Session: #506

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each

Title & Content

Title:
Archaeology of rock-hewn sites and quarries:
people, stones and landscapes
Content:
Archaeology of rock-cut sites is the archaeology of co-occurring agencies of humans and stones. It is the archaeology of the void left by daily activities and production, shape of living and lived spaces.
Caves and quarries are knots in the network of people-stone interactions. They serve as doorways between humans and the mineral world, as places of exchange and symbiotic relationships.
Quarries, tunnels, dwellings, churches, castles and tombs were carved in rock all across Europe throughout various periods and in different socio-cultural contexts.
Techniques of stone-cutting, extraction and implementation have changed over time as well as the organization of labor in building/carving sites and quarries. All of these enterprises rest upon the professionals who left these molded hollows as the only testimonies of their work. These chiseled surfaces between human lives and stone are mirrors of the socio-cultural context in which they were created, and their study discloses information about economical dynamics, technological advances, ways of living and symbolic beliefs.
Archaeologists have been combining different methods for the study and conservation of these peculiar features, integrating digital and analytical techniques.
We are interested in communications that raise theoretical and methodological issues, in order to discuss the state of the art in the field of rock-cut sites studies.
We would like to turn the attention of the international scientific community towards the relevance of these sites and promote the creation of a European network of researchers.
We invite students, scholars, to join us and share results, ideas, questions and critical issues.
Keywords:
stone-cut sites, quarries, technology
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no

Organisers

Main organiser:
Claudia Sciuto (Sweden) 1
Co-organisers:
Dr Anais Lamesa (France) 2
Katharine Alice Whitaker (United Kingdom) 3
Affiliations:
1. MAL_environmnetal archaeology laboratory, Umeå University
2. Institut français d'études anatoliennes, Istanbul
3. Department of Archaeology, University of Reading