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Review of Classical Archaeology by Susan E Alcock and Robin Osborne By Nick Steffen

Steffen 2 Once upon a time, classical archaeology was the only archaeology. Because much of medieval education had been based on the classical texts of Rome and Greece and the Christian scriptures, it only made sense that those fascinated by such tales of wonder were spurred to further study those ancient times in more concrete detail. This interest quickly transformed into antiquarianism and the special study of those valuable items (ie anything that seems like treasure) that were obtained or found. Since these studies were focused on such treasures, the specialties of archaeology became mired in the minutiae of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and military items. As such, even after archaeology found its way out of the Mediterranean and into Africa, South America, and even into the backwoods of England, most people thought of classical archaeology as a study of Greek and Roman art. This work seeks to explicate the last thirty years or so as a journey away from such a model toward a far more normative archaeological picture of the Mediterranean peoples. To this end, Alcock and Osborne break the analysis into several pieces, discussing the methods before launching their project, which includes chapters on ecology, human spaces (both urban and rural), housing, religion, the relation of the individual to the political, identity, and the influences on and from other communities. The authors explore these subjects from both the Greek and Roman perspectives, which helpfully protects these individual categories from being subsumed into the greater Classical understanding of antiquity. By beginning with the natural infrastructure and working towards the social structures of these communities, our editors are placing their analysis directly within the thought world of modern anthropology. This move is important to understand as they are attempting to bring Classical Archaeology (and its walled off subfields we discussed above) into the greater conversation of historical archaeology, which does not merely require the ability to identify the period a particular piece of pottery represents, but also the way Greeks and Romans interacted with that implement. This is a significant adjustment that cannot be dismissed. They are not organizing the book b classes of material

Steffen 3 or by historical periods. They are broadening the scope of archaeology to explore the wider space of how people interacted with their world, as well as how that world interacted with them. First, the question what is Classical Archaeology had to be posed and (eventually) disposed of. They point out that they persist with the adjective classical not because of, but in spite of the value judgments that such a term seems to apply. They are quick to acknowledge that Classical Archaeology as a distinct field has a history and that their vision of this subject must be held as part of that greater tradition. However, they are not insensitive to that greater historical context. Yet in the archaeology of the Greek world and the archaeology of the Roman world that past literature carries a burden that extends beyond the particular substantive discoveries and insights that it records. The material culture of Greece and Rome has been uniquely freighted with moral value, and has come to play an ongoing role in the formation of western sensibilities. We are not disinterested partners in this discussion, as the history of Greece and Rome is our history and largely provides the intellectual foundation out of which our methods, assumptions, and worldview have been built. Before reviewing the individual chapters of this book, though, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised that two chapters were added which discussed the modern practice of Classical Archaeology. Though this is certainly a theme that could have been profitably explored throughout the entire text, it was an enormously helpful section to add as it provided some political, social, and personal context for the more academic discussion that follows. Moreover, we need these stories and frank discussions of the real day to day work of archaeology to remain part of discipline s history, lest in our pride we fall into the mire of romanticism and uncritical attitudes that have often marred this type of study in the past. For example, one of the authors points out a conflict between his PhD advisor and himself on his first archaeological project. The advisor had taken the stance that the responsibility of good archaeology is to report the facts. However, the author quickly found when undergoing such a study

Steffen 4 that the limitations such an approach would have to exploring these peoples world in detail. Even when on the ground, such quick questions about what is classical archaeology are not simple academic exercises, but necessary groundwork for the actual practice. Though the chapter goes on to explore the political and social interests that struggle in the practice of archaeology (eg Greece s tradition of using archaeology to support the nationalistic interests of Greek polities, both local and national), we must end our discussion here before we lose sight of the greater project. In chapter three, we begin to read of the human ecology in the classical landscape. This is not the mere classification and examination of various species of flora and fauna, but the more precise sense of ecology as the study of how organisms (in this case, people) have adapted to the environments of the Mediterranean region. Since this kind of mastery of the landscape is fundamental to the rising of such a landscape (eg consider the massive agricultural programs of Inca in South America and its necessity to the functioning of the state), this question is not merely a pragmatic one, but one of how people relate to their environment. To support local agriculture, they needed to control rainfall by way of small plots surrounded by trees. To support local herding, they needed adjust to the differences of altitude that would have impacted grazing patterns. Finally, for both flora and fauna, individuals selected for specific plant and animal domesticates which were adapted to this environment. However, the ecological landscape is not simply one of local plants and animals affecting human action, but of the reverse process as well. Specifically, the author points to four major themes that seem to describe the effects of human action upon these regions. First, the replacement of forested land with settlement and farmland. Second, the deciduous woodlands have been selected to maximize the production of nuts, fodder, building materials, and fuel. Third, grazing has impacted the altitudinal vegetative zones by moving them up to (and sometimes including) the tree line. Fourth, we see a number of distinct vegetative forms (mostly hardy and scrubby bushes) that have managed to survive these periods of human use.

