Conversations: Monuments and Memory
Archeology
Volume 58 Number 4,
July/August 2005
Susan E. Alcock is an archaeologist at the University of Michigan specializing in the eastern Roman Empire. The recipent of a MacArthur "genius grant," she is the author of numerous books, including Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscapes, Monuments, and Memories (2002). She spoke with ARCHAEOLOGY about ancient memory, empires, and changing classical archaeology.
[...]
You have a project starting this summer in Armenia. How is working there different from Greece?
The landscape is quite different from Greece--more mountains, so I'll have to get in shape fast. And most of the archaeology done there so far has also been in the Soviet tradition. So techniques that are quite familiar today in the Mediterranean, such as regional survey, are unfamiliar in the Caucasus. On the other hand, the local archaeologists have wonderful knowledge and control of, for example, their ceramic data. So we hope to marry these two traditions, and do something new and very exciting. Another appeal to working in Armenia is that there are wonderful maps. One advantage of being part of an imperial system--the Soviet imperial system--is that Armenia has been mapped to death. And there are good satellite data too. Because while the Soviets were mapping, the Americans were taking a lot of shots of the "Evil Empire."
So the Cold War had a positive legacy for archaeology.Something good did come out of it.
What initially drew you to Armenia?Armenia is very interesting for anyone intrigued with the archaeology of memory because it's a country that has a very strong sense of itself through time--Armenians would say it's the first Christian nation, for instance. One tempting thing about our project is that in Armenia there hasn't been that much scholarly attention paid to the Hellenistic, Roman, and Parthian periods--which are what interest me as a classical archaeologist.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Volume 58 Number 4,
July/August 2005
Susan E. Alcock is an archaeologist at the University of Michigan specializing in the eastern Roman Empire. The recipent of a MacArthur "genius grant," she is the author of numerous books, including Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscapes, Monuments, and Memories (2002). She spoke with ARCHAEOLOGY about ancient memory, empires, and changing classical archaeology.
[...]
You have a project starting this summer in Armenia. How is working there different from Greece?
The landscape is quite different from Greece--more mountains, so I'll have to get in shape fast. And most of the archaeology done there so far has also been in the Soviet tradition. So techniques that are quite familiar today in the Mediterranean, such as regional survey, are unfamiliar in the Caucasus. On the other hand, the local archaeologists have wonderful knowledge and control of, for example, their ceramic data. So we hope to marry these two traditions, and do something new and very exciting. Another appeal to working in Armenia is that there are wonderful maps. One advantage of being part of an imperial system--the Soviet imperial system--is that Armenia has been mapped to death. And there are good satellite data too. Because while the Soviets were mapping, the Americans were taking a lot of shots of the "Evil Empire."
So the Cold War had a positive legacy for archaeology.Something good did come out of it.
What initially drew you to Armenia?Armenia is very interesting for anyone intrigued with the archaeology of memory because it's a country that has a very strong sense of itself through time--Armenians would say it's the first Christian nation, for instance. One tempting thing about our project is that in Armenia there hasn't been that much scholarly attention paid to the Hellenistic, Roman, and Parthian periods--which are what interest me as a classical archaeologist.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
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