Study Questions: Biers,
Chapter 1: “Archaeology in Greece”
Illustration: White Ground lekythos. Athens,
460 BCE. Nike carrying a sash.
(John Oakley: Picturing Deathin Classical
Athens, 2004)
DUE IN CLASS ON August 26, 2009.
(Type the Answer to the Question(s) that have the same digit
as the last digit of your U of AR ID #.)
1. What is “archaeology”? Look the word up in a good English
dictionary, and write the two Greek words from which archaeology derives.
What is its literal original meaning? Write the Greek letters for
the original words. [Click here
to see a new scholarship in Archaeology offered by Eta Sigma Phi.]
2. What “great advantage” does Biers say that classical archaeologists
have in their work, and why do Bronze Age archaeologists and those who specialize
in earlier periods not have that advantage?
3. What is the Antikythera
Mechanism? It’s not in your textbook. Look it up and write about the
kind of archaeology that is involved in its discovery, restoration, and
interpretation.
4. What do archaeologists do besides dig in the ground?
5. What do numismatists specialize
in? (And don’t just say ‘numismatics’ without defining it.) Why do you think
it is important for numismatists to be able to read Greek? Find examples
of this from three different periods in our textbook. How are these objects
alike or different from their modern American counterparts? Look up the
word numismatics in a good English dictionary. From what language(s)
does it derive? What is its literal original meaning? Write the Greek
letters for the original word.
6. What do epigraphers
specialize in? (And don’t just say ‘epigraphy’ without defining it.) Can
you think of three specific kinds of objects that they might study? Why
do you think it is important for epigraphers to be able to read Greek? What
picture in this chapter might be of specific interest to epigraphers, and
why? What is the origin of the word epigraphy? From what language(s)
does the word derive, and what is its literal original meaning? Write
the Greek letters for the original words.
7. What is “stratigraphy“? Look the word up in a good
dictionary. What is the origin of the word? From what language(s) does the
word derive, and what is its literal original meaning? Write the
Greek letters of the word that forms second part of this word.
8. What three (3) ways of dating ancient Greek material does Biers mention?
How would you rank these in order of reliability?
9. What is “stylistic chronology”? Can we apply the same to
objects in the 20th century? Give at least two examples.
10. What does Biers say is the difference between “prehistoric”
and “historic” Greek archaeology? What examples does he give?
11. What is an ostrakon, and
how is it used? What can we learn about the ancient Greeks from this artifact?
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