Overview

Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece brings together a series of stimulating chapters contributing to the archaeology and our modern understanding of the character and importance of cave sanctuaries in the fi rst millennium BCE Mediterranean. Written by emerging and established archaeologists and researchers, the book employs a fascinating and wide range of approaches and methodologies to investigate, and interpret material assemblages from cave shrines, many of which are introduced here for the fi rst time. An introductory section explores the emergence and growth of caves as centres of cult and religion. The chapters then probe some of the meanings attached to cave spaces and votive materials such as terracotta fi gurines, and ceramics, and those who created and used them. The authors use sensory and gender approaches, discuss the identity of the worshippers, and the contribution of statistical analysis to the role of votive materials. At the heart of the volume is the examination of cave materials excavated on the Cycladic islands and Crete, in Attika and Aitoloakarnania, on the Ionian islands and in southern Italy. This is a welcome volume for students of prehistoric and classical archaeology,enthusiasts of the history of caves, religion, ancient history, and anthropology.

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9780367677503

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Reviews

The volume serves as a sturdy base for future cave explorations across the Mediterranean that will encourage fresh avenues of interpretation, but readers should be prepared for varying terms across chapters ( sacred caves, ritual caves, etc.) that may or may not indicate the same ancient reality. While the study of Greek caves is not new, this book proposes the ongoing need for systematic cave studies, proves the continuing influence of survey and landscape archaeology, and reminds us that caves, their finds, and their diachronic human use, are a fundamental part of both the archaeological and religious heritage. Tyler Jo Smith, University of Virginia, Religious Studies Review

The volume serves as a sturdy base for future cave explorations across the Mediterranean that will encourage fresh avenues of interpretation, but readers should be prepared for varying terms across chapters (“sacred caves,” “ritual caves,” etc.) that may or may not indicate the same ancient reality. While the study of Greek caves is not new, this book proposes the ongoing need for systematic cave studies, proves the continuing influence of survey and landscape archaeology, and reminds us that caves, their finds, and their diachronic human use, are a fundamental part of both the archaeological and religious heritage. Tyler Jo Smith, University of Virginia, Religious Studies Review

Author Information

Stella Katsarou is an archaeologist at the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology–Speleology of the Greek Ministry of Culture. She has carried out fi eldworkin caves and prehistoric sites in Thessaly, the Peloponnese, the Aegean islands and, recently, Aitoloakarnania. She studies and writes about the functional, social, and ritual aspects of cave use and their material expression in prehistoric Greece. Alexander Nagel is Chair of the Art History and Museum Professions Program and Assistant Professor at the State University of New York, Fashion Institute of Technology, and a Research Associate in Residence at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

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