This collection of papers, derived from the ‘Theory in (Ancient) Greek Archaeology’ (TiGA) conference held in May 2012 at the University of Michigan, opens by the statement of the editor N.: ‘The present volume aims to stimulate debate about the direction being taken by the archaeology of culturally Greek communities during the first millennium bce’ (p. 1). This statement implies that the archaeological investigation into these communities differs in some relevant ways from other endeavours of the discipline in general. Indeed, it does, and the introduction proceeds to eloquently articulate the specific state of the sub-field and its long empirical tradition, explicitly arguing for moving towards more theoretically informed approaches. Three chapters of Part 1, ‘Disciplinary Context’, further elaborate upon the state of theory in archaeological research into ancient Greece, analysing the frequency of theoretically oriented articles in journals focused upon Classical antiquity (D.L. Stone) and the relevance of Classical archaeology for research into other geographical and chronological segments (D. Small). The legacy of prior work in the field (‘rigors of a venerable Teutonic academic tradition’, B.A. Ault, p. 49) is also investigated, evaluating both its shortcomings and its productive inspirations that may be drawn for future work.
The collection proceeds to investigate the applicability of various theoretical concepts to the archaeological study of ancient Greece, in a series of case studies covering an array of traditionally central subjects of the sub-discipline: painted pottery, architecture, works of art, and discussing such fundamental questions as Athenian democracy or the colonisation of Sicily.
Part 2, ‘Artifacts’, presents five case studies, starting with the contribution of J. Whitley, problematising one of the basic assumptions of archaeology of ancient Greece – the society under investigation was a literate one and the existing written testimony forms a solid ground for archaeologists’ inferences. In a welcome turn, Whitley discusses the issues of the introduction of literacy into the Greek world by archaeological means, examining a series of oggetti parlanti – artefacts bearing inscriptions – in their various contexts. The ensuing chapters investigate the application of diverse theoretical concepts, derived from other fields of humanities, such as reception (K.M. Lynch), or the ones already explored in other sub-fields of archaeology: chaîne opératoire (I. Smyrnaios), constructive ethnicity (S.R. Martin), materiality (L. Çakmak), onto various classes of material culture, producing stimulating accounts.
Similarly, Part 3, ‘Civic and Religious Landscapes’, and Part 4, ‘Funerary Landscapes’, tackle some of the fundamental topics of the archaeology of Greece, and for that matter of all the other disciplines dealing with Classical antiquity, such as Athenian democratic institutions and buildings housing them (J. Paga), social dimensions of cult practices (M. Scott), or the festival of the Great Panathenaia (S. Agelidis), colonial encounters (K.P. Hofmann & R. Atulla) and finally such famous monuments as Tomb II at Vergina (E. Salminen). Each contribution meticulously introduces productive theoretical concepts (e.g. agency of built environment, network theory, identity, gender, hybridity), and none of them disappoints in shedding new light on the complex dynamics of the first millennium bce in the Circum-Mediterranean region.
The collection concludes in Part 5, ‘Responses’, with two short summarising chapters. Both authors (L. Foxhall, Z. Archibald) agree that the exercise of introducing explicitly theoretical concepts into the archaeological research of ancient Greece produces stimulating results, exemplified in the contributions to the volume. It is quite easy to agree with both those conclusions: broadening the scope of the tools we bring into the research surely broadens our understanding of the investigated phenomenon. A thoughtfully chosen, explicitly stated and consistently applied theoretical framework undoubtedly facilitates a well-founded debate, both inside the community of specialists and in the trans-disciplinary arena. The papers in the volume scrupulously follow this path and offer fresh, challenging interpretations of various well-known topics of Classical scholarship. In this respect, the book meets the goals set in the introductory chapter, to form the basis for dialogue with adjacent disciplines, such as ancient history and Classical philology, as well as to ‘demonstrate the wide range of approaches, questions, and types of evidence that can come together under the broad heading of Greek archaeology’ (N., p. 8). Hence, from the point of view of scholars particularly involved in the study of ‘culturally Greek communities’, regardless of their disciplinary affiliation, the collection brings together an interesting sample of possible paths to be pursued.
On the other hand, however, from the standpoint of an archaeologist with a keen interest in theoretical aspects, regardless of the spatial/temporal dimension of the subject of research, the volume is marked by a somewhat unusual absence of some topics. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this briefly is to point to two standard instruments of academic writing: lists of references and the index. Although the authors of all contributions abundantly refer to relevant literature treating their chosen theoretical positions, derived from various disciplinary backgrounds, archaeological theoretical works are much less abundantly represented. After the same fashion, for example, the term ‘postprocessualism’ – the one that would probably best describe the general trend of most, if not all the contributions – is mentioned in one chapter only. The fervent ongoing debate taking place among archaeologists, sometimes described as ‘theory wars’ (R. Chapman, A. Wylie, Evidential Reasoning in Archaeology [2016], p. 7, passim; cf. also O. Harris, C. Cippola [edd.], Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium. Introducing Current Perspectives [2017]), revolves around an essential epistemic question: should an archaeological record be treated primarily as the product of cultural processes, and therefore by means (theoretical as well as methodological) shared by the humanities, or does its physicality ultimately oblige us to get in line with hard sciences, both in terms of multiple testing possibilities and in respect to our mode of inference? The collection seems to have tacitly resolved this dilemma without mentioning it at all. Getting back to the issue above, does this imply yet another difference between the archaeology of ancient Greece and archaeology in general? If the aim of the volume is to argue for more theoretically informed Classical archaeology, in order to communicate more efficiently with the archaeological community in general, for mutual benefit, addressing this particularly complex set of issues seems relevant. The future of archaeology as a discipline, including all its sub-fields, may depend on our ability to navigate between two extreme theoretical positions. In this respect, lessons learned from specialists in Greek archaeology, precisely because of its many specific traits and its ‘venerable tradition’, may be an important asset for the discipline in general.
