John L. Bintliff

A large collection of papers which originated in a conference on Boetia which was held in Bradford in 1989. Since then most of the papers have been updated where required and they testify to the quality and volume of new work being undertaken in this area of Greece. Twenty-five papers in all, including 4 on prehistory by John M. Fossey, Saul Levin, Jost Knauss and Harriet Allen; 3 on the post-Mycenean dark ages by Alina Veneri, Paola Angeli Bernadini and Angheliki K. Andreiomenou; 4 on the archaic period by H. van Effenterre, John M. Fossey, Ettore Cingano, Jan Stubbe Ostergaard; 6 on the classical-hellenisctic period by A. M. Snodgrass, Giuseppe Zecchini, Luisa Breglia Pulcia Doria, L. Prandi, Marta Sordi, John Bintliff and Gilbert Argoud; 3 on the late hellenistic and Roman period by Cinzia Bearzot, Albert Schachter and S. E. Alcock; 4 papers on the medieval and early modern period by Peter Lock, Machiel Kiel, Duane W. Roller and Apostolos Papadopoulos.

Proceedings of the 6th International Boeotian Conference

Recent Developments in the History and Archaeology of Central Greece

Anthony M. Snodgrass

Phil Howard

The Boeotia Survey in Greece is widely recognised as a milestone in Mediterranean landscape archaeology in the sophistication and rigour of its methodologies, and in the scale of the 25-year investigation. This first volume of the project's publication deals with the landscape that formed part of the territory of the ancient city of Thespiai. This landscape acted as the laboratory in which the project refined its methodology: the entire territory was traversed systematically by survey teams, and artefacts were collected not only from every archaeological site located but also as 'off-site' material indicative of land use practices such as manuring. The methodology made possible the construction of detailed period and density maps of rural activity, throwing unprecedented light on the interaction of the city with its hinterland particularly in its period of maximum size between the 5th century BC and the 6th century AD, as well as providing an exemplar for Mediterranean landscape archaeology more generally.

The Work of the Boeotia Survey (1989-1991) in the Southern Approaches to the City of Thespiai

Testing the Hinterland

Archaeological Perspectives

European Social Evolution

Based on Original Fieldwork

Natural Environment and Human Settlement in Prehistoric Greece

Natural Environment and Human Settlement in Prehistoric Greece: Regional studies (continued)

Willem van Zeist

Palaeoclimates, Palaeoenvironments and Human Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Later Prehistory

Mark Pearce

The Death of Archaeological Theory? addresses the provocative subject of whether it is time to discount the burden of somewhat dogmatic theory and ideology that has defined archaeological debate and shaped archaeology over the last 25 years. Seven chapters meet this controversial subject head on, also assessing where archaeological theory is now, and future directions. John Bintliff questions what theory is and argues that archaeologists should be freed from 'Ideopraxists', or those who preach that a single approach or model is right to the exclusion of all others. Marc Pluciennik again questions what we mean by archaeological theory and argues that the role of intellectual fashion is underestimated. He predicts pressure from outside archaeology to redirect our dominant theories towards genetic and human impact theory. Kristian Kristiansen argues that theory cannot die, but it can change direction and sees signs of a retreat from the present post-modern and post-processual cycle towards a more science based, rationalistic cycle of revived modernity. To Mark Pearce the most striking thing about the present state of archaeological theory is that there is no emerging paradigm to be discerned; he proposes that Theory is not dead, but has instead become more eclectic and nuanced. Two papers offer a different perspective from other areas of the world; Alexander Gramsch examines the issue from the German tradition and shows that in Central and Eastern Europe not only has Anglo-American Theory had limited impact, but current discussions on the future of method and theory offer a broader view of the discipline in which older traditions are seen to form the foundation. Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus demonstrate that American archaeologists do not foresee the death of a genuinely archaeological theory (which they believe has never existed) but fear the real catastrophe would be the death of anthropological theory, because some anthropology today has become decidedly anti-scientific, rejecting not only the controlled comparison and contrast of cultures, but also the use of generalisation, both of which are crucial to theories and models and without which the longue duree will always be invisible.

The Death of Archaeological Theory?

John L. Bintliff

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