Urbanization in Archaeological Interpretation. Case study: “Hellenized settlements” in the Central Balkans

Authors

  • Ivan Vranić Archaeological Institute, Belgrade

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v7i3.7

Keywords:

urbanization, social evolution, Iron Age

Abstract

In the archaeological literature, the problem of urbanization and the emergence of cities have most often been solved in the framework of the formation of states and first “civilizations”. Both in traditional and more recent works based on evolutionary theory, it has been presupposed that these are the settlements of the communities on the “state level”, with fully developed complex society. Evolutionary theory, as an Eurocentric approach, is frequently present in the archaeology of the Balkans, used as a tool in the classification of settlements and identification of cities, thus leading to the practice of evaluation of heritage as “better” or “more advanced”. The paper examines the problem of urbanization from two theoretical starting points, focusing on the case study of the so-called “Hellenized settlements” of the Balkan Iron Age. The first line of inquiry is based upon the contemporary evolutionary theory, taking into account the post-modern critique of the approach. The conclusion is that the Iron Age communities do not comply with all the characteristic traits of complex societies, raising considerable doubt concerning the interpretation of the settlements as cities. The second part of the paper examines the issue of heritage and its active role in the modern world, aiming to explain the reasons for the widely accepted interpretation of the Iron Age settlements as urbanized.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Archibald, Zofia H. 1994. "Thracians and Scythians". In The Cambridge Ancient History (second edition): Volume VI, The Fourth Century B. C., eds. David M. Lewis, John Boardman, Simon Hornblower and Martin Ostwald, 444–475. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Archibald, Zofia H. 1998. The Odrysiаn Kingdom of Thrace: Orpheus Unmasked. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Archibald, Zofia H. 2000. “Space, Hierarchy, and Community in Archaic and Classical Macedonia, Thessaly, and Thrace". In Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of Political Organization and Community in Ancient Greece, eds. Roger Brock and Stephen Hodkins, 212–233. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Archibald, Zofia H. 2004. "Inland Thrace". In An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation, eds. Mogens N. Hansen and Thomas H. Nielsen, 885–899. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Archibald, Zofia H. 2010. "Macedonia and Thrace". In A Companion to Ancient Macedonia, eds. Joseph Roisman and Ian Worthington, 326–341. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

Babić, Staša. 2002. ‘Princely Graves’ of The Central Balkans – a critical history of research. European Journal of Archaeology 5 (1): 70–88.

Babić, Staša. 2010. Prošlost kao Drugi – Drugi kao prošlost. Етноантрополошки проблеми 5 (2): 259–268.

Barth, Fredrik, Andre Gingrich, Robert Parkin and Sydel Silverman. 2005. One Discipline, Four Ways: British, German, French, and American Anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bradley, Aulut A. and Lisa C. Nevett. 1999. "Digging Houses: Archaeologies of Classical and Hellenistic Greek Domestic Assemblages". In The Archaeology of Household Activities, ed. Penelope M. Allisno, 43–56. London: Routledge.

Brück, Joanna and Melissa Goodman. 1999. Making places in the prehistoric world: Themes in settlement archaeology. London: UCL Press.

Buchli, Victor and Gavin Lucas. 2001. Archaeology of the Contemporary Past. London: Routledge.

Butzer, Karl W. 2008. "Other Perspectives on Urbanism: Beyond the Disciplinary Boundaries". In The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World, eds. Joyce Marcus and Jeremy A. Sabloff, 77–94. Santa Fe: A School of Advanced Research Resident Scholar Book.

Carrier, James G (ed.) 2005. A Handbook of Economic Anthropology. Cornwall: Edvard Elgar.

Childe, V. Gordon. 1950. The Urban Revolution. Town Planning Review 21 (1): 3–17.

Collis, John. 1984. The European Iron Age. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd.

Dalton, George (ed.) 1968. Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi. Boston: Beacon Press.

Dzino, Danijel. 2010. Illyricum in Roman Politics 229 BC−AD 68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Earle, Timothy K. 1977. "A Reappraisal of Redistribution: Complex Hawaiian Chiefdoms". In Exchange System in Prehistory, eds. Timothy K. Earle and Jonathon E. Ericson, 213–229. New York: Academic Press.

Earle, Timothy K. 1987. Chiefdoms in Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 16: 279–308.

Earle, Timothy K. 1997. How Chiefs Come to Power: The Political Economy in Prehistory. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Earle, Timothy K (ed.) 1991. Chiefdoms: power, economy and ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Earle, Timothy K. and Kristian Kristiansen. 2010. "Introduction: Theory and Practice in the Late Prehistory of Europe". In Organizing Bronze Age Societies; The Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Scandinavia Compared, eds. Timothy K. Earle and Kristian Kristiansen, 1–33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Feinman, Gary M. and Christopher P. Garraty. 2010. Preindustrial Markets and Marketing: Archaeological Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 39: 167–191.

Finley, Moses I. 1973. The Ancient Economy. London: Penguin Books.

Frankenstein, Susan and Michael Rowlands. 1978. The internal structure and regional context of Early Iron Age society in south-western Germany. Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology 15: 73–112.

