History of Archaeological Theory

"The result of collaboration between specialists from various fields aimed at furthering the study of religion in ancient Greece from a historical and anthropological perspective, the reflections developed in the course of the initiative and collected here create a space for interdisciplinary debate about the ancient world. More specifically, they shed light on the relationship between the space used for the religious practices and the surrounding landscape from prehistory to classical times, using different methods of analysis. Historians, archaeologists, and historians of Greek writing offer interventions organized around specific issues, such as the role of geological phenomena (the cave) in the construction of prehistoric cosmogony especially in Sicily and Magna Graecia (Donatella Pian, Eugenia Isetti, Antonella Traverso ), the relationship between shrines and territory in the history of mainland Greece and the islands (Ilaria Orsi, Karl Reber), the meaning of the myrtle plant in the dynamics of the cult of Aphrodite (Annarita Punzo), and literary representations of the geography of the sacred from Homer to the satyr (David Bouvier, Leonardo Paganelli, Elisabetta Villari).

              Frutto della collaborazione tra specialisti di diversi ambiti per approfondire lo studio del fenomeno religioso in Grecia antica in una prospettiva storica e antropologica, le riflessioni presentate nel corso dell’iniziativa tendono a creare uno spazio di dibattito interdisciplinare a proposito del mondo antico e, in particolare, arrivano a far luce sul rapporto tra lo spazio adibito alle pratiche religiose e il paesaggio circostante dalla Preistoria all’epoca classica, utilizzando differenti metodologie d’approccio. Storici, archeologi, storici della lettura greca hanno sviluppato problematiche articolate attorno a temi specifici, quali il ruolo di una particolarità geologica (la grotta) nella costruzione della cosmogonia preistorica in particolare in Sicilia e in Magna Grecia (Donatella Pian, Eugenia Isetti, Antonella Traverso), il rapporto tra i santuari e il territorio nella storia in Grecia continentale e insulare (Ilaria Orsi, Karl Reber), il significato di un elemento vegetale quale il mirto nella dinamica del culto di Afrodite (Annarita Punzo), le rappresentazioni letterarie della geografia del sacro da Omero al dramma satiresco (David Bouvier, Leonardo Paganelli).


Autori : D. Bouvier, E. Isetti, I. Orsi, L. Paganelli, D. Pian, A. Punzo, K. Reber, C. Tarditi, A. Traverso , E. Villari

Introduzione (E. Villari, K. Reber)……………………………………………………………..

L’uso delle grotte come spazi cultuali in ambito Mediterraneo nella Preistoria (E. Isetti, D. Pian, A. Traverso)……………………………………………………………………………….
Dal Parnaso al Golfo di Eubea. I santuari di Delfi e Kalapodi (I. Orsi)……………………….
Déméter et Dionysos. Paysages sacrés sur l’ile de Naxos (K. Reber)………………………..
Dal képos al téménos (E. Villari)……………………………………………………………..
Les fontaines de Troie: construction dramatique en textes et en images d'un lieu chargé de valeurs religieuses  (D. Bouvier)……………………………………………………………….
Tegea: il santuario di Atena Alea (C. Tarditi)…………………………………………………..
Il Mirto di Afrodite in Grecia: attestazioni cultuali e mitologiche (A. Punzo)…………………….

Lo spazio scenico, teatrale, rituale, cultuale e sacrale del dramma satiresco (L. Paganelli)……….

Conclusioni………………………………………………………………………………………

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Since the beginnings of our subject in the German speaking countries, a mostly unreflected, firmly logical positivist epistemology has been the foundation of our practice. Established by ‘fathers’ of modern archaeology like Virchow and Hoernes, we believe that “… beginning and progress …” in archaeology lie in “… the observation of plain fact, in the stringing together of individual, of themselves unremarkable observations to incontrovertible knowledge …” (Hoernes 1892, 43; translation: RK). Virchow (quoted in Hoernes 1892, 70; translation: RK) hoped that the anthropological disciplines would progress “… by purely inductive means …” in the future. One of the necessary (epistemo-) logical preconditions for the possibility of arriving at proof positive by inductive reasoning is the completeness of observations. And since it has become a disciplinary dogma that only inductive reasoning based on correct and complete observations of archaeology can create reliable, i.e. ‘true’, knowledge about archaeological things (and people), a particular relationship of the discipline with these things necessarily follows: every archaeological object is an infinitely valuable treasure, is sacrosanct, must be conserved forever. Only this can guarantee that our observations remain repeatable and thus allow our discipline progress by no other than inductive means. Industrial hoarding thus is a necessary consequence of our epistemological approach.
This paper demonstrates that the approach to professional archaeological collecting resulting from this is both causing suffering within the discipline and causes damage to our subject and the objects that we pretend need to be maintained ‘in perpetuity’, and is ultimately unsustainable. Perhaps even more significantly, the resulting professional practice exhibits virtually all diagnostic criteria of a recently newly-defined obsessive-compulsive spectrum mental disorder, namely compulsive hoarding. It is thus argued that the discipline of archaeology as a community of like-minded and like-educated professionals in the German speaking countries exhibits a serious social functionality disorder: it is, quite literally, sick and in urgent need of therapy.

