Lightbody, David Ian (2013) the Hybridising Tree of Life: a Postcolonial Archaeology of the Cypriot Iron Age City Kingdoms
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Lightbody, David Ian (2013) The hybridising tree of life: a postcolonial archaeology of the Cypriot Iron Age city kingdoms. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4374/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Hybridising Tree of Life: A Postcolonial Archaeology of the Cypriot Iron Age City Kingdoms David Ian Lightbody University of Glasgow Archaeology: College of Arts May 2013 Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in archaeology © David Ian Lightbody 2013 Abstract The people of early Iron Age Cyprus worshipped at sanctuaries where a sacred tree was the focus of their rituals. The tree was closely associated with a goddess thought to inhabit the natural landscape in which the fields and settlements grew, and in which the people lived and worked. This thesis explores why the tree of life was the central symbol of Cypriot Iron Age rituals, covering the period from the end of the Bronze Age to 500 B.C. Although the tree of the goddess has been studied as an artistic motif, and ceramic material from Cyprus has been studied scientifically, material carrying the motif has never been studied within a fully contextualised archaeology that queries its prevalence in Cypriot material culture, its role within the sanctuaries and necropolises of the city kingdoms and the meanings the material carried in those places. This research project addresses the complex, abstract, iconography of the Geometric and Archaic material in a methodical and theoretical manner, and with respect to the local and regional landscape settlement contexts from which it was recovered. The study takes a fresh, postcolonial approach and follows contextualizing, multiscalar methods towards an improved understanding of cultural structures, meanings and individual events. Old concepts of race and fixed groups are discarded in favour of a more nuanced approach that sees individual identities as constantly changing and material culture as both a driver and an indicator of social hybridisation. This research also serves as a vehicle to study a controversial transitional phase in East Mediterranean history, when the ancient agricultural empires gave way to the poleis and colonial systems of the maritime networks. Although the emergence of a ‘great divide’ between east and west has been postulated for this period, the alliances and cultural exchanges that preceded this transformation have not yet been adequately explored in mainstream academic histories. This research focussing on Iron Age Cyprus illuminates regional interaction between African, Levantine and Aegean cultures, and shows that the island existed within a continuous and contiguous cultural milieu that stretched from the Nile to Athens. 1 Acknowledgements I thank my family in Glasgow, the archaeologists and Egyptologists in Glasgow, the whole University of Glasgow and the people of the West End of Glasgow for solid support during the years that it took to carry out this project. In particular, I thank my supervisor Michael Given for his professional, scholarly and prompt feedback throughout. He has provided the solid academic foundation on which this work was built, and on which I have been able to develop my own scholastic skills. This project could not have been completed without his help and I hope that the end result is a worthy testimony to his scholarly support. I would also like to thank Angela McDonald, who has provided me with the positive guidance that has allowed me to develop my own confidence and professional skills as an educator of others. Additional thanks go to Pippa Steele, Pamela Gaber, Sarah Janes, David Harvey, Thierry Petit, Jan Summers and Katherine Griffith Greenberg for contributing their own research results freely, and Gina Connor and the staff of the Students’ Representative Council for their excellent organisational skills which supported this research from a practival and financial perspective. Any archaeologist of Cyprus must of course thank Vathoulla Moustoukki of CAARI and all of the staff of CAARI in Nicosia for continual support. I would also like to thank my external and internal examiners, Louise Steel and Claudia Glatz, who carried out a very thorough and constructive review of this thesis before the viva, and have therefore contributed to the final product. I dedicate this PhD to my future wife Desi for her hard work and very human support during the final years of this project. Finally, I would like to thank the people of Cyprus and the ancient goddess of that beautiful island herself. 