9th July 2007, 12:00 PM
Have to agree Steve, nothing puts archaeology into perspective like being exposed to past human treatment of their deceased.
Mine was rumaging around in BA tombs in Cyprus. Follow up work included the sorting of a massive amount of bone, both adult and infant. The connection between the sterile academic work of research and essay writing and the 'real' past of a people definately gave me a new outlook on archaeology. Perhaps more important however, was my attempts to create a conceptual framework that put the archaeological evidence into perspective given the political differences between the two ethnioc communities living on the island, and the relative value that each placed on the culture.
It is an interesting situation whereby Greek Cyprus holds international recognition of the country's heritage to the extent that it is a transgression of international law to excavate in Occupied Cyprus. However, the archaeological evidence suggests that the most stiking innovations (Philia culture of facies) apparent in the archaeological record from the BA onwards were provided by Anatolian immigrants. It is certainly a complicated and intriguing situation that raises many questions for the archaeologist.
I like to think that I have developed an outlook that views cultural remains from multiple angles (the philosophy of Hodder I suppose)and have transferred this outlook to my dealings with the present day Australian Indigineous communities. However as anybody involved in contract archaeology will understand, this is not always easy.
Mine was rumaging around in BA tombs in Cyprus. Follow up work included the sorting of a massive amount of bone, both adult and infant. The connection between the sterile academic work of research and essay writing and the 'real' past of a people definately gave me a new outlook on archaeology. Perhaps more important however, was my attempts to create a conceptual framework that put the archaeological evidence into perspective given the political differences between the two ethnioc communities living on the island, and the relative value that each placed on the culture.
It is an interesting situation whereby Greek Cyprus holds international recognition of the country's heritage to the extent that it is a transgression of international law to excavate in Occupied Cyprus. However, the archaeological evidence suggests that the most stiking innovations (Philia culture of facies) apparent in the archaeological record from the BA onwards were provided by Anatolian immigrants. It is certainly a complicated and intriguing situation that raises many questions for the archaeologist.
I like to think that I have developed an outlook that views cultural remains from multiple angles (the philosophy of Hodder I suppose)and have transferred this outlook to my dealings with the present day Australian Indigineous communities. However as anybody involved in contract archaeology will understand, this is not always easy.