This book is intended to take up the story of prehistoric industrial development in North-western Europe from the point at which Mr M.C. Burkitt's[1] Our Early Ancestors left it. While not a sequel to that work, mine presupposes such knowledge of general prehistory and the New Stone Age as may be found there and is intended to appeal to the same class of students. On the other hand, the nature and increased complexity of the material involves difference of treatment. And for the purposes of this more intensive study some of the divisions and classifications of the Bronze Age material, foreshadowed in one preliminary chapter of Mr Burkitt's book, have needed modification on lines explained here. Otherwise, I have refrained from duplicating his work save in so far as was necessary to make this book a complete and independent whole.

Aix-Marseille Université Laboratoire d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne Préhistorique Europe/Afrique (UMR 7269) Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme 5, rue du Château de l'Horloge BP 647, 13094 Aix-en-Provence (France) 3 4 REMERCIEMENTS RINGRAZIAMENTI 5 LES PIERRES DRESSÉES DE L'AIRE CORSO-SARDE. ETUDE SYSTÉMIQUE DES TERRITOIRES. LE PIETRE FITTE DELL'AREA CORSO-SARDA. STUDIO SISTEMICO DEI TERRITORI. 6 9

Archaeological theory and archaeological science have traditionally been characterized as concerned with different issues and unable to interact productively. Here we present a brief history of the relationship between these two subdisciplines, and some clarification of the differences between scientific archaeology and archaeological science. We then focus on examples of recent and current projects to argue that we should no longer differentiate between archaeologists on the one hand and archaeological scientists on the other, since many leading practitioners of archaeological sciences are both. We contend that science-based archaeology today plays an important role in the formulation of new theories, and in challenging long-standing assumptions in archaeology and numerous other fields (e.g. ecology). Archaeological science is central to contemporary archaeological theory and practice, and will become increasingly important in the foreseeable future.

The study of astronomical knowledge and observations in ancient cultures has enabled and enriched archaeological interpretations in contexts as diverse as pre-Columbian America, later prehistoric Europe, Egypt, Babylonia, and the Far East. The application of archaeoastronomy to the study of ancient Greek religion has been less successful and has been hampered by poor practice. Through a case study that investigates the astronomy in Alcman’s Partheneion and its possible relationship with the Artemis Orthia rites carried out at her sanctuary in Sparta, we aim to show that a robust and methodologically sound archaeoastronomical approach can contribute to a better understanding of the role of astronomy in Greek religious practice and perceptions of the cosmos.

"This special issue of "Patrimonio Histórico" (Historical Heritage), the bulletin of the Andalusian Historical Heritage Institute, brings together a series of contributions aimed at disseminating the concept of megalithic heritage among cultural and historical heritage specialists. It provides a general overview of the basic themes involved in today's research of the megalithic phenomenon (section "ideas, theories, problems"), the main methodological innovations the field has experienced in recent years ("sciences, methods"), the public perceptions involved ("perceptions") as well as a series of major megalithic sites of southern Iberia ("sites, interventions, management")."

