
Yr Athro James Whitley
Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology, Deputy Head of Archaeology and Conservation
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Research interests
- Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece, particularly Crete
- Ethnicity and material culture
- Eastern Crete and Praisos
- Archaeological History
- History of Archaeology, particularly Classical Archaeology
- Art and Agency in the Greek World
- Ancient literacy
- Mortuary Practices and Tomb Cults
Research projects
- The Praisos Project
- Pottery Production and Consumption in Iron Age Crete: Knossos and Sybrita
My principal research and scholarly interest lies in the art and archaeology of the Mediterranean world in the Early Iron Age and Archaic periods. Though my work has been focussed primarily upon the Aegean, I also have interests in Iron Age Italy, particularly relating to my participation in the Gubbio project. My principal aim has been and is to use archaeology to gain a better understanding of Greek society in the Early Iron Age and Archaic period. My principal contribution however has been (and is) to help to open up two related, 'interdisciplinary' debates: the first concerns the relationship between archaeology and history in the ancient world in general and Greece in particular, the second the relationship between an explicitly theoretical prehistoric archaeology and a Classical archaeology which has, traditionally, disdained 'theory'. So, while my published work embraces specifically archaeological topics such as burial archaeology, other contributions cover subjects and themes, such as tomb cults, hero cults and ancestors, the relationship between art and society, and early literacy in Greece, which straddle the traditional boundary between 'archaeology' and 'history'. I have always argued that the contribution of archaeology to our understanding of antiquity lies not so much in addressing questions or problems arising from the study of ancient texts, but rather in throwing up 'strange cases', such as the disappearance of rich female graves in Archaic Athens, or the ubiquity of written laws in sixth-century Crete, which in their turn require historical explanation. My interests in archaeological theory are therefore not subsidiary, but stem from a belief that interpretations of Greek material should be informed by anthropological concepts such as object biographies and social agency, gender, and ethnicity. Equally, my interest in the history of archaeological thought arises from a desire to explain the different paths taken by Classical and prehistoric archaeology respectively.
There is not point in theory unless it has an impact on archaeological practice, including fieldwork. In recent years, my particular research focus has lain in Early Iron Age and Archaic Crete , and in the site of Praisos in Eastern Crete in particular. Since 1992 I have been directing a survey project in and around this site, which is of particular interest as it was the political centre of the 'Eteocretans', an ethnic group which maintained an identity distinct from their Greek speaking neighbours to the West and North. Topographical survey of the site in 1992 has been followed by three seasons of intensive fieldwalking. Study has revealed sharp differences between the material culture of this 'Eteocretan' area with those of its neighbours. Work on the publication of the Praisos survey is now at an advanced stage. In 2007, the first season of renewed excavation of this important Early Iron Age to Hellenistic site took place on the First Acropolis, yielding evidence of several Classical and Hellenistic houses.
Excavation and topographical study of Praisos has also had a direct bearing on the other Cardiff research project with which I am directly involved, namely Strategies, Structures and Ideologies of the Built Environment 2000-100 B.C.
This variety of research interests has provided the basis for my general book on Archaic and Classical Greece which has recognised as the standard textbook on the subject in Britain, North America and Scandinavia. This in turn provided a firm foundation for the general digest of all archaeological work in Greece, from the Palaeolithic until Ottoman times, that (with much help) I have been contractually obliged to write, compile, edit and produce every year – 'Archaeology in Greece'. Since 2002, this has been the only such digest produced annually in any language.
Bywgraffiad
Education and qualifications
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University 1976-1980
BA (now MA), part I Classics, Part II Archaeology
Cambridge University 1981-1986
PhD. in Archaeology
Career overview
Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology from 1st September 2008 onwards.
Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology, Cardiff, from 1st September 2004 - 2008.