Steffen 5 The next chapter begins to examine the countryside of these periods, which, hardly the blank space on most maps that it seems to be, the countryside provides an alternative viewpoint to understand the material remains of human interaction. Though this, like the ecology we discussed above, has been largely ignored by much of the archaeological tradition, it is starting to shed some measure of light on the state of life for those non-elites who populated the rural world. Simply understanding how many people lived in the countryside or what they grew would dramatically fill out our picture of that world. This shift in focus also seems to appropriately adjust our perceptions that have skewed the word political. So unlike today, the polis of Greece would have included the country as well as the town. These units in no way demarcated along those stricter lines that we seem to see today between urban and rural. Due to the lack of such evidence in these areas, though, much of this study has relied upon regional studies, which have examined a number of specialty sites, such as wells, threshing floors, kilns, mills, caves, quarries, dumps, drainage ditches, mines, etc. There is substantially more evidence for the urban life and its landscape. For example, the polis Homer describes in the Odyssey (6.7-10) is set up by building a wall, houses, temples, and finally by distributing the fields. The author goes on to point out that most Homeric cities have an agora and a main sanctuary, walls, a territory of farmland, and are surrounded by grazing land, forests, and mountains. From these descriptions it is not hard to notice the primacy of walls and the extent to which these early cities were seen as safe points. Plato confirms this by pointing out that the first cities were founded for protection against the wild beasts (in the Protagoras). The author goes on to describe how this relation of inside as safe and outside as dangerous seems to permeate early Greek literature, culture, and thought. Since later Greek colonization provides a number of good examples of Greek city planning (these communities are mostly in Sicily and Southern Italy), which confirms these suspicions and emphasize the egalitarian nature of these cities.

Steffen 6 Megara Hyblaia, founded in 728 BC is a surprisingly early example of a large-sacle regular grid of streets (not yet orthogonal but parallel to each other) which, planned and laid out at the beginning, defined equal plots for houses, and left a free area for the agora. Similarly, in these colonies the territory was regularly divided into equal pieces of farmland and assigned to each of the colonists. P 167 Next, the archaeological dimension of classical life is explored in the following chapter. The progression of housing complexity from a single enclosed (or semi-enclosed space) onward can portray any number of changing social conditions as the number of functions a house provides expands. A good example is the interaction of men s and women s life in sixth century Greece. Historical sources seem to suggest that they lead quite separate lives (both socially and domestically) and some architectural explorations may lend this theory credence. For example, the Zagora houses were discovered to have a binary structures with an open courtyard between them. Though this is hardly proof of the concept, it does seem to support a certain amount of cultural segregation between men and women. That being said, such evidence definitively shows the increasing complexity in such houses, as separate rooms begin to be walled off. As we move into the Roman period, we see significantly increased complexity that has formed into a number of distinct styles. Some houses are built around an atrium, some with a courtyard, and many others what appear to be apartment blocks, or insulae that can contain a number of dwellings within a single structure (it was found that almost half of the inhabitants at Pompeii rented their homes), as well as villas, and a number of other distinctive types. The following chapter on cult and ritual delves into the far more traditional reaches of Classical Archaeology, discussing the various kinds of cult acts (their origins, remains, implications), the process of placing those cult acts (many of these acts did not demand some overtly religious sanctuary but are often significant in their spatial placement), to the more marginal acts that may or may not have been acceptable to greater public. These would include the use of what have been called voodoo dolls , messages sent with the dead (often this was related to specific mystery cults), or curses that were

Steffen 7 written down and deposited. It is hard to underemphasize the role of religion and the gods played within Greek and Roman culture, extending from the political need for morality, structure, and order all the way down to the individual s relation to the environment and the need for safety and security in that dangerous world that lies beyond the walls of the city. Religion provides the interface between man and God, between man and everything else (known and unknown). If we are to understand man s action, it is first and foremost one of religion. This becomes clearer in the case of the dolls and curses we discussed above. Religious paraphernalia was not intended for show as much as for action. It was created to affect something. Finally, our text comes to discussions of the interrelationship between the personal and political realms. In general, Classical Archaeology tends to focus on material or socio-political structures rather than to the named individuals (largely due to very real methodological issues), but our author suggests that there is more space to cover. Specifically, he uses a study of literate Egypt to start considering the human agency and person by way of five specific variables: the cultural concept of personhood, the anonymous individuals (often funerary), individuals distinguished by action (often craftsmen), and representations of people in art and architecture, and historically known individuals. Noting the complexities of such a list, he goes on into a focused study on Alexander the Great and his legacy, from the political material remains left behind and an understanding of the state of the Alexandrian polis remains that have survived. Though the book as a whole communicates far more detailed information about the creative identity of individuals and the way that material remains continue to shed light on the Classical period, I hope to have provided enough of an overview to understand the project as a whole. I appreciated the focus on the practice of archaeology itself rather than identification of diverse kinds of material remains, though some of the paradigms provided did seem to help give some structure for the topic at hand. Though I do think more could have been done with the ecological and religious analyses of these

Steffen 8 landscapes, the book as a whole seems to be an important step in bringing together the various elements of modern Classical Archaeology without letting the material elements guide the conversation.