National Archaeologies and Conflicting Identities: Examples from Greece, Cyprus and Turkey

Abstract

This paper explains the effects of archaeology as a nationalistic practice that provides a cogent perspective on the holistic demands of modern historical thought. Archaeology constitutes the national concept of being itself. The absolute national knowledge conceptualised by geography needs continuity, thus archaeology is constructed as a practice of the appropriation of the other. In this context, this paper aims to identify the problematic interpretation of archaeological materials in Greek and Turkish societies. The nationalistic approaches of both societies produce an archaeological discourse into debates around the relations of history to geography, of politics to knowledge.