Cypriote Archaeology in Goteborg: Papers Presented at a Symposium on Cypriote Archaeology held in Goteborg 20 May 1998

KNAPP, A. BERNARD

Cypriote Archaeology in Goteborg: Papers Presented at a Symposium on Cypriote Archaeology held in Goteborg 20 May 1998. Edited by KARIN H. NIKLASSON. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature, Pocket-book 157. Jonsered, Sweden: PAUL ASTROM'S FORLAG, 1999. Pp. 109.

Swedish archaeologists have been intimately involved in the archaeology of Cyprus since the earliest decades of the twentieth century A.D. Archaeological fieldwork undertaken by the Swedish Cyprus Expedition (Einar Gjerstad and Erik Sjoqvist being its best known members) was fully embedded in a chronological, culture-historical approach, which was followed closely by other European (French, Cypriote, British), Australian and American teams and individuals. Following the Second World War, the archaeology of Cyprus continued in much the same mode, and an impressive series of publications offered detailed studies of architectural traditions, lithic sequences, pottery styles, metallurgical types, and production techniques. In the wake of processual developments in Anglo-American archaeology during the 1960s, British and French prehistorians introduced a multidisciplinary, eco-environmental approach to archaeology on Cyprus. Despite the level of international, multidisciplinary input, however, the culture-histori cal approach continued to prevail in Cypriot archaeology, even if one could point to some processual or postprocessual exceptions. Most archaeologists who read the Journal of the American Oriental Society would no doubt concur that culture history forms the basis of any viable approach to material culture, but archaeology does not consist solely of description and classification. And yet, archaeologists working on Cyprus often demonstrate an aversion to the use of theory and consider social theory as little more than palaeopsychology.

One of the most prominent post-war Swedish archaeologists working on Cyprus was Paul Astrom, who became Professor of Ancient Culture and Civilization at the University of Goteborg in 1969. Astrom, a culture historian to the core, founded a major monograph series dealing primarily with Cypriot archaeology (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology [SIMA] and its companion "Pocket-book" series, of which the volume under review is no. 157). Astrom retired from his post in 1993 but continues actively to publish the SIMA series. In the volume under review, Astrom himself provides a five-page, narrative snapshot of most SIMA publications, although the standard promotional list following the last page of the book is more complete, and not much less informative. Of the seven papers published in this slim volume, Astrom has written two, the second of which is a ten-page contribution of several new finds from the site of Hala Sultan Tekke Vyzakia, where Astrom has directed excavations since 1971. Both these chapters look l ike "fillers," and indeed one may wonder why the editor (Niklasson) decided to publish these papers from a one-day symposium held in the Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Goteborg University. At least we need not question one thing: culture-historical archaeology still reigns supreme in Goteborg.

The papers may be summarized briefly: Kristina Alveby's study of the Middle Chalcolithic lithic tool industry of Cyprus adopts a "use-and-consumption" perspective and thus immediately establishes itself as the only non-culture-historical paper in the volume. Her theoretical concerns involve production, specialized crafts, demand and consumption, as well as the "secondary products revolution" (somewhat out of place in the mid-fourth millennium B.C. on Cyprus). Despite the paper's theoretical interest, the author does not seem to be fully aware of the breadth of literature on the topics she discusses, nor does the heavy theoretical hand sit well with the light treatment of empirical data. The second study, by Peter M. Fischer (an added contribution not presented in the original conference) deals with Cypriot pottery imported to the Jordanian site of Tell Abu al-Kharaz, which Fischer has been excavating over the past decade. Following several pages describing the few Cypriot sherds found at Kharaz in elaborate detail, Fischer concludes that White Slip pottery was imported from Cyprus to fill the demand created by (Levantine) Chocolate-on-White wares, and that Base-ring ware became popular because of its metallic properties.

The next chapter, by Albert Leonard Jr. (whose month-long visit to Goteborg prompted the conference) is an "update" to his MycIndex project, which stems originally from a catalogue appended to his 1976 Ph.D. dissertation. Leonard's project has provided in database format (FileMaker Pro) a continually growing catalogue of Aegean Bronze Age pottery found throughout the eastern Mediterranean. This very useful database contains information on Arne Furumark's (another Swedish archaeologist) Mycenaean pottery shapes and motifs, the site where the pottery was found, the period, the main reference and--wherever the shape or motif has been scanned in--also an illustration. This brief report contains very useful information about a resource that should have wide relevance for anyone working on Aegean pottery in the Levant and on Cyprus, but surely this information would be more readily available and easily accessible to interested scholars if it were provided on the web.

Kjell Malmgren's paper treats in some detail the White Slip pottery from the 1899 British excavations at Klavdhia Tremithos, also the subject of his forthcoming Ph.D. dissertation at Goteborg University. Based on the intricate design patterns of White Slip pottery, Malmgren suggests possible regional interconnections between Klavdhia, Hala Sultan Tekke, and Enkomi. The final paper, by the editor, is presented as a two-page abstract: it considers the historical implications of Late Cypriot III mortuary customs, those of the last phase of the Bronze Age and a time of turmoil throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Niklasson explains that she has only provided an abstract because the contents of her paper will "soon be included in a monograph on the same subject in the SIMA Pocket-book series." But why publish such a brief abstract when another few pages would at least have given some sense of her material and her approach, and at the same time would have been comparable to the other brief papers in the volume?

Indeed one must ask why this volume was published at all. Given the subject matter, it is sure to find a limited readership, and the amount of new information on offer is strictly limited. Most of the studies have a very limited bibliography, heavily weighted towards the author's own work and failing to demonstrate, like the papers themselves, an awareness of similar problems or issues in other aspects of Mediterranean, much less world archaeotogy. On the other hand, the volume is--for the most part--very nicely produced, the exception being the reproduction of black and white prints (especially in articles by Malmgren and Leonard). And most Cypriot archaeologists will certainly find the empirical data of some value: culture-historical means for culture-historical ends.