Labyrinth revisited: rethinking 'Minoan' archaeology
Labyrinth revisited: rethinking 'Minoan' archaeology
'Minoan' Crete is one of the most intensively investigated archaeological cultures in the world, and one that has often captured the public imagination. It is a Bronze Age Aegean society, but it has been intimately connected with the Classical Greek myth of King Minos and his Labyrinth since Sir Arthur Evans excavated and restored (some would say 'rebuilt') the important site of Knossos, more than a century ago. Yet many archaeological interpretations of this fascinating culture are still largely traditional in focus and often anachronistic. This collection of papers, challenging and re-examining many conventional and established versions of 'Minoan' history is thus long overdue. How have modern preconceptions and socio-political developments shaped archaeological interpretations of 'Minoan' society? What were the gender roles and attitudes of the inhabitants of Bronze Age Crete? How can data such as the puzzling architecture, the stunning wall-paintings, the elaborate and abundant pots, the landscape and the way it is perceived by humans, help us understand the nature and the negotiations of power and the role of the so-called palaces? These are some of the questions that this book addresses, considering 'Minoan' archaeology from a variety of interpretive angles, and situating 'Minoan' archaeology in the mainstream of archaeological thinking and practice. Contents: What Future for the 'Minoan' Past? Re-thinking Minoan Archaeology (Yannis Hamilakis); Archaeology as Museology: Re-thinking the Minoan Past (Donald Preziosi); Virtual Discourse: Arthur Evans and the Reconstructions of the Minoan Palace at Knossos (Louise Hitchcock and Paul Koudounaris); Cretan Questions: Politics and Archaeology 1898-1913 (John C McEnroe); Palaces with Faces in Protopalatial Crete: Looking for the People in the First Minoan States (Marianna Nikolaidou); Gender and the Figurative Art of Late Bronze Age Knossos (Benjamin Alberti); Integration and Complexity in the Late Pre-Palatial Period: A View from the Countryside in Eastern Crete (D C Haggis); Landscapes of Memory, Craft and Power in Pre-Palatial and Proto-Palatial Knossos (Peter M Day and David E Wilson); Mind the Gap: Between Pots and Politics in Minoan Studies (Carl Knappett); Pottery as a Barometer of Economic Change: From the Protopalatial to the Neopalatial Society in Central Crete (Aleydis Van de Moortel); Millennial Ambiguities (John Bennet).
1842170619
Hamilakis, Yannis
e40e6a1a-e416-4561-bf0d-e9e3337ede6a
2002
Hamilakis, Yannis
e40e6a1a-e416-4561-bf0d-e9e3337ede6a
Hamilakis, Yannis
(ed.)
(2002)
Labyrinth revisited: rethinking 'Minoan' archaeology
,
Oxford, UK.
Oxbow Books, 248pp.
Abstract
'Minoan' Crete is one of the most intensively investigated archaeological cultures in the world, and one that has often captured the public imagination. It is a Bronze Age Aegean society, but it has been intimately connected with the Classical Greek myth of King Minos and his Labyrinth since Sir Arthur Evans excavated and restored (some would say 'rebuilt') the important site of Knossos, more than a century ago. Yet many archaeological interpretations of this fascinating culture are still largely traditional in focus and often anachronistic. This collection of papers, challenging and re-examining many conventional and established versions of 'Minoan' history is thus long overdue. How have modern preconceptions and socio-political developments shaped archaeological interpretations of 'Minoan' society? What were the gender roles and attitudes of the inhabitants of Bronze Age Crete? How can data such as the puzzling architecture, the stunning wall-paintings, the elaborate and abundant pots, the landscape and the way it is perceived by humans, help us understand the nature and the negotiations of power and the role of the so-called palaces? These are some of the questions that this book addresses, considering 'Minoan' archaeology from a variety of interpretive angles, and situating 'Minoan' archaeology in the mainstream of archaeological thinking and practice. Contents: What Future for the 'Minoan' Past? Re-thinking Minoan Archaeology (Yannis Hamilakis); Archaeology as Museology: Re-thinking the Minoan Past (Donald Preziosi); Virtual Discourse: Arthur Evans and the Reconstructions of the Minoan Palace at Knossos (Louise Hitchcock and Paul Koudounaris); Cretan Questions: Politics and Archaeology 1898-1913 (John C McEnroe); Palaces with Faces in Protopalatial Crete: Looking for the People in the First Minoan States (Marianna Nikolaidou); Gender and the Figurative Art of Late Bronze Age Knossos (Benjamin Alberti); Integration and Complexity in the Late Pre-Palatial Period: A View from the Countryside in Eastern Crete (D C Haggis); Landscapes of Memory, Craft and Power in Pre-Palatial and Proto-Palatial Knossos (Peter M Day and David E Wilson); Mind the Gap: Between Pots and Politics in Minoan Studies (Carl Knappett); Pottery as a Barometer of Economic Change: From the Protopalatial to the Neopalatial Society in Central Crete (Aleydis Van de Moortel); Millennial Ambiguities (John Bennet).
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 2002
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 12017
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/12017
ISBN: 1842170619
PURE UUID: 8ce38eeb-c7c1-47d7-869b-b0a2b4673180
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 01 Jan 2005
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 13:38
Export record
Contributors
Editor:
Yannis Hamilakis
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics