiomanina (near mod. Astakos). Apogevmatini, Ethnos (29/03/2007), Vradyni (22/03/2007) and Eleftheros Typos (23/03/2007) report on a summary of five years of investigation of this walled city, which may be anc. Mitropolis, situated next to the river Acheloos. The city is surrounded by a formidable outer fortification wall, 1.65 km l., enclosing an area of 7.5ha overall. Within this is a fortified inner enclosure (1.4ha) and a fortified acropolis and refuge (0.5ha). The outer wall has a sophisticated gate ('court gate') similar to the Arcadian gate in anc. Messene. Differences in the style of masonry (polygonal in places, isodomic in others) indicate different phases of construction of the fortification from the 5 th to the 3 th Ct BC. Little remains on the surface of the Cl−Hel houses within the city, though one building with multiple rooms can be distinguished. Finds of Geo−Ar pottery, bronzes and graves of the 8 th −6 th Ct BC, various Ar inscriptions (some from tombs and one important 6 th Ct inscription) indicate that the settlement is of some antiquity.

The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2010

This paper presents the results of a large-scale petrological study of Early Iron Age (twelfth-se... more This paper presents the results of a large-scale petrological study of Early Iron Age (twelfth-seventh centuries bc) coarse wares from north-central Crete. 210 samples were taken for analysis from six locations at Knossos, representing distinct funerary, domestic, and ritual contexts. The pottery selected represents coarse to semi-fine fabrics and a variety of vessel types and sizes. The bulk (188) of the samples can be divided into seven fabric groups, with 22 loners or pairs. Four of the seven fabric groups exhibit a mineralogy that is consistent with local geology. The functional ceramic range is clearly reflected in the methods of clay preparation: coarse wares, cooking pot wares and fine wares have distinct clay paste technology. Three of the fabric groups, however, appear to be non-local, twelve samples coming from elsewhere in Crete, and twenty-three from elsewhere in the Aegean. Fabric groups 4 and 7 seem to represent a rather specialized local taste for exotic (possibly Cyc...

The Annual of the British School at Athens, 1995

This is a report of an architectural survey of the site of Praisos in E. Crete, undertaken in 199... more This is a report of an architectural survey of the site of Praisos in E. Crete, undertaken in 1992. A plan of ancient and modern features was produced, which included remains surviving above ground such as ancient walls, rockcuttings, cut blocks, and spolia, together with more detailed plans of features and concentrations of features. This documentation has been supplemented with photographs, elevation drawings, and descriptions of selected features, especially rock-cuttings. Rock-cut features, common on many Cretan sites, have rarely been described in detail or discussed properly; the article seeks to remedy this state of affairs to some extent. The remains seem to date to the Minoan, archaic, and late classical–hellenistic periods, particularly the last. Some historical conclusions are drawn.

The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2011

This is a report on the excavations undertaken in 2007 at the site of Praisos in eastern Crete. T... more This is a report on the excavations undertaken in 2007 at the site of Praisos in eastern Crete. Three trenches were opened just next to the so-called Andreion or Almond Tree House on the NW slopes of the First Acropolis, excavated by R.C. Bosanquet in 1901. The upper layers of two of these trenches (A-200 and A-300) consisted of re-deposited material of Classical and Hellenistic date, which we infer came from Bosanquet's dump. Material from these upper layers comprised tile, pottery (including numerous examples of Cretan necked cups), loomweights and terracotta plaques with a distinct masculine iconography. Excavation also reached lower Late-Classical–Hellenistic floor levels, on which a number of pithoi survived in situ. Some of these pithoi are considerably older than the floor level, a terminus post quem for which is provided by a bronze coin. The abandonment of these houses must be dated to the final phases of Praisos' occupation, before 146 bc. There is however nothing ...