Time, Tradition and Society in Greek Archaeology is an innovative volume which examines the relevance of archaeological theory to classical archaeology. It offers a wideranging overview of classical archaeology, from the Bronze Age to the Classical period and from mainland Greece to Cyprus. Within this framework Spencer examines many of the issues which have become important in the study of archaeology in recent years - time, the `past', gender, ideology, social structure and group identity. The papers in this collection cover such diverse topics as the rural landscape, classical art and scientific methodologies.
Over the last century the study of classical archaeology has been orthodox and static. The essays in this collection examine it in the light of current theoretical archaeology and anthropology, making it more relevant and valuable to the study of archaeology in the 1990s. This is a diverse and topical collection, of great value to classicists, ancient historians, anthropologists and everyone interested in new approaches to archaeology.

Reviews

'All the essays here are of a high standard, the contributors purposefully address the topics of group definition, tomb- and herocult, intra settlement change, the gendering of funerary sculpture and (too often neglected) the organization of domestic space.' - Times Higher Education Supplement

'Heralds the coming out of classical archaeologists as proud of their special textual resources and adept at exploiting them to raise and to help tackle questions of which archaeologists have often fought shy.' - Robin Osborne, Archaeological Journal

Book Information
ISBN 9780415114127
Author Nigel Spencer
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 476g