Canadian Graduate Programs in Hellenic Studies and Paleoethnobotanical Research

I am asked frequently where in Canada a student seeking an M.A. and/or Ph.D. can study Classics, Classical Archaeology or other aspects of the ancient world. It is difficult in a short discussion, however, to outline all of the possibilities. In order to make this investigation easier a prospective student can now go to the Institute’s website: www.cig-icg.gr and go to the “Links” dropdown menu and there select “Graduate Programs in Canada”. The various graduate programs of ten of our “Participating Institutions” are listed there with the links to the specific departmental website. As one will see, universities across Canada offer a wide variety of top quality advanced degree options relating to ancient Greece and ancillary subjects.

Book of the Blog

Until recently the recovery of paleobotantical remains (one type of “ecofact”) from archaeological contexts was limited to chance finds of macroscopic materials such as charred seeds, pips and pits as well as larger fragments of charcoal. This minimalistic approach created a huge void in our knowledge of plants, bushes and trees that were not just present in past environments but more importantly used in some fashion by humans. The systematic recovery of microscopic as well as macroscopic botanical remains is now standard practice on most excavations.

The “What?”, the “How?”, and the “Why?” of this research is presented in Deborah M. Pearsall’s Paleoethnobotany. A Handbook of Procedures (Left Coast Press, 2nd edition, 2010). In brief, ethnobotany is the study of plant remains related to human activities. Paleoethnobotany is the study of vegetal remains in archaeological contexts. Recovery techniques and procedures, the identification and interpretation of “macroremains” are set forth systematically. “Microremains”, i.e. pollen and phytoliths, are each treated separately. The direct and indirect indicators of diet and health are reviewed along with the crucial issue of integrating all classes of biological data to reconstruct ancient diets and behaviors. Pearsall’s presentation is pithy and stimulating.

The books and monographs succinctly reviewed in the Book of the Blog are waiting for your perusal at the Institute’s Library!

Cordially yours,
David Rupp
Director

Surveying Antikythera and Delving into Social Archaeology

The most visible part of archaeological research are the various methods of data collection in the field, namely excavation and pedestrian surface survey. Given that this is done normally to answer specific questions concerning past cultures, the analysis and synthesis of the data collected are crucial components of the overall research endeavor. The findings of these investigations and their interpretation should be published promptly so that other scholars can benefit.

The research team of the Antikythera Survey Project, which held a Ministry of Culture and Tourism permit for the Institute from 2005-2007 as a synergasia with the 26th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, has just published an article on some of their work. “From Fabrics to Island Connections: Macroscopic and Microscopic Approaches to the Prehistoric Pottery of Antikythera” , by A. Pentedeka, E. Kiriatzi, L. Spencer and A. Bevan, is in the most recent issue of The Annual of the British School at Athens, 105 (2010), pp, 1-81. The authors, based on the macroscopic and petrographic study of the sherds from the survey, discuss the implications of on-island versus off-island ceramic production sources overtime.

Book of the Blog

Some of the most interesting as well as the most spectacular archaeological finds come from burial assemblages. The skeletal remains of the deceased are of equal importance at least for our understanding of past cultures. Human osteology offers many insights into specific buried individuals and into an ancient population as a whole.

The myriad of possibilities for such research are explored by the contributors to The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains, edited by Rebecca Gowland and Christopher Knüsel (Oxbow Books, reprinted 2009). Examples from a wide variety of chronological periods and spanning from the UK to Central Europe to Central America address topics including: age, gender, social differentiation, dietary variation, disease, migration, body modification and burial practices. The Introduction by the Editors serves to unify these disparate approaches.

Cordially,

David Rupp

Director

Ancient Stymphalos and Ancient Technology

If you just happened to be in southern Ontario, St. Catharines specifically, at 3:00 pm on this coming Sunday afternoon, the 13th, you could hear Professor Gerry Schaus (Wilfrid Laurier University and President of the Institute’s Board of Directors) give an illustrated lecture on an enigmatic set of stone pillars found in the Sanctuary of Athena at ancient Stymphalos in the northeastern Peloponnesos. Stymphalos is one of the archaeological sites excavated under the aegis of the Institute, with a permit from the Hellenic Republic's Ministry of Culture and Tourism. This free lecture is sponsored by the Niagara Peninsula Society of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Department of Classics of Brock University, and will take place in the University's Academic South Hall Room 215.