2 Table of contents Abstract 1 Acknowledgements 2 Table of contents 3 List of figures 6 Chronological conventions 9 Abbreviations 12 Chapter 1 Introduction to the study 13 Chapter 2 Postcolonial theory in archaeology 20 2.1. Introduction 20 2.2. Colonialism and colonial archaeology 21 2.3. Escaping from polarized ideologies 23 2.4. Postcolonial archaeological theory - a new vocabulary 24 2.5. Importance of context 32 2.6. Recommendations 34 2.7. Conclusion 36 Chapter 3 Methodology 37 3.1. Introduction 37 3.2. Integrating the multiscalar contextual approach 40 3.3. Integrating a structural analysis 46 3.4. The metanarrative 47 3.5. Conclusions of methodology chapter 50 Chapter 4 Case study 1. Amathus: seed of Kinyras 51 4.1. Introduction to case study of Amathus 51 4.2. Multiscalar analysis of Amathus 53 4.2.1. Regional level analysis 53 4.2.2. Island level analysis 63 4.2.3. Kingdom level analysis 67 4.2.4. Settlement level analysis 69 4.2.5. Quarter level area analysis 74 4.2.6. Individual structure level analysis 76 4.2.7. Artefact level analysis 77 4.3. Data, analysis and interpretation integrated 82 4.4. Conclusions of Amathus case study 86 3 Chapter 5 Case study 2. Idalion: twin peaks 87 5.1. Introduction to case study of Idalion 87 5.2. Multiscalar analysis of Idalion 90 5.2.1. Regional level analysis 90 5.2.2. Island level analysis 96 5.2.3. Kingdom level analysis 100 5.2.4. Settlement level analysis 103 5.2.5. Individual structure level analysis 105 5.2.6. Artefact level analysis 107 5.3. Data, analysis and interpretation integrated 114 5.4. Conclusions of Idalion case study 115 Chapter 6 Case study 3. Palaepaphos: in Arcadia 116 6.1. Introduction to the case study of Palaepaphos 116 6.2. Multiscalar analysis of Palaepaphos 120 6.2.1. Regional level analysis 120 6.2.2. Island level analysis 122 6.2.3. Kingdom level analysis 123 6.2.4. Settlement level analysis 131 6.2.5. Individual structure level analysis 134 6.2.6. Artefact level analysis 138 6.3. Data, analysis and interpretation integrated 145 6.4. Conclusions of Palaepaphos case study 149 Chapter 7 Regional contextualisation survey 151 7.1. Introduction to the survey 151 7.2. Cilicia and Syrian coasts 152 7.3. Phoenicia, Israel, Judah, the Pentapolis and the Mountains of Lebanon 161 7.4. Mesopotamia 166 7.5. Egypt 170 7.6. Central and Western Anatolia 174 7.7. Crete 177 4 Chapter 8 The iconographic-historic metanarrative 180 8.1. Introduction to the discussion 180 8.2. Cyprus and its cultic topography 182 8.3. Late Cypriot IIIA & IIIB, 1200-1050 B.C. 186 8.4. Cypro-Geometric I &II, 1050, 950, 850 B.C. 191 8.5. Cypro-Geometric III, 850 – 750 B.C. 192 8.6. Cypro-Archaic I, 750 – 600 B.C. 194 8.7. Cypro-Archaic II, 600 – 480 B.C. 200 8.8. Conclusions of the final discussion chapter 205 Chapter 9 Conclusions and recommendations 207 Appendices 212 10.1. Introduction 212 10.2. Tell survey - approximate dimensions of tells 213 10.3. Capital survey map & figure Index 214 10.4. Catalogue of selected artefacts from Amathus 216 10.5. Catalogue of selected artefacts from Idalion 227 10.6. Catalogue of selected artefacts from Palaepaphos 232 10.7. Catalogue of selected artefacts from Crete 243 References 248-273 5 List of figures Figure 1 Chronological conventions 9 Figure 2 Proto-Aeolic capital motif on door jamb at entrance to tomb in Tamassos 15 Figure 3 Basic conceptual methodological process scheme 38 Figure 4 List of notable landscape field survey projects around the Mediterranean and Aegean 40 Figure 5 The fully developed hermeneutic, multiscalar project methodology 43 Figure 6 Map of regional level area of study with simplified cultural labels and regions 53 Figure 7 Late Bronze Age papyrus, palm and lotus capitals from Egyptian New Kingdom 57 Figure 8 Figurines of scribes from Cyprus and bronze palmette with volutes from Idalion 58 Figure 9 Glyphs associated with papyrus plants, columns, the Delta and the sea 59 Figure 10 Mycenaean bowl with sphinxes and central tree 60 Figure 11 Proto-Aeolic capital first seen in early Iron Age Israel ca. 950 B.C. 61 Figure 12 Unique lotus form proto-Ionic Limestone capital from Kition 62 Figure 13 Island level area of study 200 km x 100 km. City kingdoms 64 Figure 14 Main geological zones of Cyprus and significant LBA and IA sites near Amathus 66 Figure 15 Kingdom level area of study 67 Figure 16 Viewshed visibility cloak from acropolis of Amathus 68 Figure 17 Plan of the area around the acropolis and temple of Aphrodite at Amathus 69 Figure 18 Earliest tree of life motif CAM17 from T521 70 Figure 19 GPS tracks recording some of the intensive field walking routes and waypoints 71 Figure 20 Bronze Age chamber tomb hilltop west of Amathus acropolis.