Director of the British School at Athens, 1st October 2002 – 30th September 2007
Senior Lecturer in Mediterranean Archaeology, Cardiff, 1st September 2001 until 31st August 2004
Lecturer in Mediterranean Archaeology, Cardiff, September 1993 – September 2001
Tutorial Fellow in Archaeology, Cardiff, 1990-1993
Visiting Assistant Professor, Vassar College, Spring 1990
Macmillan-Rodewald Student at the British School at Athens 1988-89
School Student at the British School at Athens 1986-87
Anrhydeddau a Dyfarniadau
- Award in recognition of contribution to 'Greek culture' awarded by Mr Giorgios Voulgarakis, the Greek Minister of Culture, at the Athenian Agora, 20th June 2007
- Antiquity Essay Prize for 2003, for article 'Too many ancestors'
- Sir Steven Runciman prize awarded June 2002, for book The Archaeology of Ancient Greece
Aelodaethau proffesiynol
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2002 onwards
- Member, Archaeological Institute of America, 1988- present
- Member, British School at Athens, 1982 to present
Cyhoeddiadau
2022
- Whitley, A. 2022. From antiquities to art: why has classical archaeology ignored Marcel Duchamp?. In: Hahn, H. P., Kloeckner, A. and Wicke, D. eds. Values and Revaluations: The Transformations and Genesis of 'Values in Things' from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives. Oxbow, pp. 225-249.
- Whitley, J. 2022. Dictaean Zeus? Political communities, ritual feasting and animal sacrifice in Eastern Crete from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. In: Driessen, J. and Knappett, C. eds. Megistos Kouros: Studies in Honour of Hugh Sackett. Presses Universitaires de Louvain, pp. 318-328.
2021
- Whitley, A. 2021. Regions within regions: patterns of epigraphic habits within Archaic Crete. In: Parker, R. and Steele, P. M. eds. The Early Greek Alphabets: Origin, Diffusion, Uses. Oxford Studies in Ancient Documents Oxford University Press, pp. 222-248.
- Whitley, A. 2021. Why με? Personhood and agency in the earliest Greek inscriptions (800-550 BC). In: Boyes, P. J., Steele, P. M. and Astoreca, N. E. eds. The Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Practices., Vol. 2. Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems Oxbow, pp. 269-287.
2020
- Whitley, A. 2020. The multiple pasts of Archaic Greece: the landscapes of Crete and the Argolid 900- 500 BCE. In: Horn, C. et al. eds. Places of Memory: Spatialized Practices of Remembrance from Prehistory to Today. Archaeopress, pp. 19-36.
- Whitley, A. 2020. Review of V. Antoniadis,'Knossos and the Near East', B. Bohen, 'Kratos and Krater' and X. Charalambidou and C. Morgan (eds), Interpreting the Seventh Century BC'.. In: Bintliff, J. ed. Journal of Greek Archaeology Volume 5., Vol. 5. Archaeopress, pp. 591-595., (10.32028/9781789697926-24)
2019
- Whitley, A. J. 2019. Homer and history. In: Pache, C. O. et al. eds. The Cambridge Guide to Homer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 257-266.
- Whitley, A. 2019. Chapter 2.3: The re-emergence of political complexity. In: Lemos, I. and Kotsonas, A. eds. A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean. Companions to the Ancient World John Wiley, pp. 161-186.
2018
- Whitley, J. 2018. Style and personhood: the case of the Amasis Painter. Cambridge Classical Journal 64, pp. 178-203. (10.1017/S1750270518000088)
- Whitley, J. 2018. Near Eastern art in the Iron Age Mediterranean. In: Gunter, A. C. ed. A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 585-612., (10.1002/9781118336779.ch24)
- Whitley, J. and Madgwick, R. 2018. Consuming the wild: more thoughts on the andreion. In: van den Ejinde, F., Biok, J. and Strootman, R. eds. Feasting and Polis Institutions. Leiden: Brill, pp. 125-148.
