Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory (Studies in Archaeology)

320 Pages·2016·3.65 MB·English

by  Stella Souvatzi

Space and Time in Mediterranean
Prehistory
Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory addresses these two concepts as inter-
related, rather than as separate categories, and as a means for understanding past
social relations at different scales. The need for this volume was realized through
four main observations: the ever-growing interest in space and spatiality across the
social sciences; the comparative theoretical and methodological neglect of time and
temporality; the lack in the existing literature of an explicit and balanced focus on
both space and time; and the large amount of new information coming from the
prehistoric Mediterranean. It focuses on the active and interactive role of space and
time in the production of any social environment, drawing equally on contemporary
theory and on case studies from Mediterranean prehistory.
Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory seeks to break down the
space-time continuum, often assumed rather than inferred, into space-time
units and to uncover the varying and variable interrelations of space and time
in prehistoric societies across the Mediterranean. The volume is a response
to the dissatisfaction with traditional views of space and time in prehistory
and revisits these concepts to develop a timely integrative conceptual and
analytical framework for the study of space and time in archaeology.
Stella Souvatzi received her Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge.
She is Adjunct Professor at the School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University and
currently holds a British Institute at Ankara – Koç University Research Center for
Anatolian Civilizations Senior Residential Fellowship at Istanbul. She has taught in
Britain, Greece, and Cyprus and has conducted extensive archaeological fi eldwork
all over Greece. Her research interests include the Neolithic archaeology of Greece,
eastern Mediterranean, and southeastern Europe, and the theory of archaeology and
anthropology. Her publications include A Social Archaeology of Households in Neo-
lithic Greece: An Anthropological Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
Athena Hadji teaches Prehistoric Archaeology for the Program P lato’s Academy,
launched by the National University of Athens and also an e-learning program
on Prehistoric Aegean Art. On occasion, she curates art exhibitions. She holds a
Ph.D. in Mediterranean Archaeology from the University of California Berkeley. She
has taught Greek Mythology, Archaeology, Museum Studies, History of Art, and
Anthropology of Space and Art in Berkeley, Greece and Cyprus. She has contrib-
uted to journals, edited volumes, and international conferences with subjects ranging
from Early Cycladic art to cultural heritage. Her current research projects are Early
Cycladic sculpture and contemporary Athenian graffi ti.
Routledge Studies in Archaeology
1 An Archaeology of Materials 7 Materiality and Consumption in
Substantial Transformations in the Bronze Age Mediterranean
Early Prehistoric Europe Louise Steel
Chantal Conneller
8 Archaeology in Environment
2 Roman Urban Street Networks and Technology
Streets and the Organization of Intersections and Transformations
Space in Four Cities Edited by David Frankel,
Alan Kaiser Jennifer M. Webb, and
Susan Lawrence
3 Tracing Prehistoric Social
Networks through Technology 9 An Archaeology of Land
A Diachronic Perspective on the Ownership
Aegean Edited by Maria Relaki and
Edited by Ann Brysbaert Despina Catapoti
4 Hadrian’s Wall and the End of 10 From Prehistoric Villages to
Empire Cities
The Roman Frontier in the 4th and Settlement Aggregation and
5th Centuries Community Transformation
Rob Collins Edited by Jennifer Birch
5 U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and 11 Space and Time in
Archaeology Mediterranean Prehistory
Soft Power, Hard Heritage Edited by Stella Souvatzi and
Christina Luke and Athena Hadji
Morag M. Kersel
6 The Prehistory of Iberia
Debating Early Social
Stratification and the State
Edited by Maria Cruz Berrocal,
Leonardo García Sanjuán, and
Antonio Gilman
Space and Time in
Mediterranean Prehistory
Edited by Stella Souvatzi and
Athena Hadji
