Landscape Archaeology as Long-Term History: Northern Keos in the Cycladic Islands from Earliest Settlement Until Modern Times.

Landscape Archaeology as Long-Term History: Northern Keos in the Cycladic Islands from Earliest Settlement Until Modern Times. Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (August 24 1902–November 27 1985) was a French historian. He revolutionized the 20th century study of his discipline by considering the effects of such outside disciplines as economics, anthropology, and geography on global history[1]. famously identified in the Mediterranean islands'que n'entoure pas la mer'. There are also in theMediterranean things that the sea surrounds that are not islands - not,that is, in the strongest sense, the sense of the island biogeographers(see, of course, MacArthur & Wilson 1967), or their archaeologicaldisciples. The metaphor of the island as biological laboratory is moreapplicable to truly isolated islands in the deep oceans. Keos (Tsia), inthe Aegean, however, part of which is the subject of this study, is anuninsulated isle, and the principal disappointment of a project ofsurvey archaeology that is outstanding in many respects is its repeatedtendency to revert to a reconstruction of the island's past as ifit were separated from the mainland and adjacent islands not by a fewkilometres of sea but by interplanetary in��ter��plan��e��tar��y?adj.Existing or occurring between planets.interplanetaryAdjectiveof or linking planetsAdj. 1. voids.The northern Keos survey is a kind of grandchild of the famous andjustly influential collaboration which produced Renfrew &Wagstaff's An island polity: the archaeology of exploitation inMelos (1982). Continuity between the two is provided by John Cherry ''For the article on the Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, see John D. CherryJohn Clifford Cherry (born May 22, 1965) was an Australian Democrats member of the Australian Senate from 2001 to 2005, representing the state of Queensland. andTodd Whitelaw.Once again a diverse multi-disciplinary team undertakes the survey ofan Aegean island-landscape and its integrated interpretation. Bothprojects were ambitiously conceived, taking in the whole past and allthe evidence for it, and scientifically executed with the laudablecollaboration of an international team. Comparison of the two isinevitable, and a very interesting and profitable exercise (cf. pp.4-7). In the opinion of this reviewer, as a project aiming to instate in��state?tr.v. in��stat��ed, in��stat��ing, in��statesTo establish in office; install. 'landscape archaeology as long-term history', in the words ofthe sub-title, Northern Keos is far less successful than its precursor.If this review concentrates on the nature of this problem, it should notbe taken as denigration den��i��grate?tr.v. den��i��grat��ed, den��i��grat��ing, den��i��grates1. To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame.2. of the splendid publication of an excellentlywell-conceived and well-managed project, which has produced data of thehighest importance for the archaeology and history of Aegean landscapes,but as a contribution to the debate about the wider issues of how tointerpret such evidence.The emphasis in Melos on the systems in which the island wasenmeshed, and which made 'peer polity interaction' a householdterm among a generation of Mediterranean historians, is not repeatedhere. This survey was considerably more involuted. 'Strong boundaryconstraints which have generally changed little since the initialcolonization' are implicated (p. 14) in the validation of themethod of the survey itself. The laboratory-like detachment of the idealisland is here used to counter the polemic of M.I. Finley against anyregionally-based investigation (p. xvi: in fact, of course, no specialcase needs be pleaded for starting to study something by looking at abit of it). The wider world is still present as part of the modelling oflong-term change, but - and here we recognise the influence of JackDavis Jack Davis may refer to: Jack Davis (politician) (born 1935), Illinois Jack Davis (industrialist) (born 1933), Western New York industrialist and politician Jack Davis (cartoonist) (born 1924) Jack Davis (athlete) (born 1930), Olympic hurdler - mediated through the accommodations of exploitation made by theisland elites under the pressure of external power relations: at astroke encouraging a marxist analysis of the conditions of productionand attempting to preserve something of the hermetic seal of theisland-lab. Socio-biological isolatedness is, however, ultimately justincompatible with the legacy of Renfrew & Wagstaff, and the