Finley, Moses I. 1981. Economy and Society in Ancient Greece. London: Chatto & Windus.

Fried, Morton H. 1967. The Evolution of Political Society: An Essay in Political Anthropology. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Goff, Barbara E (ed.) 2005. Classics and Colonialism. London: Duckworth.

Gosden, Chris. 2001. "Postcolonial Archaeology: Issues of Culture, Identity, and Knowledge". In Archaeological Theory Today, ed. Ian Hodder, 241–261. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Gosden, Chris. 2004. Archaeology and Colonialism – Cultural Contacts from 5000 BC to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gosden, Chris. 2007. "The Past and Foreign Countries: Colonial and Post-Colonial Archaeology and Anthropology". In A companion to Social Archaeology, eds. Lynn Meskell and Robert W. Preucel, 161–178. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Hansen, Mogens H. 2000. "Introduction. The Concept of City-State and City-State Culture". In A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures; An Investigation Conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre, ed. Mogens H. Hansen, 11–34. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters.

Hansen, Mogens H. 2000a. "The Hellenic Polis". In A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures; An Investigation Conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre, ed. Mogens H. Hansen, 141–188. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters.

Hansen, Mogens H. 2006. Polis: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek City-State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hingley, Richard. 2000. Roman Officers and English Gentlemen: The imperial origins of Roman archaeology. London: Routledge.

Hingley, Richard. 2005. Globalising Roman Culture; Unity, diversity and empire. London: Routledge.

Hopkins, Keith. 1983. Introduction to Trade in the Ancient Economy, eds. Peter Garnsey, Keith Hopkins and Charles R. Whitaker, ix–xxv. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hurst, Henry R. and Sara Owen (eds.) 2005. Ancient Colonizations: Analogy, similarity and difference. London: Duckworth.

Kristiansen, Kristian. 1991. "Chiefdoms, states and systems of social evolution". In Chiefdoms: power, economy, and Ideology, ed. Timothy K. Earle, 16–43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kristiansen, Kristian. 1998. "Chiefdoms, states and systems of social evolution". In Social Transformations in Archaeology: Global and local perspectives, eds. Kristian Kristiansen and Michael J. Rowlands, 236–260. London: Routledge.

Kristiansen, Kristian. 2010. "Decentralized Complexity: The Case of Bronze Age Northern Europe". In Pathways to Power: New Perspectives on the Emergence of Social Inequality, eds. Douglas T. Price and Gary M. Feinman, 169–192. New York: Springer.

Kuzmanovć, Zorica. 2010. Refleksivno mišljenje – zamena za analogiju? Primer debate o antičkoj ekonomiji, Етноантрополошки проблеми 5(1): 151–164.

Kuzmanovć, Zorica. 2011. Problem kulturnog identiteta u savremenoj arheološkoj praksi. Етноантрополошки проблеми 6 (3): 595–606.

Marcus, Joyce and Jeremy A. Sabloff (eds.) 2008. The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World. Santa Fe: A School of Advanced Research Resident Scholar Book.

Morgan, Catherine. 2000. "Politics without the Polis: Cities and the Achaean Ethnos, c.800–500 BC". In Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of Political Organization and Community in Ancient Greece, eds. Roger Brock and Stephen Hodkins, 189–211. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Morley, Neville. 2009. Antiquity and Modernity. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Morris, Ian. 1987. Burial and ancient society: The rise of the Greek city-state. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Morris, Ian. 2001. "Hard surface". In Money, Labour and Land: Approaches to the economies of ancient Greece, eds. Paul Cartledge, Edward E. Cohen and Lin Foxhall, 8–43. London: Routledge.

Nevett, Lisa C. 1999. House and Society in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Osborne, Robin. 2005. "Urban Sprawl: What is Urbanisation and Why does it Matter". In Mediterranean Urbanization 800−600 BC, eds. Robin Osborne and Barry Cunliffe, 1–16. Oxford: The British Academy – Oxford University Press.

Osborne, Robin and Barry Cunliffe (eds.) 2005. Mediterranean Urbanization 800−600 BC. Oxford: The British Academy – Oxford University Press.

Palavestra, Aleksandar. 1995. Strongholds of Power – The Territorial Aspects of the Princely Tombs of the Early Iron Age in the Central Balkans. Balcanica XXVI: 35–56.

Papazoglu, Fanula. 1967. "Politička organizacija Ilira u vreme njihove samostalnosti". U Simpozijum o Ilirima u antičko doba, ur. Alojz Benac, 11–31. Sarajevo: ANU BiH − Centar za balkanološka ispitivanja.

Pearson, Michael P. and Colin Richardson. 1994. Architecture and Order: Approaches to Social Space. London: Routledge.

Plattner, Stuart (ed.) 1989. Economic Anthropology. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Polanyi, Karl. 1944. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Boston: Bacon Press.

Polanyi, Karl. 1968a. "Aristotel Discoveres Economics in Societies [1957]". In Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi, ed. George Dalton, 78–115. Boston: Beacon Press.