- Whitley, A. 2018. Review of Philipp W. Stockhammer and Hans Peter Hahn 'Lost in Things: Fragen an der Welt des Materiellen'. Journal of European Archaeology 21(2), pp. 310-312. (10.1017/eaa.2018.5)
- Whitley, A. 2018. Citizenship and Commensality in Archaic Crete: Searching for the Andreion. In: Duplouy, A. and Brock, R. eds. Defining Citizenship in Archaic Greece. Oxford University Press, pp. 227-248.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2018. Introduction: Anthony Snodgrass and the transformation of classical archaeology. In: Whitley, A. J. M. and Nevett, L. eds. An Age of Experiment: Classical Archaeology Transformed, 1976-2014. Cambridge: McDonald Institute, pp. 1-17.
- Whitley, A. J. 2018. The krater and the pithos: two kinds of agency. In: Whitley, A. J. and Nevett, L. eds. An Age of Experiment: Classical Archaeology Transformed, 1976-2014. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Cambridge, pp. 59-73.
- Nevett, L. and Whitley, J. eds. 2018. An age of experiment: Classical archaeology transformed (1976-2014). McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
2017
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2017. The end of the tells: the Iron Age 'Neolithic' in the central and northern Aegean. In: Bickle, P. et al. eds. The Neolithic of Europe: Papers in Honour of Alasdair Whittle. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 24-33.
- Whitley, J. 2017. The material entanglements of writing things down. In: Nevett, L. ed. Theoretical Approaches to the Archaeology of Ancient Greece: Manipulating Material Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 71-103.
2016
- Whitley, A. J. M. and Osbourne, R. 2016. Fusing the horizons or why context matters: the interdependence of fieldwork and museum study in Mediterranean archaeology. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 29(2), pp. 247-269. (10.1558/jmea.v29i2.32574)
- Whitley, A. 2016. Review of N. Vogeikoff-Brogan, J.L. Davis and V. Florou 'Carl W. Blegen: Personal and Archaeological Narratives'. Journal of Hellenic Studies 136, pp. 300-302. (10.1017/S0075426916001075)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2016. Women in Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece: a view from the grave. In: Budin, S. L. and Turfa, J. M. eds. Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World. London: Routledge, pp. 660-672.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2016. John K. Papadopoulos, Sarah P. Morris, Lorenc Bejko & Lynne A. Schepartz. The excavation of the prehistoric burial tumulus at Lofkënd, Albania. Volume 1: text. Volume 2: illustrations (Monumenta Archaeologica 34). [Book Review]. Antiquity 90(350), pp. 541-543. (10.15184/aqy.2016.11)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2016. G. Seelentag, 'Das archaische Kreta: Institutionalisierung im fruhen Griechenland' [Book Review]. Sehepunkte 16(3)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2016. Erica Hill and Jon B. Hageman, eds. The archaeology of ancestors: death, memory and veneration [Book Review]. European Journal of Archaeology 19(3), pp. 532-567. (10.1080/14619571.2016.1192802)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2016. Burning people, breaking things: material entanglements, the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition and Homeric dividual. In: Mina, M., Triantaphyllou, S. and Papadatos, Y. eds. An Archaeology of Prehistoric Bodies and Embodied Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Oxbow, pp. 215-223.
2015
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2015. Agonistic aristocrats? The curious case of Archaic Crete. In: Van Wees, H. and Fisher, N. eds. 'Aristocracy' in Antiquity: Redefining Greek and Roman Elites. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, pp. 287-312.
- Whitley, J. 2015. Agency, personhood and the belly-handled amphora: Exchange and society in the ninth-century Aegean. In: Vlachou, V. ed. Pots, Workshops and Early Iron Age Society: Function and Role of Ceramics in Early Greece. Centre de Recherches en Archeologie et Patrimoine Universite Libre de Bruxelles, pp. 107-126.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2015. Andrea Bräuning & Imma Kilian-Dirlmeier. Die eisenzeitlichen Grabhügel von Vergina: Die Ausgrabungen von Photis Petsas 1960-1961 (Monographie 119). vi+328 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations, and tables. 2013. Mainz: Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums; 978-3-88467-223-5 hardback [Book Review]. Antiquity 89(344), pp. 494-495. (10.15184/aqy.2015.7)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2015. Andrea Bräuning & Imma Kilian-Dirlmeier. Die eisenzeitlichen Grabhügel von Vergina: Die Ausgrabungen von Photis Petsas 1960–1961 (Monographie 119). vi+328 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations, and tables. 2013. Mainz: Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums; 978-3-88467-223-5 hardback €68 [Book Review]. Art Antiquity and Law 89, pp. 494-495.