Astronomical analysis of 10th to 12th century A.D. cultural evidence at Chaco Canyon New Mexico began in the 1970s. Published work includes a variety of proposals including horizon calendars, solar calendrical constructs in architecture, cardinal North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW) alignments of architecture and roads, building alignments to lunar standstills or June solstice sunrise, wall alignments to equinox sunrise or sunset, and the positioning of structures at observation points for horizon calendrical stations. Within the published archaeoastronomy work attention to Pueblo ethnography, archaeological evidence including temporal data, statistical significance, and the consideration of multiple hypotheses has varied widely. The sample of Chacoan Great Houses assessed for astronomical associations was unchanged from the mid 1990s to 2007.
There is active debate among archaeologists regarding the relative importance of political, ritual, and economic factors in the Chacoan regional system. Past archaeoastronomy work has had limited influence on such debate. Nonetheless, there is general acceptance among archaeologists of the idea that visual astronomy had a role in Chacoan culture, if for no other reason than to provide a calendrical system.
This research expands on previous samples of Chacoan Great Houses to include all those identified within “downtown Chaco,” as well as a small sample of “halo” and “outlier” Great Houses. The field work, conducted under National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management permits, included compass survey, theodolite survey, and photography at a total of 28 sites. Survey results were assessed in the context of positional astronomy, Pueblo ethnography, and the archaeological record including published construction dates for the sites.
I found no convincing evidence for previously proposed architectural alignments to lunar standstills, June solstice sunrises, or equinox events. I have found that a majority of the studied Chacoan structures to conform to one or more of four architectural traditions that have astronomical associations. These include front-facing south-southeast (SSE) orientation, front facing east-southeast (ESE) orientation, alignments to the cardinal directions of North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW), and the construction of Great Houses at workable calendrical stations with horizon foresights for solstice dates. Multiple Great Houses exhibit two of these traditions in combination. A single case is identified that may incorporate three of the traditions. The “halo” Great House at Bis sa’ani includes a cardinal North-South and East-West (“NS/EW”) structure, a possible SSE-facing room block, and a June solstice sunrise horizon foresight.
Building upon Hayes’ and Lekson’s assessments of orientations, temporal analysis of these four traditions may improve our understanding of shifting patterns of multi-cultural collaboration and dominance among ancestral Pueblo groups. A majority of the Great Houses built before A.D. 1000 are front-facing to the SSE. The SSE orientation tradition continued during the peak of Bonito Phase construction activity (A.D. 1020-1100). Most of the putative lunar standstill and June solstice sunrise alignments comprise a subset of this SSE facing group. During the same period, the first cardinal NS and EW architectural alignments were also completed. Four ESE facing Great Houses were constructed within and in proximity to Chaco between A.D. 860 and A.D. 1090. This third orientation tradition may represent some form of cultural affiliation with contemporary Rio Grande Valley people based upon comparison to previous orientation studies conducted by Lakatos, or it may perhaps represent an alternative cosmological intent.
The “new” Great Houses built during the Late Bonito phase at Chaco after A.D. 1100 are all either involved in inter-site cardinal NS alignments, or positioned at or in proximity to observing locations that can function as solstice calendrical stations. Workable solstice horizon calendars are now confirmed at Casa Chiquita, Kin Kletso, Headquarters Site A, Wijiji, Bis sa’ani, and 125 m from Roberts Small Pueblo at 29SJ 2538/2539. A potential calendrical station located in the vicinity of Peñasco Blanco’s McElmo ruin is yet to be confirmed. The Late Bonito “calendrical” Great Houses may have been intended as pilgrimage destinations where people could witness a dramatic solstice sunrise or sunset. During the same time period, SSE orientation was dominant in the Totah region to the north at sites including Aztec and Chimney Rock.
The astronomical evidence presented supports the idea that people with at least three distinct cosmological intents collaborated at Chaco; it also supports Van Dyke’s hypothesis that Late Bonito phase construction at Chaco represented an attempt by a weakened ritual elite to reinvigorate their legitimacy and power. The consistency of cosmological and solstitial references among Late Bonito Phase Great Houses at Chaco indicates that the Late Bonito Chacoan elite’s power may have rested in part on esoteric astronomical knowledge, and an elevated cultural status for solar events.
Under the terms of a U.S. National Park Service field research permit some location- specific site data has been deliberately redacted from this document, as required by the U.S. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.

The paper presents a compilation of the current knowledge on the so called ‘blatnica deposit’ and its individual components, extended by a series of my own studies dedicated particularly to the gilded set of bronze fittings. The article is divided into two main parts: the first one presents a more focused perspective on the issue and provides all the necessary pieces of information about each part of the deposit together with respective chronological and stylistic findings. The second part, on the other hand, introduces a broader perspective, embedding the history of the deposit and studies on it in the methodological context proposed by Thomas S. Kuhn. Based on the kuhnian model of science and the concept of paradigm i have analysed and then decomposed the so called Blatnica-Mikulčice horizon concept that proved to be based, at best, on some misunderstandings or, at worst, on a hoax. Detailed typological and stylistic analyses of these items became a starting point for re-evaluation of their chronology and led me to draw a conclusion that the youngest
components of the deposit cannot be older than the second third of the 9th  century. Both the archive query and the analysis of archaeological sources seem to disprove arguments used to support the hypothesis that the ‘Blatnica collection’ served as equipment of a nobleman grave. Most probably it was only a loose collection of relics co ming from different and so far unknown sources, later transferred in bulk to the museum. Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that the source value of the ‘Blatnica relics’ has long been overestimated and in any case should no longer serve as a chronological benchmark for other archaeological materials.

The paper discusses the demarcation problem between non-science, fringe-science and science by considering methodological issues of cultural astronomy when interpreting the Palaeolithic archaeological inventory. The research focuses primarily various astronomical assessments of cave art at Lascaux and at some other locations, as well as on case studies of the artefacts.

This is an essay about the connections between the passage of time and the condition of archaeological knowledge. It revisits Tim Ingold’s 1993 paper ‘The Temporality of the Landscape’, considering its relationship with the phenomenological and interpretive archaeologies of the 1990s and what we learn from it today. Engaged not so much in an ‘ontological turn’ as in a kind of archival return, the essay compares Ingold’s discussion of Bruegel’s painting The Harvesters (1565) with an archaeological photograph from 1993. A discussion of the after-effects of performance follows, and four theses about temporality, landscape, modernity and revisiting are put forward: 1) The passage of time transforms archaeological knowledge; 2) Archaeological knowledge transforms the passage of time; 3) An archaeological landscape is an object that is known through remapping; 4) Archaeological knowledge is what we leave behind. The essay concludes that archaeology is best understood not as the study of the temporality of the landscape, as Ingold had argued, but as the study of the temporality of the landscape revisited.

