From Stonehenge to Mycenae: The Challenges of Archaeological Interpretation (Debates in Archaeology)

This book reconsiders how we can understand archaeology on a grand scale by abandoning the claims that material remains stand for the people and institutions that produced them, or that genetic change somehow caused cultural change. Our challenge is to understand the worlds that made great projects like the building of Stonehenge or Mycenae possible. The radiocarbon revolution made the old view that the architecture of Mycenae influenced the building of Stonehenge untenable. But the recent use of 'big data' and of genetic histories have led archaeology back to a worldview where 'big problems' are assumed to require 'big solutions'. Making an animated plea for bottom-up rather than top-down solutions, the authors consider how life was made possible by living in the local and materially distinct worlds of the period. By considering how people once built connections between each other through their production and use of things, their movement between and occupancy of places, and their treatment of the dead, we learn about the kinds of identities that people constructed for themselves. Stonehenge did not require an architect from Mycenae for it to be built, but the builders of Stonehenge and Mycenae would have shared a mutual recognition of the kinds of humans that they were, and the kinds of practices these monuments were once host to. We Live Today In An Interconnected World And We Are Inclined To Believe That In Earlier Times The Connections Were Less Extensive And That Communities Were More Isolated From Each Other. This Book Looks At The Europe That Began To Emerge Some 4,000 Years Ago With The Beginnings Of Metallurgy And The Debates That Have Taken Place Concerning The Scales Of Connections That Existed Then. Around This Time Stonehenge Was Built From Materials That Were Brought Across Huge Distances. To What Extent Did Geographically Extensive Connections Exist, How Might We Recognise Them And What, If Any, Were Their Consequences? Disagreements Over These Questions Have Existed In Archaeology For Nearly A Century And Yet They Have Profound Implications For The Ways In Which We Understand The Dynamics Of Historical Development In General. By Examining The Way One Claimed Connection Between The Aegean And Western Europe Was Used To Explain Changes In Western Europe As The Result Of The Rise Of Civilisation In The Aegean, And The Ways That This Explanation Was Challenged In The 1960s, We Learn Something About The Nature Of Archaeological Reasoning. The Authors Question Common Assumptions Concerning The Relationships Between So-called Civilised And Barbarian Societies, And Ask Their Readers To Consider What Might Drive Change In Social, Cultural And Economic Systems-- Preface / By Colin Renfrew -- Archaeological Approaches To Stonehenge -- The Emergence Of An Aegean Civilisation -- Living With Things : The Politics Of Identity -- Things That Mattered : Identity In The Production, Exchange And Use Of Materials -- Places That Mattered : Movement And Belonging -- Bodies That Mattered : The Role Of The Dead. John C. Barrett And Michael J. Boyd. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 171-194) And Index. Cover page 1 Halftitle page 2 Series page 3 Title page 6 Copyright page 7 Contents 8 Figures 9 Foreword 12 Introduction 16 The archaeology of history 23 1 Archaeological Approaches to Stonehenge 26 Establishing a context for Stonehenge 29 2 The Emergence of an Aegean Civilization 42 Rethinking European prehistory 43 The emergence of civilization 47 Toward a social archaeology 52 3 Living with Things: The Politics of Identity 56 The archaeology of representations 56 Cultural understanding 60 The archaeological project 64 4 Things that Mattered: Identity in the Production, Exchange and Use of Materials 68 Introduction 68 The politics of the eastern Mediterranean 69 Connectivity, identity and metallurgy 76 The politics of northern European metallurgy 82 The transmission of etiquette and style 85 Materializing personal identity in the second millennium 98 5 Places that Mattered: Movement and Belonging 106 The Orcadian Late Neolithic 109 Stonehenge 113 Keros 120 Knossos 127 Mycenae 131 6 Bodies that Mattered: The Role of the Dead 142 The questions posed by the analysis of aDNA 143 The early funerary sequence in southern Britain 147 Placing the dead in a ritual landscape 150 The evolution of Early Bronze Age burial traditions in southern Britain 152 The Mycenae shaft graves 162 Identity in practice: three shaft grave funerals 163 The end of the Mycenae shaft graves 175 7 Living amongst Things: Practice, Place and Identity in Expanding Worlds 180 References 186 Index 210 "We live today in an interconnected world and we are inclined to believe that in earlier times the connections were less extensive and that communities were more isolated from each other. This book looks at the Europe that began to emerge some 4,000 years ago with the beginnings of metallurgy and the debates that have taken place concerning the scales of connections that existed then. Around this time Stonehenge was built from materials that were brought across huge distances. To what extent did geographically extensive connections exist, how might we recognise them and what, if any, were their consequences? Disagreements over these questions have existed in archaeology for nearly a century and yet they have profound implications for the ways in which we understand the dynamics of historical development in general. By examining the way one claimed connection between the Aegean and Western Europe was used to explain changes in Western Europe as the result of the rise of civilisation in the Aegean, and the ways that this explanation was challenged in the 1960s, we learn something about the nature of archaeological reasoning. The authors question common assumptions concerning the relationships between so-called civilised and barbarian societies, and ask their readers to consider what might drive change in social, cultural and economic systems"-- Provided by publisher List of Figures viii Foreword: ‘Obscurity and Oblivion’? The Challenge of Interpreting the Prehistoric Past Colin Renfrew xi Introduction 1 1 Archaeological Approaches to Stonehenge 11 2 The Emergence of an Aegean Civilization 27 3 Living with Things: The Politics of Identity 41 4 Things that Mattered: Identity in the Production, Exchange and Use of Materials 53 5 Places that Mattered: Movement and Belonging 91 6 Bodies that Mattered: The Role of the Dead 127 7 Living amongst Things: Practice, Place and Identity in Expanding Worlds 165 References 171 Index 195