28 research outputs found
The historiography of landscape research on Crete
This study aimed to construct a historiography of archaeological landscape research on the island of Crete and evaluate the knowledge acquired through different approaches of over more than a centuryâs intense archaeological work. It provides a detailed analysis of relevant projects, which are seen within a wider historical framework of archaeological landscape research from the beginnings of the discipline (19th century) to the present day. The five (5) major âtraditionsâ or else âapproachesâ of studying past landscapes that are identified, demonstrate certain common attributes in questions asked, methodology followed and interpretative suggestions. Analysis, however, has shown that these âtraditionsâ have been in a continuous interplay and have each their own limitations as well as worthy contribution to the study of the Cretan past. The assessment of archaeological landscape work on Crete and the use of landscape data in a case study area for the historical reconstruction of human activity, concluded on the need to be explicit regarding 1) the relationship between data and interpretations and 2) the kind of information we need to produce and publish from landscape research so that we promote archaeological knowledge and allow a higher level of communication within the archaeological community.LEI Universiteit LeidenSaripoleio Foundation, School of Philosophy, University of AthensClassical and Mediterranean Archaeolog
The Historiography of Landscape Research on Crete
This study aimed to construct a historiography of archaeological landscape research on the island of Crete and evaluate the knowledge acquired through different approaches of over more than a century's intense archaeological work. It provides a detailed analysis of relevant projects, which are seen within a wider historical framework of archaeological landscape research from the beginnings of the discipline (19th century) to the present day. The five major 'traditions; ore else 'approaches' of studying past landscapes that are identified, demonstrate certain common attributes in questions asked, methodology followed and interpretative suggestions. Analysis, however, has shown that these 'traditions' have been in a continuous interplay and have each their own limitations as well as worthy contribution to the study of the Cretan past. The assessment of archaeological landscape work on Crete concluded on the need to be explicit regarding 1) the relationship between data and interpretations and 2) on the kind of information we need to produce and publish from landscape research so that we promote archaeological knowledge and allow a higher lever of communication within the archaeological communityDissertati
A simulation of the Neolithic transition in Western Eurasia
Farming and herding were introduced to Europe from the Near East and
Anatolia; there are, however, considerable arguments about the mechanisms of
this transition. Were it people who moved and outplaced the indigenous hunter-
gatherer groups or admixed with them? Or was it just material and information
that moved-the Neolithic Package-consisting of domesticated plants and animals
and the knowledge of its use? The latter process is commonly referred to as
cultural diffusion and the former as demic diffusion. Despite continuous and
partly combined efforts by archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists,
paleontologists and geneticists a final resolution of the debate has not yet
been reached. In the present contribution we interpret results from the Global
Land Use and technological Evolution Simulator (GLUES), a mathematical model
for regional sociocultural development embedded in the western Eurasian
geoenvironmental context during the Holocene. We demonstrate that the model is
able to realistically hindcast the expansion speed and the inhomogeneous
space-time evolution of the transition to agropastoralism in Europe. GLUES, in
contrast to models that do not resolve endogenous sociocultural dynamics, also
describes and explains how and why the Neolithic advanced in stages. In the
model analysis, we uncouple the mechanisms of migration and information
exchange. We find that (1) an indigenous form of agropastoralism could well
have arisen in certain Mediterranean landscapes, but not in Northern and
Central Europe, where it depended on imported technology and material, (2) both
demic diffusion by migration or cultural diffusion by trade may explain the
western European transition equally well, (3) [...]Comment: Accepted Author Manuscript version accepted for publication in
Journal of Archaeological Science. A definitive version will be subsequently
published in the Journal of Archaological Scienc
Author Correction: Amplitude of travelling front as inferred from 14C predicts levels of genetic admixture among European early farmers.
A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper
The Historiography of Landscape Research on Crete
This study aimed to construct a historiography of archaeological landscape research on the island of Crete and evaluate the knowledge acquired through different approaches of over more than a century's intense archaeological work. It provides a detailed analysis of relevant projects, which are seen within a wider historical framework of archaeological landscape research from the beginnings of the discipline (19th century) to the present day. The five major 'traditions; ore else 'approaches' of studying past landscapes that are identified, demonstrate certain common attributes in questions asked, methodology followed and interpretative suggestions. Analysis, however, has shown that these 'traditions' have been in a continuous interplay and have each their own limitations as well as worthy contribution to the study of the Cretan past. The assessment of archaeological landscape work on Crete concluded on the need to be explicit regarding 1) the relationship between data and interpretations and 2) on the kind of information we need to produce and publish from landscape research so that we promote archaeological knowledge and allow a higher lever of communication within the archaeological communit