This article does not presume to summarize the immense complexity of megalithism in France over a period of nearly three millenia, but rather to contribute a few elements of reflection to the numerous  research directions it inspires. It first insists on the importance of finally eliminating a number of accepted ideas; among which, the tendency to systematically classify the architecture of burial spaces in function of their “apparent” complexity, from the most simple to the most elaborate. Numerous examples show that the megalithic  phenomenon is complex, not linear. Each monument, today in ruins, is the result of several architectural projects, in the true sense of the term. The construction of a site, supposes at the same time a  succession of technical acts that also merit detailed study, in the same manner as that which specialists of the Medieval period call the archeology of construction. We also wish to emphasize the necessity of addressing Megalithism from the perspective of architecture, grave goods and human remains (when they are preserved), as these three aspects are often intertwined. Finally, a megalithic monument must be understood in its space, the funerary space in the broad sense, as well as the burial space. From this perspective, a multitude of question and numerous research directions appear. Megalithism is not an outdated subjet, but an innovative one, for which much remains to be done.

The existence of caves gave people an excellent reason where to locate the celestial
bodies at the time of their invisibility: They moved through secret realms under the
ordinary world, somehow at the "backside" or the interior of the customary perceptible
landscape. Caverns made accessible this "subterranean" space-time, wh ich ancient
people regarded as a special lounge of the celestial bodies, and other beings. Thus, it is
obvious why caverns fascinated people from Palaeolithic epochs to Jules Verne's
"Voyage au centre de la terre (1864)": Going into the underground galleries, and
following the mighty celestial bodies on their course through the subterranean area,
offered a unique possibility to explore the inner structure of the cosmos. Moreover, at
another level of understanding, ancient people interpreted the entry into a cavern and the
passage through the inner space-time ofthe world as a voyage to the generative interior
of an enormous female, representing the Great Mother of the World. They thought that
the cosmos and the cave, the outer and the inner structure of the world, run parallel to
the physical body and the psychonoetic essence of a human being. Going into a cave
then meant not only to travel to the creative realm of the cosmos, but in a figurative
sense also to undertake a voyage to the innermost person. It isn't surprising that since
Palaeolithic time caverns had been regarded as sacred places, were often used as
shrines, cult places, or for burials and served as a model ofthe world.

The discovery of the Sungai Batu complex by the Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2007 is of great significant in understanding the early civilisations in Malaysia. The complex was found during a scientific palaeoenvironmental reconstruction sutdy. A total pf 97 mounds were mapped and identified in 3km2 area that has great archaeological potential. To date, excavations at 16 mounds revealed ritual monuments, a riverside jetty built in the 2nd century CE, and iron smelting sites that were used from the 1st century CE. The discovery of the iron smelting industry in this complex showed that the Sungai Batu civilisation had an economic base. These new findings give a more holistoc and complete picture of the Bujang Valley civilisation and should lead to a significant re-evaluation of the evidence that has been accumulated since the 1840s. Based on the early research results, the Bujang Valley civilisation was thought to date as early as the end of the 4th century CE and to be primarily a Hindu-Buddhist site (Coedes, 1968). These new finds with chronometric dating (radiocarbon and OSL) allow us to re-write not onl the history of Malaysian civilisation but also that of the region. To date, the important discovery of a 110 CE monument meant Sungai Batu provides the earliest evidence of a monument (with chronometric dates) in Southeast Asia.

The origins of the Germanic “Straw-bears” have been subject to speculation for years. In this study the Straw-bears will be contextualized along with their European relatives so that their meaning can be better appreciated within a larger framework of European ritual belief and social practice. The cosmogony in question is grounded in the belief that humans descended from bears, a belief that continued into the 20th century among Basque-speakers. The transformative aspects of the Straw-bear performances will be examined in relation to “Good-Luck Visits”, a type of performance aimed at bringing good health and prosperity to the houses visited and in which Straw-bears and their relatives have played a major role.

One of the characteristics of the human mode of existence shows up in modelling the structures and processes of the world onto the living space, which consists of certain landscapes, locations, and habitations. That way the inconceivable course of events became “tangible” by establishing and constructing spheres of spatiotemporal order. Concepts of housing the world are implemented in the architecture of lodgings, cultic buildings, settlements, territories, and the artificial shaping of the landscape. These structures offered humans a „domestic” sphere within a realm of wild nature, ensuring stability, centricity, meaning, security, familiarities, knowledge of controlling, social and power classifications.
Archaeological and ethnological records worldwide give evidence that, since Palaeolithic time, cosmovisions were an essential part of man’s requirement to organize habitats. In consequence and accompanying hominid evolution, which caused a partially freeing up from strong drives, organizing the world into a meaningful consistent and dynamic framework of interacting subsystems was necessary to integrate and orientate the human lifeworld within changing natural ecospheres. Thus specific cultural systems including cosmovisions emerged, which allowed man to establish and maintain order and rhythm in personal and social life, interacting with given environmental conditions and to answer the human questions about the whys and wherefores concerning him and the world. Cosmographic concepts of the world edifice can be regarded as holistic, multi-layered models of evolving human ecosystems, which, by using symbolic language, helped man making the world homely and transcending the profane. Since time immemorial and across the world archaic cultures symbolically, mythically, and ritually accompanied the configuration and weighting of the habitat as well as the placement within. People relied on an ordered and organized spatiotemporal natural world domesticated in culture, into which human life could be embedded and from which life received a deeper spirit and purpose. These cosmographic concepts of habitation across cultures are transformed into designed landscapes, cultic caves, tents, campsites, houses, cities, or temples.