- Boileau, M. C. and Whitley, A. 2015. True grit: production and exchange of cooking wares in the 9th-century BC Aegean. In: Spataro, M. and Villing, A. eds. Ceramics, Cuisine and Culture: The Archaeology and Science of Kitchen Pottery in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Oxbow, pp. 75-90.
- Whitley, A. 2015. Scholarly traditions and scientific paradigms: method and reflexivity in the study of ancient Praisos. In: Haggis, D. C. and Antonaccio, C. M. eds. Classical Archaeology in Context: Theory and Practice in Excavation in the Greek World. Walter de Gruyter, pp. 23-49.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2015. O. Pilz and G. Seelentag (eds) Cultural practices and material culture in Archaic and Classical Crete [Book Review]. Sehepunkte 15(2), article number: 25963.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2015. Archaeology and state theory: subjects and objects of power. By Bruce Routledge. Pp. 195, Illus 18. Bloomsbury (Debates in Archaeology Series), 2014. Price: £45.00. isbn 978 071563 633 6. [Book Review]. The Archaeological Journal 172, pp. 499-500. (10.1080/00665983.2015.1050813)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2015. Afterword: Regional stories towards a new perception of the early Greek world. In: Mazarakis-Ainian, A. ed. Aristeia: Regional Stories towards a New Perception of the Early Greek World. Volos: University of Thessaly Press, pp. 695-700.
- Whitley, A. 2015. Review of S.Verdan 'Le Sanctuaire d'Apollon Daphnephoros a l'epoque geometrique'. Topoi: Orient Occident 20, pp. 679-682.
2014
- Whitley, J. 2014. Is Boris Johnson an individual? Homer's heroes between Melanesia and Modernity. SHARE: Studies in History, Archaeology, Religion and Conservation 1(1), pp. 6-18. (10.18573/share.2)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2014. Classical (Greek) archaeology. In: Smith, C. ed. Encylopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer Verlag, pp. 1487-1494.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2014. Orientalizing phenomenon, Greek archaeology perspective. In: Smith, C. ed. Encylopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer Verlag, pp. 5622-5627.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2014. The complete archaeology of Greece: from hunter-gatherers to the 20th Century A.D. [Book Review]. European Journal of Archaeology 17(1), pp. 148-151. (10.1179/146195714X13820028180162)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2014. Commensality and the "citizen state": The case of Praisos. In: Gaignerot-Driessen, F. and Driessen, J. eds. Cretan Cities: Formation and Transformation. Presses Universitaires de Louvain, pp. 141-163.
2013
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2013. Homer's entangled objects: narrative, agency and personhood in and out of Iron Age texts. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 23(3), pp. 395-416. (10.1017/S095977431300053X)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2013. The Cretan orientalizing: A comparative perspective. In: Niemeier, W. D., Pillz, O. and Kaiser, I. eds. Kreta in der geometrischen und archaischen Zeit. Hirmer Verlag, pp. 409-426.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2013. H. Lohmann and T. Mattern, Attika: Archaeologie einer zentralen Kulturlandschaft [Book Review]. Bonner Jahrbucher 210/11, pp. 610-613.
2012
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2012. Introduction. In: Cadogan, G. et al. eds. Parallel Lives: Ancient Island Societies in Crete and Cyprus. British School at Athens Studies Series Vol. 20. London: British School at Athens, pp. 1-6.
