BOOK REVIEW: Roberta Gilchrist. Sacred Heritage: Monastic Archaeology, Identities, Beliefs (original) (raw)
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This article aims to raise issues for discussion about the change in the use and concept of sacred landscapes, which were originally constructed in the era of the Cypriot kings (the basileis), but then continued to function in a new imperial environment, that of the rule of the Ptolemaic strategos and later of the Roman proconsul and the various Christian bishops. Our archaeological survey project in the Xeros river valley, titled 'Settled and Sacred Landscapes of Cyprus', reveals that these new politico-economic structures were also supported by the construction of symbolically charged sacred landscapes. Thus, while outlining the long history of the island as manifested from the diachronic study of Cypriot sacred landscapes, we identify three pivotal phases: first, the consolidation of the Cypriot polities and the establishment of a 'full' sacred landscape; second, the transition from segmented to unitary administration under the Ptolemaic and Roman imperial rule and the consolidation of a more 'unified sacred landscape'; and finally, the establishment of a number of Christian bishoprics on the island and the movement back to a 'full' sacred landscape. Moving beyond the discipline of Cypriot archaeology, this contribution aims to serve as a paradigm for the implications that the employment of the 'sacred landscapes' concept may have when addressing issues of socio-political and socioeconomic transformations. While it is very difficult to define or capture the concept of landscape in a pre-modern world, it offers a useful means by which to assess changing local conditions. We have also attempted to situate the term in archaeological thought, in order to allow the concept to become a more powerful investigative tool for approaching the past.
SOMA 2003: Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology
2005
With the intention of integrating the archaeology of the Mediterranean's different regions, the annual SOMA conference was held in 2003 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. These thirty-two papers, which form the proceedings, are multi-disciplinary and consider evidence and sites from the Pleistocene through to Late Antiquity. Subjects range from the dispersal of hominids around the Mediterranean and ancient Near Eastern skull cults to Libyan funerary architecture and monkeys in Egyptian and Minoan art and culture. Other subjects include: the antiquities market; the south Italic fighting technique; north Syria in the 6th century AD; Roman fulling; religion in the southern Levant Chalcolithic; Hellenistic numismatics; burial customs in Argos; the Mycenaean Argolid; gender identities in Egypt; Punic altars; Samnium and the Roman world; archaeological museum space; monument conservation; ethnic identity in archaic Pompeii. All of the papers are in English. 170p, b/w illus (Archaeopress BAR S1391, 2005) 32 papers from the Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology held at the Institute of Archaeology, London in 2003. Contents: North Syria in the sixth century AD: coast and hinterland (N. Beaudry); Intra-regional variation in long distance trading relationships on the northern Levantine coast – the key to site survival? (C. Bell); The south Italic fighting technique (M. Burns); The Necropolis of Capestrano: New Excavations and Finds (M. Capodicassa); Corn-mummies come to light (M. Centrone); The Tomb S1 of Cyrene: from the Hellenistic phase to Christian re-use (L. Cherstich); Lilith across the ages (V. Danrey); Cycles of island colonisation in the prehistoric Mediterranean (H. Dawson); Adventures in Fields of Flowers: Research on contemporary saffron cultivation and its application to the Bronze Age Aegean (J. Day); Votive niches in funerary architecture in Cyrenaica (Lybia)(E. Di Valerio et al.); Ars Fullonia. Interpreting and contextualising Roman fulling (M. Flohr); GIS Study of the Rural Sanctuaries in Abruzzo: Preliminary Report (D. Fossataro et al.); How monkeys evolved in Egyptian and Minoan art and culture (C. Greenlaw); The central place of religion in Chalcolithic society of the southern Levant (E. Kaptijn); Archaeology's well kept secret: The managed antiquities market (M. Kersel); New images of the Erechtheion by European travellers (A. Lesk); Mani: A unique historic landscape in the periphery of Europe (K. Liwieratos); Numismatics, Hellenism, and the Enemies of Alexander Jannaeus (K. McAleese); The Hominid Dispersal into Mediterranean Europe during the Early to Middle Pleistocene: the Sabre-toothed cat connection (L. Marlow); Gendering figurines, engendering people in early Aegean prehistory (M. Mina); Naue II swords and the collapse of the Aegean Bronze Age (B. Malloy); Urban development and local identities: The case of Gerasa from the late Republican period to the mid-3rd century AD (R. Raja); Burial customs and social change in Argos from the Protogeometric to the Late Roman Period (1100 BC - 500 AD)(F. Ramondetti); Open endings at Osteria dell’Osa (Lazio). Exploring domestic aspects of funerary contexts in the Early Iron Age of Central Italy (E. van Rossenberg; A scale of identity in the Mycenaean Argolid (D. Sahlén); Expressions of ethnic and gender identities in Egypt during the Early 1st Millennium B.C.E. (H. Saleh); Altars and cult installations of Punic tradition in Western Sicily (F. Spagnoli); Sacred landscape and the construction of identity: Samnium and the Roman world (T. Stek); Investigating colonialism and post-colonialism in the archaeological museum space: The case of the Lebanon and France (L. Tahan); Ethnic identity in archaic Pompeii (E. Thiermann); Monument conservation in the Mediterranean: Issues and aspects of anastylosis (K. Vacharopoulou); The skull cult of the Ancient Near East. Problems and new approaches (A. Wossink).
