This work examines the iron metallurgy of Aegean Thrace as a culturally generated activity. The methodology used combines archaeological evidence from recent excavations, analytical data from optical and chemical analyses of industrial waste and iron artefacts, and documentary and iconographic evidence. The aims of the work are to establish the level of effectiveness in iron technology as it was practised in Aegean Thrace from Classical to Roman times, to understand indigenous involvement in iron production and to interpret the social context of iron technology. The long-term aim is to determine whether there are aspects of technological, economic, artistic or symbolic uses of iron which are reflected in culturally distinct groups living within the same area (in this case, Thracian versus Greek or Roman). Finally, an attempt is made to provide a theoretical and methodological model for the archaeological and archaeometallurgical study of interaction between ancient technology and society.

Účelem práce je shrnout archeologické a literární prameny o zpracování železa ve starověkém Řecku a zhodnotit je. Zabývá se otázkou, kdy a odkud se objevily v Řecku železné předměty, a dělí dobu železnou v Řecku do několikaepoch, ze kterých pocházejí šperky, zbraně, mince, předměty denní potřeby, votivní předměty ze železa, kterého se používalo i ve stavebnictví. Písemné památky dosvědčují také znalost technologie kovářství, začátků hutnictví aproblematiky výroby litiny. Autor věnuje také pozornost 24 zmínkám o železu v Homérově Iliadě.

Publisher Description

Examining every aspect of the culture from antiquity to the founding of Constantinople in the early Byzantine era, this thoroughly cross-referenced and fully indexed work is written by an international group of scholars. This Encyclopedia is derived from the more broadly focused Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition, the highly praised two-volume work. Newly edited by Nigel Wilson, this single-volume reference provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the political, cultural, and social life of the people and to the places, ideas, periods, and events that defined ancient Greece.

Material Connections eschews outdated theory, tainted by colonialist attitudes, and develops a new cultural and historical understanding of how factors such as mobility, materiality, conflict and co-presence impacted on the formation of identity in the ancient Mediterranean. Fighting against ‘hyper-specialisation’ within the subject area, it explores the multiple ways that material culture was used to establish, maintain and alter identities, especially during periods of transition, culture encounter and change. A new perspective is adopted, one that perceives the use of material culture by prehistoric and historic Mediterranean peoples in formulating and changing their identities. It considers how objects and social identities are entangled in various cultural encounters and interconnections. The movement of people as well as objects has always stood at the heart of attempts to understand the courses and process of human history. The Mediterranean offers a wealth of such information and Material Connections, expanding on this base, offers a dynamic, new subject of enquiry – the social identify of prehistoric and historic Mediterranean people – and considers how migration, colonial encounters, and connectivity or insularity influence social identities. The volume includes a series of innovative, closely related case studies that examine the contacts amongst various Mediterranean islands – Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, the Balearics – and the nearby shores of Italy, Greece, North Africa, Spain and the Levant to explore the social and cultural impact of migratory, colonial and exchange encounters. Material Connections forges a new path in understanding the material culture of the Mediterranean and will be essential for those wishing to develop their understanding of material culture and identity in the Mediterranean.