volumeconstantly gives the impression that the authors are having their Meliancake while making a Wilsonian meal out of it.A striking exception is the most recent phases, of which we read (p.402) 'the settlement pattern of contemporary Keos makes littlesense if the mapping stops at the boundaries of the island. It can bestbe understood as a small, dependent segment of a larger map'. Howfar that was true of other periods too should have been a constantlyreiterated procedural enquiry throughout the project.Keos was a tempting choice for survey for another reason, too (andtwo other major surveys there, which will provide some very fertilecomparisons with this work, await publication). Though the island isonly 103 sq. km in area, it was divided among up to four poleis po��leis?n.Plural of polis. for muchof the ancient period. There is in fact also evidence for federalinstitutions binding these together, and for a lower tier of tinyentities - 30 are named in one document from the polis of Karthaia,territory not larger than 30 sq. km. It is natural to want to enquire en��quire?v.Variant of inquire.enquireVerb[-quiring, -quired] same as inquireenquiry nVerb 1. how so preposterously complex and fragmented a system related to theproductive environment. Here another application of the isolationist i��so��la��tion��ism?n.A national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries.i fallacy is on display. The authors take it for granted that theparticular contribution of Keos to the study of the relationship betweensettlement geography, economic history and landscape is going to be theinsularity which seals the experience of Kean communities from theconfusing and contaminating effect of the complexity of neighbours. Inthe island laboratory, the quadri-partite fissioning of the Kean eggwill teach us about the cellular experience of the polis elsewhere. Arather jejune je��june?adj.1. Not interesting; dull: "and there pour forth jejune words and useless empty phrases"Anthony Trollope.2. political-science perspective is adopted to model the'dynamics and strategies of small weak states' (p. 8), inresponse to the revealingly evolutionist ev��o��lu��tion��ism?n.1. A theory of biological evolution, especially that formulated by Charles Darwin.2. Advocacy of or belief in biological evolution. question, 'Why staysmall?' (p. 5). The consequence is an over-emphasis on the pursuitof autonomy, of dubious relevance in long-term modelling of the past ofan island where the polis itself is relatively late (p. 344), whereIoulis (Chora) had a certain hegemonial role as federal centre even whenthe quadripartite QUADRIPARTITE. Having four parts, or divided into four parts; as, this indenture quadripartite made between A B, of the one part, C D, of the second part, E P, of the third part, and G H, of the fourth part. structure was at its most pronounced, and where thedisappearance of a city like Poieessa is a matter of institutional(Strabo 10.5.6) rather than settlement geography (see Catling 1987: 46for its survival to the early Christian period).The truth is actually diametrically di��a��met��ri��cal? also di��a��met��ricadj.1. Of, relating to, or along a diameter.2. Exactly opposite; contrary.di opposite: islandsettlement-institutions are the least, not the most, diagnostic of theessential experience of the polis, because they are much more, ratherthan much less, contaminated by social complexity and tangentrelationships with other places: other places which can exert morecultural, political or economic influence, though much further away,than places which are physically close on a mainland where the inertiaof communications limits the possibility of neighbourly neighbourlyor US neighborlyAdjectivekind, friendly, and helpfulAdj. 1. neighbourly - exhibiting the qualities expected in a friendly neighborneighborly influence. Thecomplexity of the settlement-history of Keos is a sign - like the towersthat defend its fields, the regulations which forbid women to walk atlarge in case they are snatched by pirates, or the wildly fluctuatingdemography of the island - of the frantic urgency of its relationshipswith its neighbours as they warred for various sorts of hegemony in theAegean. The picture here is of polis institutions and society in amarginal enclave responding only sluggishly to the pressure of powerpolitics whose location is altogether elsewhere. Northern Keos did nothave a document like Thucydides' Melian dialogue to include intheir repertoire of data, but the authors could have learned more fromthe insight gained from it by Renfrew & Wagstaff. Islands, beforepowered navigation, are not all backwaters.Work on the project