First published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Space and time in mediterranean prehistory / [edited by] Stella Souvatzi,
Athena Hadji.
pages cm — (Routledge studies in archaeology)
1. Prehistoric peoples—Mediterranean Region. 2. Social
archaeology—Mediterranean Region. 3. Space and
time. 4. Mediterranean Region—Antiquities. I. Souvatzi, Stella G.,
1966–
GN848.S73 2013
937—dc23 2013010152
ISBN: 978-0-415-83732-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-37991-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For my mother, Anastasia (SS)
To the ones I love (AH)
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Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xiii
Preface xv
1 Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory and Beyond 1
ATHENA HADJI AND STELLA SOUVATZI
2 Scales, Interaction, and Movement in Later Mediterranean
Prehistory 32
ROBERT CHAPMAN
3 What Does a Settlement’s Layout Show about the Society
that Inhabits it? On the Importance of
Thinking-Through-Images 49
STAVROS STAVRIDES
4 On Stone Houses and the Co-Creation of Worlds and Selves 64
RACHEL HARKNESS
5 Bodies of Evidence? Re-imagining a Phenomenological
Approach to Space and Time in Prehistoric Malta 84
EIMEAR MEEGAN
6 Time and Place, Memory, and Identity in the Early
Neolithic of Southwest Asia 101
TREVOR WATKINS
7 Constructing the Present Past in the Anatolian Neolithic 120
BLEDA S. DÜRING
8 Communicating over Space and Time in the World of the Iceman 138
ROBIN SKEATES
viii Contents
9 Sharing Space and Time with the Ancestors at an
Early Bronze Age Tomb in South Central Crete 160
EMILY MILLER BONNEY
10 Time and Space in the Middle Bronze Age Aegean World:
Ialysos (Rhodes), a Gateway to the Eastern Mediterranean 176
TOULA MARKETOU
11 Space and Temporality in Herding Societies: Exploring the
Dynamics of Movement during the Iberian Late Prehistory 196
PATRICIA MURRIETA-FLORES
12 Space and Time in the Architecture of Prehistoric Enclosures:
The Iberian Peninsula as a Case Study 214
JOSÉ E.MÁRQUEZ-ROMERO AND VÍCTOR JIMÉNEZ-JÁIMEZ
13 The Four-Dimensional Palace: The Middle Bronze
Age Palace of Kabri through Time 231
ASSAF YASUR-LANDAU AND ERIC H. CLINE
14 Semiotic Approaches for the Study of the Urban Environment
of the Late Bronze Age Settlement of Akrotiri on Thera 246
KONSTANTINOS ATHANASIOU
15 Discussion: Space–Time and the Mediterranean in Contexts:
Historical, Interdisciplinary, and Interpretive 268
STEPHANIE KOERNER
Contributors 293
Index 297
Figures
4.1 The woodland setting and the exterior of the ‘Stone
House—Bonnington’, by Andy Goldsworthy, in Bonnington
Wood, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo taken by the author, 2012. 69
4.2 The bedrock, inside the Stone House. ‘Stone
House—Bonnington’, by Andy Goldsworthy, Bonnington
Wood, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo taken by the author,
2012. 70
4.3 An exterior shot of an earthship in Central Scotland.
The photo shows the south-facing, semi-subterranean
position of the building, which is fashioned from materials
such as tires rammed with compacted earth, heated by
way of its passive solar design and powered by renewable
technologies. Photo taken by the author, 2005. 72
5.1 The entrance to one of three temple buildings at Mnajdra. 90
5.2 The complex ground plan of the Tarxien temples. After Evans
1971, plan 30A. 91
5.3 A decorated block from one of the Ħaġar Qim temples. 92
6.1a & 6.1b The pair of limestone pillars at the centre of
Structure D, Göbekli Tepe, south-east Turkey (Pillars 18
and 31). Each is 5.5 m tall and is set into a pedestal formed
from the living rock. The T-shaped pillars have bent arms in
low relief; the fingers of their hands meet above an
elaborate belt with a clasp at the front. From the belt
a fox skin is suspended. At its ‘throat’ each monolith wears a
collar, and each has a distinctive pendant. Photographs by
Nico Becker © Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, by kind
permission of Prof. Klaus Schmidt. 104
6.2 EA30 is a communal structure, more than 7 m in diameter and
2 m , at the centre of the village of Jerf el Ahmar. The cell-like
chambers were storage bins for cereals and lentils. At the
end of its life, a decapitated body was placed in the middle
of the floor, the roof was set on fire, and the cavity was
refilled with soil. By kind permission of Danielle Stordeur. 106