Larousse Encyclopedia of Archaeology [antikvár]

IntroductionOpposite page: a warrior's iiead sculptured in terracotta from the site of Veii, one of the principal Etruscan cities. It dates from about the fifth century bc.Frontispiece: the two mighty statues of the pharaoh Amenophis III at Memnon. The northernmost of these was famous in antiquity as the singing statue; the rising sun had a strange effect on the stone which made a sound like the twanging of a lyre. The emperor Hadrian is known to have heard it in ad 130, and Septimius Severus many years later. Some time after that there were repairs to the statue-and the singing stopped. No one knows now what could have caused it.Today archaeology is in fashion. In the following pages we shall seek to establish the reasons for the somewhat belated popularity of a subject which was long regarded as tedious and even slightly absurd. It is, however, quite clear that today's public does not know the true nature of this science for which it shows an almost instinctive affection. Popular books and newspaper articles tend to present only archaeology's most attractive aspects and its most spectacular results. In contrast, those who might be termed semi-specialists-quite a number at present-often pride themselves on having knowledge of a branch of study which is particularly austere and even repellent, apparently deriving from it an increase of pleasure proportionate to the limited nature of the results.Modern archaeology is subdivided into a considerable number of branches, differing widely in purpose and working conditions, while nevertheless sharing a certain number of basic methods in common. The present volume therefore comprises two parts. The first defines the discipline, tracing its development and indicating the principles which govern all research: it is the work of two classical archaeologists who have, however, worked in separate spheres with very different methods. To their satisfaction they found that, although they did not collaborate closely, neither contradicted the other on any basic issue. The second part of the book has been apportioned among specialists in various fields. Rather than give an exhaustive assessment of the archaeology in his or her field, each scholar has described the stages of the 'archaeological conquest'-a task made necessary by the fact that different schools of archaeological study are very far from being coeval and have advanced by widely separated paths-and then tried to select only those examples which appeared most appropriately to illustrate what investigation and study of monuments has contributed to our general understanding of ancient peoples and their history. These illustrations areextremely varied, according to the society under discussion; and reflect the authors' special skills and focus of interest.Obviously, therefore, the reader should not expect to find in this book a complete picture of the ancient civilisations. Since a choice had to be made, it seemed preferable to pass over the medieval cultures. Christian and Islamic, Asiatic and European, although archaeology is used with increasing frequency to enrich our knowledge of them: some recent studies in medieval archaeology are, however, mentioned in the first part of the book. But these relatively recent cultures-very recent indeed, if one considers the total span of human development-are nevertheless being studied, especially from the literary records they have bequeathed us. Many of the buildings they erected are still intact and employed for their original purpose: between these cultures and our own there is no great gulf.Other decisions may surprise the reader. The chapter devoted to pre-Columbian America is oriented less toward the study of the great 'classical' civilisations (Maya, Aztec, Inca) than to the investigation of the first traces of human activity in the New World. Here we are dealing with a particularly enthralling and exciting problem which archaeology alone can solve, and in which interpretations have had to be completely revised over the last few years.We do not. then, provide a complete 'treasury' of world archaeology-which would be truly an impossible task to perform-nor a practical handbook for the beginner. Our intention has been to explain how a research technique has become the means of enriching and even revitalising culture and the study of man and how this has happened concurrently with the traditional disciplines, which it certainly does not seek to supplant, but beside which it can henceforward claim an honoured place.Gilbert Charles-Picard