stopped at the water's edge (despite therecognition of the multiplicity of the anchorages, p. 57), The proximityof the sea should have played more part in the microtopographicalarchaeology, especially since the survey area - selected, as theorganizers make clear, after a number of difficulties - included twoimportant Neolithic communities with good access by sea, Kephala andPaoura, the second alongside a substantial Roman port serving Ioulis(today Chora), the principal settlement of the island at many phases ofits history. When sites such as Agios Petros in the northern Sporades,and Saliagos in the channel between Antiparos and Paros, have shown howcentral the role of the sea was to the communities and cultures of theprehistoric Aegean, it seems odd that so little attention was given inthis survey to assessing the function of the sea, of contacts viacabotage cab��o��tage?n.1. Trade or navigation in coastal waters.2. The exclusive right of a country to operate the air traffic within its territory. or its precursors along the coast, and of communications (cf.p. 380) through the Doro strait, the Euboean channel, and via the islandchains to the south and east.Still more strikingly, the survey covered the Bay of Agios Nikolaos(which, perhaps ironically, forms the centrepiece of the aerial view onthe dust-jacket). This is one of the best sheltered ports of the wholeAegean, and the excellent chapter on the reports of the early-moderntravellers make a good deal of its prominence on the maps of that period(pp. 371-5), while the superb chapter on the island's modernhistory by Susan Sutton, already quoted, delineates very clearly itschanging roles in the last two centuries. Sites within the survey areaincluded Agia Irini and Koressos, which made use of the sheltered watersof this bay in the Bronze Age and ancient periods respectively. But eventhe ease of communications with Attica is not really done justice to,though its eastern coast is the facade of Keos and the archipelagobehind it to the whole of central Greece. Again the modern periodprovides an illustration so vivid as to be almost incredible: in thefirst years of Athens' function as capital of the kingdom ofGreece, before the shipping of Piraeus developed, when a ship was neededthere, a beacon was lit on Hymettus to summon one - from Tsia (p. 387).Thanks to the harbours, Keos has never been remote. The centrality ofthe port to the webs of maritime communication, weaving from islet-leeto scala to strait across the archipelago, is easy to attest fromantiquity. Sextus Pompeius, self-proclaimed favourite of Neptune, isattested (Valerius Maximus II: 6, 8) visiting Ioulis, and presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. anchoring with his warships in the great havbour, as he transferred hisbid for Mediterranean sea-power from Sicily to Asia in autumn 36 BC (arevealing little episode not mentioned in this volume). A letter([Aeschines] Epistles 1) purporting to be by the Athenian orator ORATOR, practice. A good man, skillful in speaking well, and who employs a perfect eloquence to defend causes either public or private. Dupin, Profession d'Avocat, tom. 1, p. 19.. 2. Aeschines (cited, but without discussion of the details) imaginesdeparture from Athens at dusk, arrival at Koressos the next day atmidday, a stay of nine days on Keos because of contrary winds, departureagain at dusk and arrival at Delos the next morning at dawn. Theconsequences of this high accessibility are not done justice to here.Perhaps it is because the results of field-survey are easier tointerpret in direct proportion to the enclosedness of the agrariansystem that survey archaeology so often reveals autarky AutarkyAbsence of a cross-border trade in models of international trade. . Here,certainly, the isolatedness of Keos politically is mirrored in thepresupposition pre��sup��pose?tr.v. pre��sup��posed, pre��sup��pos��ing, pre��sup��pos��es1. To believe or suppose in advance.2. To require or involve necessarily as an antecedent condition. See Synonyms at presume. of its economic autarky (e.g. p. 237, even in the contextof an inscription attesting the importation of a large quantity ofstaples from Libya to remedy a food-crisis!) leads to contradictions: inone of the analyses of the results (p. 363), a similarity is proposedbetween the ancient conditions and 'the basic subsistenceorientation of modern agriculture', while the actual discussions ofrecent agrarian practice (e.g. p. 400) establish a market orientation.The critical attention given to the effects of the economic interests ofthe elite is very welcome, but the essentially minimalist position onproduction, combined