{"title":"Constructions of Consensus: Monument Building and the Fourth to First Millennium bc in the Central Mediterranean Islands","authors":"Clive Vella","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32573","url":null,"abstract":"In the fourth millennium bc, the central Mediterranean was a world moving away from the earlier Neolithic lifestyle towards an intense broad interconnectivity in which islanders in Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and Pantelleria developed tangential cultural expressions typified by a prolonged period of monument building and intermittent transformation that was preceded by a slowdown from a supra-regional system of interaction. Such monumental structures played a pivotal role as political centers in these prehistoric societies; they acted as permanent images of the social order, and as such they operated as centers of consensus, promoting the dominant social discourse for as long as the prevailing hegemony was accepted. They also bonded communities through labor and other obligations, even though access into them was most likely restricted. Their decline in the first millennium bc eventually realigned these same communities into the broader historical setting.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"121 1","pages":"225-246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32573","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67566400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Belarte, Pilar Camañes, Meritxell Monrós, J. Principal
{"title":"Cooking in the Iberian Culture (Sixth–Second Century bc): Private or Public?","authors":"M. Belarte, Pilar Camañes, Meritxell Monrós, J. Principal","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32571","url":null,"abstract":"In this article we analyse the structures and features related to food processing or preparation and their social and economic implications among the protohistoric communities of the Iberian culture during the Iron Age (sixth–second century bc). Different types of facilities are considered, including ovens, hearths, fireplaces and grinding areas, according to their specific location within the settlements (indoor or outdoor areas). We also look at the evidence from the artefacts involved in these processes and the contextualisation of their functional need within the urban structure/planning. The presence of collective facilities located outside the houses implies, on the one hand, an organised collaborative practice and management network and, on the other, the transfer of certain specific household activities to the public sphere. The organisation of management and use of those facilities would have affected various aspects of Iberian societies, such as the dynamics and routine of everyday life, not only through arranging and scheduling the availability of the facility, but also by operating as a mechanism of social interaction among both equals and persons of different statuses.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"29 1","pages":"173-196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32571","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67566091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Understanding the rural landscape of Late Bronze Age Cyprus: A diachronic perspective from the Vasilikos Valley","authors":"G. Andreou","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32570","url":null,"abstract":"For Late Bronze Age (LBA) Cyprus (ca. 1680/1650–1100 bc), while there is a long tradition of classifying both excavated and surveyed sites into types or tiers based on their estimated size, proximity to resources and each other, it is largely the excavated coastal sites that have formed the basis for politico-economic models of interpretation. As such, less attention has been given to other site types, which may have influenced and potentially contributed to the development of Cypriot society and economy in meaningful ways. Within the context of those sites, while it is widely argued that inland agricultural settlements operated as a subsistence base for miners located near the Troodos copper sources and specialists residing in the urban centres, little is known of the material culture and socioeconomic significance of the rural landscape. Rural populations are often assumed to be an amorphous, unempowered mass, fuelling centrally controlled, urban-driven systems. In order to assess and thus to expand our understanding of the character and role of this population group, and to reconsider the socioeconomic relations underpinning the Cypriot LBA rural landscape, this study engages with theoretical approaches to issues of peasantry and countryside in the Mediterranean. Subsequently, with emphasis on regional survey data from the Vasilikos Valley of Cyprus’s south-central coast, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment is used to explore the spectrum of socioeconomic behaviour between a subservient rural support base for specialised urban production and an independent economic agency.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"29 1","pages":"143-172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/JMEA.V29I2.32570","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67565846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Archaeological Myths and the Overkill Hypothesis in Cypriot Prehistory","authors":"T. Strasser","doi":"10.1558/jmea.v9i1.29939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v9i1.29939","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"9 1","pages":"113-116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67569081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Whose Myth? Archaeological Data, Interpretations, and Implications for the Human Association with Extinct Pleistocene Fauna at Akrotiri Aetokremnos, Greece","authors":"A. Simmons","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29935","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29935","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"9 1","pages":"97-105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67569026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cypriot Hippo Hunters No Myth","authors":"D. S. Reese","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29936","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29936","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"9 1","pages":"107-112"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29936","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67569070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ancient Bones and Modern Myths: Ninth Millennium BC Hippopotamus Hunters at Akrotiri Aetokremmos, Cyprus?","authors":"Shlomo Bunimovitz, R. Barkai","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29929","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V9I1.29929","url":null,"abstract":"Recent excavations at Akrotiri Aetokremmos, Cyprus, stirred up great excitement among students of Mediterranean Archaeology and palaeozoology, since they were presented as revealing for the first time on the island a large deposit of Pleistocene fauna - mainly pygmy hippopotamus - in association in artifactual material. It was further claimed that humans may have been responsible for the extinction of some of the endemic Cypriot fauna. A re-examination of the data from the site questions the existence of the ninth millennium BC hippopotamus hunters on Cyprus and addresses the more general issues of how archaeologists observe the archaeological record, give meaning to it, and reconstruct the human past.