Since the 1990s, archaeological publications concerned with Palaeolithic personal ornaments have diversified. This proliferation has resulted in an intense exploration
of the multiple roles, whether symbolic, cultural or social, that these items might have played in prehistoric groups. As a result of this process, there is now a broad consensus that these body adornments are important for exploring the origins of cognitive, artistic and symbolic behavior from an evolutionary perspective. This view contrasts with the conceptualization of Palaeolithic ornaments prevalent during the greater part of the twentieth century. At that time, these objects were rarely considered in debates
concerning human evolution, art and symbolism. To explain this shift in the understanding of beads, pendants and other similar artifacts, we explore in this paper the history and the epistemology of the concept of ‘ornament’ in the field of Palaeolithic archaeology. In particular, we analyse the factors underlying why the same kinds of objects have been historically described in very diverse ways. We conclude by pointing out some of the epistemological challenges posed by the current revalorization of personal ornaments.
Keywords Personal ornaments . Symbolism. Portable art . Technology

This paper examines the temporal permanence of megalithic monuments in the Iberian south-west during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Firstly, a number of well-documented cases are described, discussing the specific circumstances of each of them (chronology, funerary ritual, spatial location, etc.). Secondly, an interpretation of the different ideological and social meanings that the utilisation of old megalithic monuments might have had for the communities of the second and first millennia BC is proposed.

During the Late Bronze Age, the number of metal objects in the Baltic Sea region increased tremendously. Mobility DQG LQWHUDFWLRQ LQ WKLV QRUWKHUQ LQODQG VHD LQWHQVLÀHG 7KLV RFFXUUHG LQ D SHULRG RI SUHKLVWRU\ ZKHQ WKH VKLS ZDV the predominant symbol in southern Scandinavia. The ship can be found in rock carvings, on bronze objects and E\ ZD\ RI HUHFWHG VWRQH PRQXPHQWV VWRQH VKLS VHWWLQJV 7KHVH VWRQH VKLSV DUH PDLQO\ WR EH IRXQG LQ WKH %DOWLF 6HD UHJLRQ ZLWK D PDUNHG FRQFHQWUDWLRQ RQ *RWODQG

The aim of this paper is to describe and reflect upon the functional aspects of the ritual reuse of Bronze Age monuments that occurred in southwestern Sweden in the Late Iron Age. The often very complex ritual behaviour cannot be labelled as traces of simple plundering. The archaeological record reveals that the large barrows and stone settings of the Bronze Age were systematically reused in the pre-Christian Iron Age rituals to such an extent that the tradition can be defined as a cultural pattern. Large trenches were dug into the monuments, depositions were made, meals were prepared, bonfires were lit, massive amounts of soil, turf and stones were rearranged, and secondary burials were conducted-activities that all took place in the "ancient" monuments. The labour invested in the pre-Christian Viking Age ritual reuse of the by then 2000-year-old monuments was extensive. The author means that the cultic and cultural pattern that appears in this ritual reuse of Bronze Age monuments can be interpreted as a Late Iron Age social strategy which focused on the necessity to create a history and thus confirm a specific Viking Age ideology. Through repeated ritual reuse of monuments a Viking Age population could create a memory and identity and thus raise social claims to a certain place. From a specific pre-Christian Viking Age worldview perspective, the constant manifestation and recreation of a past through ritual can be understood as traces of ideological resistance during a period characterized by an, in the end, unavoidable transformation of the pre-Christian world.

The paper attempts to acquaint the Western reader (in the broad sense) with the history of early medieval archaeology in Russia. The author  decided to focus on theoretical problems and on several scholarly trends in the development of Soviet/Russian  early  medieval  archaeology  in  the  late  20th  and  early 21st
century.  I  found  it  interesting  to  describe  this  series  of  trends  (mainly concentrated  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow),  not  only  as  a  specialist, but  partly  as  a  memoirist  and  eyewitness.
It is simply impossible in the frame of a single article, albeit  a  voluminous  one,  to  discuss  all  the  issues  of  Slavonic  and  Old  Rusian studies  throughout  the  Russian  realm.  Many subjects unavoidably remain behind the scenes. Possibly, someone other would have treated the problem differently. Thus my work does not contain an exhaustive exposition of the problems. My concept is really “a view from St. Petersburg”, but I did my best to make this view interesting to the readers.
At  the  present  time,  a  major  stage  in  the  development  of  Russian early  medieval  Archaeology  is  essentially  coming  to  an  end.  It  began  in the Brezhnev era – in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Such a lengthy
period,  of  course,  might  be  subdivided  into  several  smaller  stages,  but the continuity in the evolution of basic concepts and of major projects is evident. This is the period on which I would like to concentrate in order
to  reveal  its  socio-historical  context,  principal  tendencies,  contradictions, and results.