with the neglect of the economics of interaction,leads to an underestimate of how much was at stake. The very substantialtribute due to imperial Athens cannot be taken as simply penal, since itis attested over several different assessments, and, like the tributedue to the Tourkokratia, seems to me to show just how much an elitecould screw out of the web of contacts, exchanges and productionsnegotiated by the inhabitants of island-locations like this.In fact the economy of Keos since at least the 13th century isextremely suggestive about the ancient state of affairs. And this isprecisely because we can see here, as on some other islands, exactly howthe prudent pursuit of subsistence goals by primary producers co-existswith and maintains a pattern of productions and services which, thoughthey are very variable (and indeed need to be to accommodate thenecessary flexibility of responses to manifold risk in production inMediterranean environmental circumstances) also engage the community inhighly significant ways with much more extensive economic systems.Island wine-production, from the development of the famous islandwines of the late archaic and classical periods, is a splendid example.On Keos, this was a practice of some importance in the early modernperiod, which, interestingly, ceased during this century. Keanbarley-growing (p. 441) has also worked in this way, providingconsiderable surpluses from subsistence-oriented cultivation, but stillfrequently and regularly enough, thanks perhaps partly to the unusualquality of the island's ground-water, to produce a significantexport: not less historically significant because it was psychologicallysubordinated to local consumption, or, for climatic reasons,intermittent and unpredictable. The gathering and export of velani,acorns for tanning, however, has (from at least the 13th century) beenthe most characteristic crop of this island, a fascinating instance ofthe opportunistic expansion of productive island enterprise because ofthe way its use of labour fits in to domestic time-discipline (comparethe advantages of the low labour demands of nut-growing, p. 446).Equally unpredictable in quality and quantity, therefore, but still acommodity of real financial importance, the acorn-harvest transformedthe history of Keos without creating an implausible and unsustainableabandonment of autarkic au��tar��kyor au��tar��chy ?n. pl. au��tar��kies or au��tar��chies1. A policy of national self-sufficiency and nonreliance on imports or economic aid.2. A self-sufficient region or country. norms.The list of specialized activities making practical additions to asubsistence repertoire in a Mediterranean island, especially in theAegean, is long; the rather unexpected intensive husbandry of animalsfor dairy produce (as spectacularly on Menorca, for instance) is onewhich it might be possible to find in ancient Keos, according to the fewsnippets of information about its agriculture which survive in theliterary sources, including the treatise of Aeschylides, a native of theisland (as well as in the more recent past when a very interestingmarket for Kean dairy-produce in Laurion developed, p. 389-92, cf. 238,intensive dairying for an urban market). As for ancient parallels forthe returns offered by the valonia va��lo��ni��a?n.The dried acorn cups of an oak tree (Quercus aegilops) of the eastern Mediterranean, used chiefly in tanning and dyeing. oak, the clearly important trade inred ochre (miltos, pp. 299-303), and the apiculture attested during thissurvey by the quite unexpected proliferation of beehives might be worthconsidering.Such a state of affairs can not be dismissed with a label such as'subsistence-plus'. It permeates the local economy to asufficient extent, for instance, to have made modern Keos almost whollydependent on import for olive oil, a possibility which, if applied toantiquity, might have some bearing on finds of transport amphorae (verydiverse, p. 255; we note that a large proportion of all the ancientceramics found was imported, p. 248). It is based on an opportunisticflexibility of production which is wholly dependent on the ease ofcommunications to and from island environments. In particular, themodern history of the settlement at Livadi on the Bay of Agios Nikolaosclearly shows how the port itself and its activities can function as aningredient in the repertoire of choices open to the islanders, competingwith the agricultural strategies for labour and investment (p. 401).Of all Mediterranean landscapes, the ones whose agrarian conditionsare least self-explanatory on wholly internal terms are those of theislands. No other segment of landscape has