Data di Pubblicazione:
2018
Abstract:
Summary: The expression 'pots are not people', common parlance for a while now in archaeological literature, has had a profound
impact on our conceptualization and the methodologies applied in historical reconstruction, especially in disciplines
concerning very early periods where any useful texts are missing. Positive though such a reshaping may be for interpretations,
often previously automatically and simplistically done, where the undoubted physical presence of a 'foreign item' was taken as
proof of invasion by/presence of 'foreigners', we have arguably pushed the pendulum too far in the opposite direction, almost
to the point of denying the possibility of any foreign presence. The result can be contorted and ambiguous interpretations
(themselves denying variabilities we know can occur in the range of human experiences) in the name of supposed scientific objectivity,
too often in fact a barely concealed type of political correctness. Such behaviour is an abdication of our duty to think
honestly and without fear. The goal of this contribution is to side-step this controversy. I examine a material and 'tangible'
object, namely a Middle Minoan vase of undistinguished parentage, found in one of the necropolis of the Second millennium
BC at Knossos, evaluating its possible human and affective meanings.
Tipologia CRIS:
02.01 Contributo in volume (Capitolo o Saggio)
Keywords:
Pots and people; Aegean archaeology; methodology; pottery; bur
Elenco autori:
Alberti, Lucia
Link alla scheda completa:
Titolo del libro:
Mediterranea Itinera
Pubblicato in: