Reasoning: Technological and Non-Technological Innovations in Archaeology

Although I truly appreciate and love archaeology, it is not my field. Ever since I was a kid I have been watching the wonderful (albeit controversial) British series Time Team. Of course classics as a discipline relies upon archaeology. However, I, in general, am very much a text person and have no idea what the new developments in archaeology are or how to find out.

In the last few weeks, two archaeology-related pieces in the New York Times have caught my attention (both of which I was referred to by my mom).

MEGA

The first was an incredible piece on new computer technology in archaeology. Apparently, the Getty has set up a system for Jordan (called MEGA), in conjunction with Google Earth, in order to mark on a database and monitor ancient sites:

"These let users find any of Jordan’s more than 10,000 sites, from the ancient city of Petra to tiny unearthed remnants from antiquity, like wine presses, threshing floors and burial grounds dating to the Neolithic period." (see article)

The database functions in both English and Arabic and should help authorities prevent grave robbery and other problems by allowing them to efficiently distribute their resources based on the information.

The system was originally intended for Iraq, where the monitoring is desperately needed, but it was difficult to get the technology there and ensure that it was set up. There are, according to the article, possible plans for expanding to Iraq in the future.

Desert Roads

The second piece that caught my attention focuses on two archaeologists, the Darnells, who worked on the Theban Desert Road Survey. According to the article, this type of surveying focuses on the importance of old caravan trails for finding archaeological remains of settlements. The Darnells discovered a Persian settlement from the 6th century, which lead them to much earlier material:

"Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the archaeologists had uncovered extensive remains of a settlement — apparently an administrative, economic and military center — that flourished more than 3,500 years ago in the western desert 110 miles west of Luxor and 300 miles south of Cairo. No such urban center so early in history had ever been found in the forbidding desert." (see article)

The Darnells say in the article that this provides an explanation for the rise of Thebes as an important center in Egypt.

A picture from the NY Times of the bakery at the dig site

Reasoning/Spirited: A Grand Narrative Approach to Greek History #2

Although I criticized The Origins of Greek Thought on both specific points and general approach in my last blog post, Vernant incorporates a number of persuasive and thought-provoking claims in his narrative tale of the origins of Greek Rationality. One of the descriptions that caught my attention is his description of the bureaucratic royalty of the Mycenean palace culture:

"social life appears to have been centered on the palace, whose function was at once religious, political, military, administrative, and economic. In this palace-centered economic system, as it has been called, the king brought together and fused in his own person all aspects of power and sovereignty. Through the agency of the scribes, who formed a professional class established by tradition, and a complex hierarchy of palace dignitaries and royal inspectors, the king controlled and closely regulated all sectors of economic life and spheres of social activity" (Vernant 24).

This passage struck my attention because it reminded me of a passage in Herodotus on which I spent a lot of time and concentration. In Book I when Herodotus describes the founding of the Persian empire by Deiokes, he describes a similar bureaucratic palace structure, except of course that Deiokes becomes so paranoid that he no longer leaves the palace. Furthermore, the palace structure itself sounds somewhat like the image that Vernant describes for the Mycenean palace:

"the Mycenean manor, centered on the megaron [a great central hall] and the throne room, is a walled fortress, a chieftain's den, dominating and keeping watch over the plain at is feet. Constructed to withstand siege, this citadel sheltered the quarters of the king's intimate associates, the military leaders and the palace dignitaries, alongside the princely dwelling and its outbuildings" (Vernant 28)

Unlike the Persian palace that Herodotus describes [1], the Mycenean palaces were not built in concentric circles. Here is an example of the palace floorplan at Pylos [2]:

However, the fortified structure around the king and the treasury and the specialized circle of scribes to maintain a stranglehold on the life of the subject who build their homes around the palace directly follows the description that Herodotus provides. My guess would be that Herodotus saw (or heard about) the ruins of the old Persian palaces, heard the name Deiokes from local history and legend, and attributed aspects of the Greek past to the Persian past of a similar time period.

For anyone who reads Ancient Greek: 1.97-1.100 in Herodotus was one of my favorite passages (when I find my notes, I will do a translation of this section) in any Greek text I have read. The nested structure of the sentence that describes the concentric circles is so incredibly cool. I highly recommend it.

Endnotes

1. I believe that Herodotus does describe an actual Persian type of architecture, although I do not believe that there were ever seven concentric walls surrounding this type of palace. I would cite the source for this belief, but unfortunately I cannot find the paper that I wrote on Deiokes' palace (which is also the reason that I have not taken the time to do my own translation of the passage from the original Greek). I do believe, however, that this was the book that provided me with the information about the archaeological evidence for Persian architecture: Culican, William. The Medes and the Persians. New York: Praeger, 1965. 
2. This image comes from the Brown website. More awesome images of this type can be found at the Bryn Mawr website.