This paper presents Jean-Claude Gardin’s distinctive approach to archaeological data, representation and knowledge in the context of his early engagement with semiotics and structural semantics and his grounding in fields as diverse as documentation, classification theory, material culture studies, argumentation theory and the philosophy of the human sciences. Pointing at Gardin’s ambivalence vis-à-vis the promises of automated classification and machine reasoning in archaeology, it shows that his approach goes beyond a normative, positivist conception of archaeological research, recognizing the contextual, theory-laden nature of archaeological data constitution, the priority of focusing on actual archaeological interpretation practices and the complementarity between narrative and formal representations of archaeological reasoning. It connects his early development of archaeological descriptive and typological metalanguages with his later elaboration of a theoretically informed approach to archaeological argumentation, analysis and publication, situates his logicist programme as a relevant contribution to the development of an archaeological “theory of practice”, grounded on reflexivity and modesty vis-à-vis the possibility of knowledge and the limits of scientism, and highlights aspects of Gardin’s work that point to potentially fruitful directions for contemporary research and practice in the field of archaeological informatics and digital humanities communication.

Resumen:
La aplicación de la filosofía de Gilles Deleuze en el ámbito arqueológico permite superar la dicotomía entre procesualismo y posprocesualismo, abriendo la puerta a un pensamiento diferente. Su teoría facilita la recepción de las ideas de las diferentes teorías de la complejidad, gracias a su carácter realista y a la priorización de la ontología sobre la epistemología. Este movimiento nos permite superar el giro simétrico y las distintas oposiciones binarias que subyacen al pensamiento arqueológico, como estructura-proceso, sujeto-objeto, verdad-valor o identidad-diferencia. A la vez, intentamos replantear algunas esferas de la disciplina arqueológica a través de una crítica de su conformación interna y externa, con lo que intentamos abrir el espectro de interpretaciones arqueológicas posibles.

Abstract:
The paper suggests that the politically informed complex philosophy of Gilles Deleuze can enable archaeologists to overcome the dichotomy between processualism and postprocessualism, opening the door to different kinds of archaeological thinking. His philosophy facilitates the reception and translation into the social sciences of the ideas coming from complexity theory, thanks to his realist stance and his prioritization of ontological over epistemological concerns. This move allows us to overcome the ‘symmetric turn’ and the different dichotomies underlying current archaeological thought, such as structure-process, subject-object, identity-difference, truth-value, or self-other. Finally, the paper rethinks some areas of archaeological theory through a critique of the internal and external conformation of the discipline, aiming at opening the spectrum of available interpretative frameworks.

Tous ceux qui se sont livrés à ce difficile exercice qu’est la  restauration de l’architecture d’un monument mégalithique, savent combien il comporte d’approximations, d’hésitations, de choix  arbitraires, et même parfois de préjugés infondés. Cela revient à  figer le monument dans un état que les bâtisseurs du Néolithique  n’ont peut-être jamais vus ainsi, soit parce qu’il s’agit d’un état  partiel souvent lié à un état de conservation particulier, soit parce  que ces monuments ont connus une histoire architecturale  complexe dont il est bien difficile de rendre compte sur le terrain. Ce  sont en somme des questions similaires à celles qui ont été  soulevées à la suite des nombreuses restaurations effectuées à la  fin du XIX° siècle sur des monuments de la période médiévale. En  ce qu’elles sont aussi une forme d’appropriation de formes  architecturales héritées, parfois, de telles attitudes ne sont  peut-être pas totalement étrangères à l’évolution de ces  architectures au cours du Néolithique lui même. Tous les exemples  que nous seront amenés à détailler proviennent de l’ouest de la  France, pour lequel un rapide bilan de nos connaissances les plus  actuelles sur le mégalithisme sera proposé.