Book of the Blog

We are all focused in some way these days on technology – low or high.  But, what about “old tech”? How does one go about studying ancient and traditional technologies, especially from their material remnants as preserved in the archaeological record? Heather M.-L. Miller has written a book that outlines how one can do this. Archaeological Approaches to Technology (Left Coast Press, 2009) guides one through the long process, from data acquisition to examination to analysis to interpretation. The approaches for “Extractive-Reductive Crafts” and “Transformational Crafts” are treated separately. Two chapters on “Thematic Studies in Technology” enable one to see the potential of investigating technology in the reconstruction of past cultures through selected case studies. Like modern technology, the topic is rich and complex.

Cordially,

David Rupp

Director

Vasilopita Cutting

The Institute is introducing a new annual event after Professor Michael MacKinnon’s lecture on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm. We are taking the opportunity of the first lecture of the New Year to cut a pita to celebrate our community and its collective health and happiness for 2011.  Please join us on this auspicious occasion!

The Book of the Blog

From our new acquisitions I’ve chosen Sarah H. Parcak’s Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology (Routledge, 2009). While remote sensing from the earth’s surface is well-established in archaeological practice in the Aegean basin, more distant forms of sensing are not as frequently used. Much of the capability to do this from high-resolution satellite-based sensors of various types is the direct result of the Cold War. More recently environmental and resource management concerns have brought this imagery into the public’s use. The book provides a succinct overview of the types of satellite based imagery and how they are processed and analyzed. Case studies, research approaches suing this imagery and heritage management issues complete the volume. The Institute’s Leukos Survey Project on Karpathos uses Quickbird high resolution imagery in its research.

Cordially,

David Rupp

Director

Lecture by Michael MacKinnon

Dr Michael MacKinnon
(Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg)
“Rich Man, Poor Man: Reconstructing Social Status in the Ancient World from Archaeological Bones”
Wednesday 9 February, 19.30 in the CIG library

 

Human and animal bones provide much information about ancient life. Using these sources of data, this lecture reconstructs human social status in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Topics include dietary inequalities, differential burial practices, and variations in resource distribution and production. Examples are drawn from across the ancient world, including Pompeii, Italy, Iberia, Greece and North Africa.

 

Dr. Michael MacKinnon is an Associate Professor at the University of Winnipeg, and a graduate of the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta. He has over 20 years of fieldwork experience at more than 45 ancient Greek and Roman sites across the Mediterranean, including places in Italy, Sicily, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, Romania, Macedonia, Turkey, and Egypt.  He is currently the Malcolm H. Wiener Visiting Research Professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, where he is conducting a synthetic investigation of animal bones recovered from excavations in the Athenian Agora.

Good Morning Greece!

If you are looking for newspaper articles relating to Greece’s past as well as for current issues related to archaeological research you should check out the weekly Athens News (www.athensnews.gr). One of their reporters, Heinrich Hall, is a frequent contributor on these topics. This past Friday there was an article by Kathy Tzilivakis on the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG). This is an online anthology of virtually all surviving ancient Greek texts from 800 BC to 600 AD. While the full anthology is accessible only through subscription, an abridged version (www.tlg.uci.edu/demoinfo/demo.php) is open to the public to view selected texts.  What are you waiting for?

I would like to introduce a new feature of this blog.  This is the highlighting of one of our Library’s new books or monographs, under the heading, “Book of the Blog.” The director’s choice for the first one is: Archaeology & Anthropology: understanding similarity, exploring difference, edited by Duncan Garrow and Thomas Yarrow (Oxbow Books, 2010).  This collection of 13 contributions plumbs the depths of the complex relationship of two disciplines that investigate aspects of the human condition.  The boundaries, the gaps and the bridges between them are laid bare.

Cordially,

David Rupp

Director