COMMUNICATION UNEVEN: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 18/12/2020

The history of the Mediterranean Sea is as much a web of interconnections as it is of interrupted or diverted communication. Indeed, communication was never an even and pervasive given. This introductory presentation will discuss cases that can be interpreted as deliberate actions by the local communities as to which foreign objects adopt, adapt or reject, and how to react to developing intensification of contacts. One typical situation is represented by the drastically different records of long distance contact between bordering regions, or proximate sites. Some cases can be seen as a consequence of social constraints, limiting the channelling of information and the free establishment of contacts. Other situations can derive from a straight sequence of contact-confrontation-reaction-repulsion, ending in the disruption of connections. Another further possibility is the conflict of trading networks, leading to a local dismissal of a circulated material. The more general point to be raised is whether we are facing a case of response to “dominant” or “imperialistic” attitudes, or whether the pattern is simply an outcome of alternative choice. A main goal of the session is anyway to debate about the processes that can be defined as a resistance to a trait or behaviour which was becoming increasingly shared, and about the consequences of this resistent attitude.


Author(s): Driessen, Jan (Université catholique de Louvain) - Vanzetti, Alessandro (University of Rome „La Sapienza“)