L'arcipelago Maltese, situato nel centro del Mediterraneo, (circa 80 km a sud della costa siracusana, 290 km ad est della Tunisia, 355 a nord della Libia e 815 ad ovest di Creta), è costituito da 5 isole (più svariati scogli ed affioramenti), di cui soltanto 3 (Malta, Gozo, e, in misura molto minore, Comino) abitabili sin dalla Preistoria, per una superficie totale di 316 km 2 (RENFREW, 1973;. Le isole sono costituite dall'affioramento di un promontorio calcareo sottomarino che collega l'arcipelago alla Sicilia ad una profondità di circa 100m., e sono pertanto state direttamente collegate alla Sicilia da una lunga lingua di terra svariate volte nel corso del Pleistocene, ed in particolare in corrispondenza dei periodi Pleniglaciali Rissiani e Würmiani, come testimoniato dalle faune rinvenute nei (pochi) depositi pleistocenici di Malta e Gozo (soprattutto Ghar Dhalam, Ghajn Abdoul e Ghar Hassan, . La sequenza litologica delle isole è costituita da spessi "pacchetti" di strati alternati di calcare corallino e calcare a globigerine, formatisi in un ambiente di fondale marino tra i 27 e i 7 M.yrs BP, ed emersi in seguito alle spinte tettoniche dovute alla collisione tra la zolla africana e quella europea, di cui le isole fanno parte (PEDLEY et al. 2002). Tuttavia, nonostante vari indizi indiretti che potrebbero suggerire un quadro diverso, il primo popolamento umano delle isole può essere fatto risalire con certezza soltanto al Neolitico, con la data più antica proveniente dal sito a ceramica impressa con forti caratteri stentinelliani di Ghar Dhalam, corrispondente a 6148±160 uncal BP (BM-378, TRUMP, 1996). Posto nella parte sud-orientale dell'isola di Malta, molto vicino alla cittadina di Birzebbuga e al sito più tardo di Borg-in-Nadur, il riparo in grotta di Ghar Dhalam costituisce un sito-chiave per le fasi immediatamente precedenti e successive alla primo sicuro popolamento umano dell'isola: questa grotta infatti, oltre ad aver restituito il più grande (e meglio studiato) deposito pleistocenico dell'arcipelago (costituito prevalentemente da accumuli ossei di macrofaune dovuti all'apporto di un paleo-corso fluviale), ha anche restituito i materiali più antichi sicuramente riferibili alla presenza dell'uomo sulle isole, tra cui alcune sepolture umane e una ceramica di tipo impresso, molto affine stilisticamente alle produzioni stentinelliane, e soprattutto la più antica data al radiocarbonio, e costituisce pertanto il sito eponimo della prima facies del Neolitico Maltese. Materiali della facies Ghar Dhalam sono venuti alla luce anche in un altro ridotto numero di siti (perlopiù disturbati da interventi di età posteriore/moderna) tra Malta e Gozo: particolarmente rilevanti sembrano essere stati i depositi in grotta del tavolato collinare calcareo di Ghajn Abdoul, a Gozo, che costituisce il punto di approdo più vicino alla costa Siciliana, e il più comodo con venti favorevoli. I depositi (sparsi in diverse grotte naturali nella falesia calcarea) hanno restituito, nel corso delle sbrigative indagini condotte durante il governo coloniale inglese, sia ceramiche della facies di Ghar Dhalam (se non vere e proprie ceramiche Stentinelliane), sia ceramiche della successiva fase Grey Sorba. Sfortunatamente però la maggior parte dei depositi è stata rimossa dalle attività di cava prima che fosse possibile ottenere delle datazioni al radiocarbonio: è solo da augurarsi che i pochi depositi rimasti possano essere almeno datati in futuro. Nonostante questo, il dibattito sulla possibile presenza di popolazioni umane a Malta e/o Gozo prima della fine del VII Millennio BC, è divenuto celebre fon dagli inizi del XX secolo in seguito al rinvenimento a Ghar Dhalam, nei depositi della fine dell'età glaciale ("Deer Layer", datato tra 18 e 10 K.yrs BP) di tre denti pertinenti forse a tre individui diversi (DESPOTT, 1923; M.A.R., 1937). Per la loro particolare morfologia taurodontica, i denti furono attribuiti ad Homo Neanderthalensis sia dallo scavatore Despott (che era un dentista), sia dall'anatomista Arthur Keith (FABRI, 2007). Tuttavia questa attribuzione (che è stata recentemente richiamata in causa dalla stampa divulgativa maltese, MIFSUD E MIFSUD, 1997) non sembra reggere alla luce di (1) le tecniche decisamente "novecentesche"con cui fu effettuato lo scavo, tra il 1892 e il 1937 che non consentono di ricostruire un serio contesto stratigrafico per i reperti, e (2) le analisi separate dei denti svolte da J.J. Mangion (1962) e da Kenneth Oakley (1963), che dimostrarono ampiamente la presenza di simili casi di taurodontismo anche nella moderna popolazione maltese FABRI, 2007). Al momento attuale non sembra dunque possibile trovare una prova scientificamente valida della presenza umana a Malta e Gozo prima della facies di Ghar Dhalam, tuttavia questa situazione potrebbe essere dovuta principalmente allo stato attuale dei depositi maltesi visto che: (1) nella gran parte della superficie delle isole di Gozo e Malta non è mai 1 stata fatta una prospezione finalizzata al ritrovamento di siti pre-neolitici (che sono molto meno facilmente individuabili rispetto alle strutture in pietra di età neolitica), (2) l'intensa attività di cava di cui sono state oggetto le due isole maggiori nel corso dei millenni si è concentrata prevalentemente sui plateau calcarei costellati di grotte naturali (come Ghajn Abdoul), obliterandone una gran parte, (3) la fortissima erosione meteorica a cui è sottoposto il suolo maltese ha fatto si che a) un gran numero di siti (posti sulle zone più esposte) sia stato completamente rimosso dagli eventi naturali, e un altro numero (indeterminabile) seppellito dagli accumuli alluviali, e soprattutto che b) la maggior parte dei pendii e delle superfici sfruttabili per fini agricoli sia stata terrazzata (con i tipici muretti a secco) un numero incalcolabile di volte nel corso dei millenni, obliterando un gran numero di possibili siti, o quanto meno coprendoli (in più di un caso infatti la presenza di muretti di terrazzamento ha preservato i siti dall'aratura e dallo sbancamento per altri fini), e rendendone l'indagine difficile e/o costosa. Tuttavia non esiste nemmeno un buon motivo per negare a priori la possibilità di un popolamento umano delle isole prima del 6150 Uncal BP, e alcuni possibili (benché indiretti) indizi in questo senso possono essere trovati nei dati faunisitici. Le faune pleistoceniche infatti, ed in particolare le megafaune tipiche dell'ambiente maltese di epoca Eemiana e Würmiana (tra cui i ratti giganti Leithia melitensis , e le lucertole giganti Lacerta wiedincitensis, le testuggini giganti appartenenti alla specie Testudo robusta, tre specie di ippopotamo -Hippopothamus amphibius, H. pentlandi e H. melitensis -, due specie di elefanti di piccola taglia -Paleoxodon mnaidriensis e P. falconeri), oltre a quelle più tipiche dell'Epiglaciale (gli ungulati Cervus elaphus, Dama dama, Equus asinus, i carnivori Ursus arctos, Canis lupus e Vulpes sp., oltre alle lontre -Lutra euxena, e a diverse specie di roditori ed uccelli marini tra cui il cigno gigante Cygnus falconeri), che sembrano molto abbondanti nei depositi pleistocenici delle isole (BATES, 1935;, non appaiono in nessun caso documentato nei livelli corrispondenti alla facies Ghar Dhalam, né in alcun deposito di età certamente Olocenica. Questa rapida e totale scomparsa delle macrofaune che avevano prosperato sulle isole maggiori per svariate decine di migliaia di anni giusto in corrispondenza della fine del Pleistocene e dell'Epiglaciale è stata messa più volte in relazione con il possibile arrivo di gruppi di cacciatori dalla penisola italiana e/o dalla Sicilia (EVANS, 1959; MORANA, 1987; ZAMMIT MAEMPEL, 1989; SULTANA E FALZON, 2002) in particolare sulla base del parallelo etnologico con le grandi estinzioni causate dall'arrivo dei primi esseri umani in contesti fortemente insulari, come ad esempio nel caso dell'estinzione delle megafaune Neozelandesi e Patagoniche (TRUMP, 2002) oppure delle grandi specie aviarie marine delle isole di Pasqua, Pitcairn, Henderson e Mangareva, nella Polinesia orientale (DIAMOND, 2005). Tuttavia, l'assenza di depositi dettagliati studiati risalenti alla fase di transizione tra il periodo Epiglaciale e l'Atlantico attraverso cui 1 Al 2006.

