A new island archaeology and island history of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Cyprus, set in its Mediterranean context. In this extensively illustrated study, A. Bernard Knapp addresses an under-studied but dynamic new field of archaeological enquiry - the social identity of prehistoric and protohistoric Mediterranean islanders.
Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- 1. Mattia Pascal and the name of Cyprus -- Notes -- 2. Seeing the unseen: a brief overview of Cypriot historiography -- Notes -- 3. The mousetrap of methodology -- Act I: General problems of method -- Act II: Literary and material sources for early medieval Cyprus -- Notes -- 4. A history of Cyprus in the early Middle Ages -- Cyprus from the sixth to the ninth century -- The power of the Cypriot Church -- Notes -- 5. Urban versus rural: the many sides of the Cypriot coin -- Overcoming the caesurae -- Surveying the Cypriot countryside -- Salamis-Constantia and its sisters: Cypriot urbanism in transition -- Notes -- 6. An insular economy in transition -- The economy of early medieval Cyprus -- In a league of their own: ceramics in early medieval Cyprus -- Notes -- 7. Aftermath and conclusions -- Cyprus in the ninth and tenth centuries -- Concluding remarks -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
New Directions in Cypriot Archaeology highlights current scholarship that employs a range of new techniques, methods, and theoretical approaches to questions related to the archaeology of the prehistoric and protohistoric periods on the island of Cyprus. From revolutions in radiocarbon dating, to the compositional analysis of ceramic remains, to the digital applications used to study landscape histories at broad scales, to rethinking human-environment/climate interrelationships, the last few decades of research on Cyprus invite inquiry into the implications of these novel archaeological methods for the field and its future directions. This edited volume gathers together a new generation of scholars who offer a revealing exploration of these insights as well as challenges to big questions in Cypriot archaeology, such as the rise of social complexity, urban settlement histories, and changes in culture and identity. These enduring topics provide the foundation for investigating the benefits and challenges of twenty-first-century methods and conceptual frameworks. Divided into three main sections related to critical chronological transitions, from earliest prehistory to the development of autonomous kingdoms during the Iron Age, each contribution exposes and engages with a different advance in studies of material culture, absolute dating, paleoenvironmental analysis, and spatial studies using geographic information systems. From rethinking the chronological transitions of the Early Bronze Age, to exploring regional craft production regimes of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, to locating Iron Age cemeteries through archival topographic maps, these exciting and pioneering authors provide innovative ways of thinking about Cypriot archaeology and its relationship to the wider discipline. List of Contributors: Georgia M. Andreou, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Classics, Cornell University Stella Diakou, Postdoctoral Fellow, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou, Postdoctoral Fellow, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus David Frankel, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University Artemis Georgiou, Marie Curie Research Fellow, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus Catherine Kearns, Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Chicago Sturt W. Manning, Goldwin Smith Professor of Classical Archaeology, Cornell University Eilis Monahan, PhD Candidate, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University Charalambos Paraskeva, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus Anna Satraki, Director of Larnaka District Museum, Department of Antiquities of Cyprus Matthew Spigelman, ACME Heritage Consultants, Partner
Social Approaches to an Industrial Past addresses the social issues of mining communities in research spanning a period of 4,500 years. The volume considers themes which are relatively new to archaeology: * the social context of production * gender * power and labour exploitation * imperialism and colonialism * production and technology.
The Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean are some of the most politically charged regions in which archaeology is implicated. Historically, they played a formative role in the birth of archaeology as a discipline. Archaeology Under Fire addresses archaeology's role in current political issues, including the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, the division of Cyprus, and the continued destruction of Beirut. The contributors consider the positive role of the past as a means of reconciliation, whether it be in Turkey, Israel, and the Gulf. They advocate a responsible global archaeology, and an awareness of contemporary issues can only enhance this aim.
As a major tourist destination and the most eastern member of the European Union, housing two British Sovereign Bases and sitting at the intersection of three continents, Cyprus attracts international attention in more ways than one; hence the complex web of converging and conflicting outside interests that has marked and scarred the country’s history. Since 2009, when the previous edition appeared, further big changes have occurred with the United Nations-led efforts to bring about a settlement to the Cyprus problem as well as the latest on the exploration of hydrocarbon in the eastern Mediterranean seabed. Historical Dictionary of Cyprus, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has several hundred cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, architecture, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Cyprus.
Material Connections eschews outdated theory, tainted by colonialist attitudes, and develops a new cultural and historical understanding of how factors such as mobility, materiality, conflict and co-presence impacted on the formation of identity in the ancient Mediterranean. Fighting against ‘hyper-specialisation’ within the subject area, it explores the multiple ways that material culture was used to establish, maintain and alter identities, especially during periods of transition, culture encounter and change. A new perspective is adopted, one that perceives the use of material culture by prehistoric and historic Mediterranean peoples in formulating and changing their identities. It considers how objects and social identities are entangled in various cultural encounters and interconnections. The movement of people as well as objects has always stood at the heart of attempts to understand the courses and process of human history. The Mediterranean offers a wealth of such information and Material Connections, expanding on this base, offers a dynamic, new subject of enquiry – the social identify of prehistoric and historic Mediterranean people – and considers how migration, colonial encounters, and connectivity or insularity influence social identities. The volume includes a series of innovative, closely related case studies that examine the contacts amongst various Mediterranean islands – Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, the Balearics – and the nearby shores of Italy, Greece, North Africa, Spain and the Levant to explore the social and cultural impact of migratory, colonial and exchange encounters. Material Connections forges a new path in understanding the material culture of the Mediterranean and will be essential for those wishing to develop their understanding of material culture and identity in the Mediterranean.
This 500,000 word reference work provides the most comprehensive general treatment available of the peoples and places of the regions commonly referred to as the ancient Near and Middle East - extending from the Aegean coast of Turkey in the west to the Indus river in the east. It contains some 1,500 entries on the kingdoms, countries, cities, and population groups of Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Iran and parts of Central Asia, from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the Persian empire. Five distinguished international scholars have collaborated with the author on the project. Detailed accounts are provided of the Near/Middle Eastern peoples and places known to us from historical records. Each of these entries includes specific references to translated passages from the relevant ancient texts. Numerous entries on archaeological sites contain accounts of their history of excavation, as well as more detailed descriptions of their chief features and their significance within the commercial, cultural, and political contexts of the regions to which they belonged. The book contains a range of illustrations, including twenty maps. It serves as a major, indeed a unique, reference source for students as well as established scholars, both of the ancient Near Eastern as well as the Classical civilizations. It also appeals to more general readers wishing to pursue in depth their interests in these civilizations. There is nothing comparable to it on the market today.
This volume explores the late antique countryside, looking at social and political life, landscape change, villas, monasteries, pilgrimage sites and the fate of rural temples. A section is devoted to recent survey work in Turkey and a comprehensive bibliographic essay frames the work. With contributions by Alexandra Chavarría, Tamara Lewit, Peter Sarris, Frank R. Trombley, Beatrice Caseau, John Mitchell, Marcus Rautman, Douglas Baird, Hannelore Vanhaverbeke, Femke Martens, Marc Waelkens, Jeroen Poblome, Joanita Vroom, Carla Sfameni, Lynda Mulvin, Joseph Patrich, Beat Brenk, Etienne Louis, Fabio Saggioro and Archie Dunn.