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"9 1","pages":"85-96"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67568963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch’: Reciprocity in Mycenaean Political Economies","authors":"D. Pullen","doi":"10.1558/jmea.v29i1.31046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v29i1.31046","url":null,"abstract":"Reciprocity has seen much less attention by Aegean archaeologists than other economic concepts such as redistribution, largely because of an assumption that reciprocity is characteristic of ‘egalitarian’ or less developed societies, as well as a related interest in political economies of more complex (palatial) societies, which are assumed to be characterized by redistribution. In Aegean archaeology, consideration of reciprocity is usually limited to gift exchange, either royal in the context of Late Bronze Age interactions with other societies in the eastern Mediterranean, or among elites in a Homeric model. Yet reciprocity has great potential to help us understand better the political economies and social organization of the Late Bronze Age Aegean. Reciprocity encompasses the social dynamics of any exchange between individuals and how these social relationships form the structure of social organization. Of particular interest here is how the standard categories of reciprocity—that is generalized (gift exchange), balanced (trade or immediate discharge of debt), and negative (one-sided benefit)—are manipulated through strategies such as competitive generosity and asymmetrical exchanges, leading to indebtedness of one exchange partner to the other; this can be institutionalized into hierarchical social structures. Feasting is one important category of exchange that can result in asymmetrical relationships and social inequality, and the Mycenaean evidence allows us to examine feasting in detail. Recent work in Linear B texts has suggested that palatial elites manipulated reciprocity through feasting as a strategy for maintaining social and political power. Likewise, elites utilized gifts of prestige items within their own polities to forge alliances and maintain social power","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"29 1","pages":"78-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67565962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reciprocity: A Response","authors":"Sarah P. Morris","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V29I1.31050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V29I1.31050","url":null,"abstract":"This response to a set of wide-ranging papers on the dimensions of reciprocity in Bronze Age Greece introduces three areas for further research, in order to expand the framework in terms of gender, space, and time. These include greater emphasis on the role of women and gender relations in the circulation of labor, land, goods, and prestige; the question of reciprocal relations beyond the Aegean; and, last but not least, the afterlife of prehistoric relationships of reciprocity in ritual practices and elite display in Iron Age Greece. Alternate methodologies are required for these investigations, particularly in archaeological science for exploring diet, health, and foodways that indicate access to resources, in the analysis of non-Aegean documents relevant to Late Bronze Age Greece, and in the juxtaposition of Homeric views of reciprocity with those identified in Bronze Age Greece. As in the evolving development of theories of reciprocity and gift exchange over a century, the ethnographic and ethnohistoric record, largely outside Greece, informs Aegean research.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"29 1","pages":"111-118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67566268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Iron Age Reciprocity","authors":"C. Antonaccio","doi":"10.1558/JMEA.V29I1.31049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMEA.V29I1.31049","url":null,"abstract":"This paper focuses on reciprocity in the context of Bronze Age collapse and early Iron Age ‘reboot’. The highest level of Mycenaean hierarchy collapsed, but neither the entire system, nor the entire ideology, vanished with the palaces: the basileus and a warrior elite survived and moved into places of authority. The circulation of prestige goods through networks of relationships continued, connecting especially the Levant and Cyprus with Crete and Euboia in the early Iron Age. Such objects and the relationships they embody created and maintained control of space and time through long-distance connections with the eastern Mediterranean. Items such as Cypriot bronze stands and other drinking paraphernalia combined the practices of commensality with the ideology of lineage and ancestors previously utilized by the wanax, but now in support of a new order. The concept of ‘house societies’ is introduced to suggest that houses, both the structures and the concept of social grouping, materially manifest claims of duration and power. The monumental burial building of Toumba at Lefkandi may be staking such a claim, with exotic antiques (rather than Mycenaean heirlooms). In the aftermath of disruptions at the close of the Bronze Age, including perhaps those of elite lineages, Lefkandi may be an attempt to found a lineage or a ‘house’, constituted by feasting and gifts, creating a kinship different than one based strictly on birth.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"29 1","pages":"104-111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2016-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67566193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}