In this paper we elaborate on the relationship between sanctuaries and the territorial claims of the Iron Age polities of Cyprus. Drawing on ideas from theoretical and methodological studies on landscape archaeology and their relevant applications in other Mediterranean histories, we explore how spatial order i.e., the hierarchical arrangement of sites, as observed in sacred landscapes, articulates social order and is linked with shifting relations of power and cultural influence in an ancient Cypriot context. The sanctuary site of Vavla-Kapsalaes is the case-study we employ to test various hypotheses regarding the relation between the extra-urban sacred space and the formation of various political and cultural identities in Iron Age Cyprus. Both archaeological and geographic data are implemented with GIS analyses in order to contextualise this sanctuary within its broader political, economic, cultural and symbolic landscapes.
Landscape archaeology and sacred space in the Eastern Mediterranean: a glimpse from Cyprus
Land, 2017
This article aims to raise issues for discussion about the change in the use and concept of sacred landscapes, which were originally constructed in the era of the Cypriot kings (the basileis), but then continued to function in a new imperial environment, that of the rule of the Ptolemaic strategos and later of the Roman proconsul and the various Christian bishops. Our archaeological survey project in the Xeros river valley, titled 'Settled and Sacred Landscapes of Cyprus', reveals that these new politico-economic structures were also supported by the construction of symbolically charged sacred landscapes. Thus, while outlining the long history of the island as manifested from the diachronic study of Cypriot sacred landscapes, we identify three pivotal phases: first, the consolidation of the Cypriot polities and the establishment of a 'full' sacred landscape; second, the transition from segmented to unitary administration under the Ptolemaic and Roman imperial rule and the consolidation of a more 'unified sacred landscape'; and finally, the establishment of a number of Christian bishoprics on the island and the movement back to a 'full' sacred landscape. Moving beyond the discipline of Cypriot archaeology, this contribution aims to serve as a paradigm for the implications that the employment of the 'sacred landscapes' concept may have when addressing issues of socio-political and socioeconomic transformations. While it is very difficult to define or capture the concept of landscape in a pre-modern world, it offers a useful means by which to assess changing local conditions. We have also attempted to situate the term in archaeological thought, in order to allow the concept to become a more powerful investigative tool for approaching the past.
Eurydice Kefalidou (Ed.), , 2022
Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, 2018 - Volume 6: The Riverlands of Aegean Thrace / River Valleys and Regional Economies The papers of this volume address topics such as the reconfiguration of ancient river routes, the settlement and exploitation patterns that were formed around them, the boundaries of the chora of various cities, towns, villages and farmsteads, and the communication or the tensions between different groups that moved or expanded beyond their original habitation zone due to environmental and/or economic reasons. Panels 2.4 and 2.7 explore multiple facets of some Central and Eastern Mediterranean riverlands.
Sanctuaries and religion were instrumental in forming the worldview of the ancient Cypriots, and one would expect that social power relations, meanings, and identities were expressed through the holistic concept of sacred landscapes. This contribution primarily discusses the change in the use and perception of sacred landscapes, which were originally constructed in the era of the Cypriot basileis (kings) but continued to function in a new political environment under the control of the Ptolemaic strategos (general). Furthermore, it proposes a contextualized methodology for approaching the study of sacred landscapes in Iron Age Cyprus, revealing new possibilities and their effects on our understanding of Cypriot social, cultural, and political histories and at the same time indicating the limits and the dangers of such a task. Drawing on ideas from theoretical/methodological studies of landscape archaeology and their relevant applications in other Mediterranean histories, this article explores how spatial order (i.e., the hierarchical arrangement of sites), as observed in sacred landscapes, is expected to articulate social order and to be linked with shifting relations of power and cultural influence in an ancient Cypriot context. It also suggests that a closer consideration of sacred landscapes and their complexities from a long-term perspective not only makes the transition from the Cypriot city-kingdoms to the Hellenistic period more comprehensible but also illuminates the political and sociocultural histories of both periods when they are studied in their own terms. Archaeological Institute of America Jstor link: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.3764/aja.117.1.0033?searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dpapantoniou%252C%2BGiorgos%26amp%3Bprq%3Damerican%2Bjournal%2Bof%2Barchaeology%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff&resultItemClick=true&Search=yes&searchText=papantoniou%252C&searchText=Giorgos&uid=3737848&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21105808080823