The urbanization of Syro-Hittite (Luwian and Aramaean) states is one of most complex yet little explored regional processes in Near Eastern history and archaeology. In this study, I discuss aspects of landscape and settlement change in northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia during the Early Iron Age (ca. 1200–850 BC), and suggest that the emergent geo-politics of the region involved the foundation of cities and construction of specific types of commemorative monuments including rock reliefs, steles and city gates. While defining new forms of territorial power, these monuments linked local polities to a shared Hittite past through their literary and visual rhetoric, and a discourse of inherited agricultural land. To contextualize the subject matter, I first discuss the gradual southward shift of an imperial Hittite center of power from central Anatolia towards Karkamiš and Tarhuntašša at the end of the Late Bronze Age, arguing against the widespread models of a sudden collapse of the Hittite Empire followed by dark ages. Furthermore, I present archaeological
and epigraphic evidence for the formation of the regional state Malizi/Melid. This Syro-Hittite kingdom established itself in the Malatya-Elbistan Plains in eastern Turkey during the first centuries of the Early Iron Age as one of the earliest political entities to emerge from the ashes of the Hittite Empire. Monuments raised by Malizean ‘country lords’ in rural and urban contexts suggest a picture of a fluid landscape in transition, one that was configured through the construction of cities, and other practices of place-making.

During field work in 2005 our attention was drawn to an interesting prehistoric remain at the Malaefono organicplantation close to Salei’moa village on ’Upolu. Several stone platforms/stone heaps and remains have been reported removed due to farming activities during the last century, which indicated that the plantation area previously housed habitations. During 2006 we carried out archaeological investigations on a remaining stone platform in the area. This“star/cog” shaped platform, with eight protrusions was mapped and test excavated. The investigations showed its internal structure and its relation to other features and the surrounding landscape. The excavation also gave indications of settlement activities prior to the construction of the platform at this site. This paper presents the results of the investigationand discusses the star mound concept in general.

Desde que los dólmenes de Santiago de Alcántara fueron dados a conocer en el año 1994, no se había emprendido un proyecto que contemplase su divulgación al gran público. Esta guía explicada sobre la disposición de los monumentos, los resultados obtenidos de su estudio y su comprensión en el paisaje de los grupos neolíticos y calcolíticos de la región constituye, pues, el primer esfuerzo por dar a conocer el patrimonio arqueológico extremeño en un sector que reúne, además, una reconocida riqueza natural.