Marthari, M., C. Renfrew and M. Boyd 2019 Early Cycladic sculpture beyond the Cyclades - The Aegean context (original) (raw)

Marthari, M. 2017. Early Cycladic sculptures as archaeological objects

in M. Marthari, C. Renfrew and M. Boyd (eds.), Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context, Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow, pp. 13-21

It was a February afternoon in 2009, in the prehistoric antiquities room of the Archaeological Museum of Naxos, when I first talked with Colin Renfrew about the publication of all the Early Cycladic figurines found in excavations. Our conversation took place among the cases in which the antiquities from Keros, and all the large figurines from Aplomata, Phiondas, and other sites are exhibited. Renfrew, as the excavator of Keros, where a large number of marble figurine fragments and vases have been recently found, wanted to look for comparanda in the excavated material. The author, as the then Ephor of the Ephorate of Antiquities for the Cyclades but also the excavator of Skarkos, wished to see all the excavated material published. Thus we joined forces and after a long collaboration our efforts materialized in the form of a symposium entitled Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context, held at the Athens Archaeological Society on 27–29 May 2014. The results of this symposium are presented here. The current volume aims to publish a very important class of material, partly unknown to scholarship. At the same time, it constitutes a break from the usual way of treating and publishing Early Cycladic sculptures...