Polanyi, Karl. 1968b. "The Economy as Instituted Process [1957] ". In Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi, ed. George Dalton, 139–174. Boston: Beacon Press.

Polanyi, Karl. 1968c. "The Place of Economies in Societies [1957]". In Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi, ed. George Dalton, 116–138. Boston: Beacon Press.

Renfrew, Colin. 1973. "Monuments, mobilization and social organization in Neolithic Wessex". In The Explanation of Cultural Change; Models in Prehistory, ed. Colin Renfrew, 539–558. London: Duckworth.

Renfrew, Colin. 1974. "Beyond a Subsistence Economy: The Evolution of Social Organization in Prehistoric Europe". In Reconstructing Complex Societies: An archaeological Colloquium, ed. Charlotte B. Moore, 69−95. Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, Supplementary Studies, No. 20. Cambridge, Mass: American Schools of Oriental Research.

Renfrew, Colin. 2008. "The City through Time and Space: Transformation of Centrality". In The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World, eds. Joyce Marcus and Jeremy A. Sabloff, 29−52. Santa Fe: A School of Advanced Research Resident Scholar Book.

Renfrew, Colin and John F. Cherry (eds.) 1986. Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rostovtzeff, Michael I. 1941. The Social & Economic History of the Hellenistic World, Vol 1–3. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Rowlands, Michael. 2002. „Heritage and Cultural Property Introduction”. In The Material Culture Reader, ed. Victor Buchli, 105−115. Oxford: Berg.

Sahlins. Marshall D. 1972. Stone Age Economics. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, Inc.

Service, Elman R. 1975. Origins of The State and Civilization: The Process of Cultural Evolution. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. Inc.

Silverman, Helaine (ed.) 2011. Contested Cultural Heritage; Religion, Nationalism and Exclusion in a Global World. New York: Springer.

Smith, Michael E. 2004. The Archaeology of Ancient State Economies. Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 13–102.

Smith, Michael E. 2009. V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: a historical perspective on a revolution in urban studies. The Town Planning Review 80 (1): 3–29.

Smith, Michael E. 2010. Sprawl, Squatters and Sustainable Cities: Can Archaeological Data Shed Light on Modern Urban Issues?. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 20 (2): 229–253.

Tainter, Joseph A. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Trigger, Bruce G. 1993. Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt in Context. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.

Trigger, Bruce G. 2003. Understanding Early Civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Trigger, Bruce G. 2008. "Early Cities: Craft Workers, Kings, and Controlling the Supernatural". In The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World, eds. Joyce Marcus and Jeremy A. Sabloff, 53–55. Santa Fe: A School of Advanced Research Resident Scholar Book .

Wason, Paul K. 1994. The archaeology of rank. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Weber, Max. 1958. The City [1921]. New York: The Free Press.

Wilk, Richard R. 1996. Economies and Cultures: Foundation of Economic Anthropology. Colorado: Westview Press.

Wells, Peter S. 1984. Farmers, Villages, and Cities: Commerce and Urban Origins in Late Prehistoric Europe. Itaca: Cornel University Press.

Yoffee, Norman. 2004. Myths of Archaic State; Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Бабић, Сташа. 2004. Поглаварство и полис. Београд: Балканолошки институт САНУ.

Бабић, Сташа. 2008. Грци и други. Београд: Clio.

Вранић. Иван. 2011. „Раноантичка насеља” и гвоздено доба централног Балкана: питања етничког идентитета. Етноантрополошки проблеми 6 (3): 659–679.

Лилчиќ, Виктор. 2009. Корпус на старите градови и тврдини во Република Македонија; Линкестида и Девриоп. Скопје: Македонска цивилизација.

Микулчиќ, Иван. 1999. Антички градови во Македонија. Скопје: МАНУ.

Палавестра, Александар. 1984. Кнежевски гробови старијег гвозденог доба на централном Балкану. Београд: Балканолошки институт САНУ.

Папазоглу, Фанула. 1988. "Илирска и дарданска краљевина: порекло и развој, структура, хеленизација и романизација". У Илири и Албанци, ур. Милутин Гарашанин, 145–199. Београд: Српска академија наука и уметности.

Папазоглу, Фанула. 1997. "О зависном сељаштву и колективном ропству на средњобалканском простору". У Уздарје Драгославу Срејовићу, ур. Мирослав Лазић, 351–358. Београд: Центар за археолошка истраживања Филозофског факултета у Београду.

Поповић, Петар. 2012. "Централни Балкан између грчког и келтског света". У Централни Балкан између грчког и келтског света, Кале − Кршевица 2001-2011, ур. Петар Поповић, 10–51. Београд: Народни музеј у Београду.

Соколовска, Викторија. 1986. Исар – Марвинци и Повардарје во античко време. Скопје: Музеј на Македонија.

Downloads

Published

2012-09-17

How to Cite

Vranić, Ivan. 2012. “Urbanization in Archaeological Interpretation. Case Study: ‘Hellenized settlements’ in the Central Balkans”. Etnoantropološki Problemi Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 7 (3):731-46. https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v7i3.7.