more ways in and out forpeople and things, more opportunities for interaction with the continua con��tin��u��a?n.A plural of continuum. of redistribution; and even among islands, Keos is more porous and lessbubble-like than most. The history of the varied productivity of Keos -and that includes the picture produced by the survey itself - is themore informative because it is not especially fertile (leptogeon,Theophrastus Historia Plantorum I: 8, 1; cf. Aelian XVI: 32). Only itsinsular nature can account for the diversity of its economic history,and the accounting can only be done by the examination of insularfocality, and not of insular remoteness.The very dense coverage of the survey, and its attention to off-siteanalysis, produced very good results for the intensity of certain sortsof initiative in the landscape. There is a good discussion of thequestion of dispersed settlement (460-61), which remains one of the keyissues in Hellenic agrarian history. And if the authors have developedscepticism about the idea of the Melos survey that fluctuations inpatterns of outside contact determine the oscillations of dispersal andnucleation nu��cle��a��tionn.1. The beginning of chemical or physical changes at discrete points in a system, such as the formation of crystals in a liquid.2. The formation of cell nuclei. which characterize so many Mediterranean historicallandscapes, that seems in itself sensible: though not because theinfluence of the exterior is less important than it seemed to Renfrew& Wagstaff, but rather because such influence is axiomatic ax��i��o��mat��ic? also ax��i��o��mat��i��caladj.Of, relating to, or resembling an axiom; self-evident: "It's axiomatic in politics that voters won't throw out a presidential incumbent unless they think his challenger will andall-pervasive if islands like these are inhabited at all.The authors are also properly cautious about their immediateconclusions, noting how little the undoubted prosperity of Keanagriculture in the 18th century is reflected in their finds. They arealso aware that the survey area (which is very fragmentedtopographically) does not include many of the most favoured productiveniches of the island; and that their polis centre, Koressos, is rendereduntypical Adj. 1. untypical - not representative of a group, class, or type; "a group that is atypical of the target audience"; "a class of atypical mosses"; "atypical behavior is not the accepted type of response that we expect from children"atypical by its importance as a harbour rather than a centre foragricultural exploitation. They are also aware that the settlement atChora, ancient Ioulis, was more than just another of the four cities,but almost certainly always acted as a privileged central place for thewhole island (it was certainly the federal capital): the survey-areaneeds therefore to be interpreted as a segment of the territory of theisland capital as well as more autonomously as the territory ofKoressos.In the end, we are left with an impression of a certain puzzlement puz��zle��ment?n.The state of being confused or baffled; perplexity.Noun 1. puzzlement - confusion resulting from failure to understandbafflement, befuddlement, bemusement, bewilderment, mystification, obfuscation ,going beyond the authors' general honesty and self-awareness, andtheir healthy stance on the critical interface betweenproblem-orientation and practice in field-survey: when the method was soscrupulous and the parameters so realistically stated, why did thefindings really not do more to answer the questions about therelationship of town and country and the genesis and mutation of smallweak states? This review has attempted an answer: the answers wereunsatisfactory because the questions were wrong. The material found,like the ethnographic and literary sources and the institutions of theisland, illustrates the vicissitudes of one of the most mutable andresponsive environments of the Mediterranean, enormously exposed tochanges of political, economic and demographic fortune under theinfluences of seaborne sea��borne?adj.1. Conveyed by sea; transported by ship.2. Carried on or over the sea.seaborneAdjective1. carried on or by the sea2. movement. It is about as typical of the ordinarypatterns of settlement as Gatwick Airport.ReferencesCATLING, H.W. 1987. Archaeology in Greece, Journal of HellenicStudies Archaeological Reports 33: 3-61.MACARTHUR, R.H. & E.O. WILSON. 1967. The theory of islandbiogeography. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.RENFREW, C. & M. WAGSTAFF (ed.). 1982. An island polity: thearchaeology of exploitation in Melos. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). .