- Hatzimichael Whitley, C. and Whitley, A. J. M. 2012. Differential complexities: political evolution, devolution and re-evolution in Crete, 3000-300 BC. In: Cadogan, G. et al. eds. Parallel Lives: Ancient Island Societies in Crete and Cyprus. British School at Athens Studies Series Vol. 20. London: British School at Athens, pp. 331-343.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2012. Agency in Greek art. In: Smith, T. J. and Plantzos, D. eds. A Companion to Greek Art. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 579-595.
- Whitley, A. J. M. et al. eds. 2012. Parallel lives: ancient island societies in Crete and Cyprus. British School at Athens Studies Vol. 20. London: British School at Athens.
2011
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2011. Praisos V: A preliminary report on the 2007 season of excavation. Annual of the British School at Athens 106, pp. 3-45., article number: 1.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2011. Hybris and Nike: agency, victory and commemoration in panhellenic sanctuaries. In: Lambert, S. D. ed. Sociable Man: Essays on Ancient Greek Behaviour in Honour of Nick Fisher. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, pp. 161-191.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2011. Ancient Crete: from successful collapse to democracy's alternatives [Book Review]. American Journal of Philology 132(4), pp. 667-670. (10.1353/ajp.2011.0043)
2010
- Boileau, M. and Whitley, A. J. M. 2010. Patterns of production and consumption of coarse to semi-fine pottery at Early Iron Age Knossos. Annual of the British School at Athens 105, pp. 225-268., article number: 5. (10.1017/S006824540000040X)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2010. S. Langdon 'Art and identity in Dark Age Greece' [Book Review]. Journal of Hellenic Studies 130, pp. 250-251. (10.1017/S0075426910000613)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2010. A.C. Gunter 'Greek art and the Orient', S. Langdon 'Art and identity in Dark Age Greece', and J.S. Smith 'Art and society in Cyprus from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age' [Book Reviews]. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 20(3), pp. 460-463. (10.1017/S0959774310000557)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2010. Moteurs et modeles: La Crete au VII siecle. In: Etienne, R. ed. La Mediteranée au VIIe Siècle avant J.-C. : Essais d’Analyses Archéologiques. [La Mediteranée au VIIe Siècle avant J.C. : Essais d’Analyses Archéologiques]. Travaux de la Maison René Ginouvès Vol. 7. Paris: De Boccard, pp. 170-182.
2009
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2009. The Chimaera of Continuity: What would 'Continuity of Cult' actually demonstrate?'. In: Lucia D'Agata, A. L. and Van De Moortel, A. eds. Archaeologies of Cult: Essays on Ritual and Cult in Crete in Honor of Geraldine C. Gesell (Hesperia Supplement 42). Hesperia Supplement Vol. 42. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, pp. 279-288.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2009. The research culture of the British School at Athens, 1900-1920: the case for ethnological antiquarianism. In: Shankland, D. and Salmeri, G. eds. The Foreign Schools. British Academy
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2009. Crete. In: Raaflaub, K. A. and Van Wees, H. eds. A Companion to Archaic Greece. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 273-293.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2009. Archaeology. In: Boys-Stones, G., Graziosi, B. and Vasunia, P. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies. Oxford Handbooks in Classics and Ancient History Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 720-733.
- Boileau, M., D'Agata, A. L. and Whitley, A. J. M. 2009. Pottery technology and regional exchange in early Iron Age Crete. In: Quinn, P. S. ed. Interpreting silent artefacts: Petrographic approaches to archaeological ceramics. [Interpreting Silent Artefacts: Petrographic Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics]. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 157-172.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2009. M. Prent 'Cretan sanctuaries and cults: continuity and change from the late Minoan IIIC to the Archaic Period [Book Review]. Ancient West & East 8, pp. 409-411. (10.2143/AWE.8.0.2045846)
2008
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2008. S.E. Alcock and R. Osborne 'Classical archaeology' [Book Review]. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 18(3), pp. 443-444. (10.1017/S0959774308000553)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2008. Early painted pots, reviewing E. Rystedt and B. Wells 'Pictorial pursuits: figurative painting on Mycenaean and Geometric pottery: Papers from two seminars at the Swedish Institute of Athens in 1999 and 2001' [Book Review]. Classical Review 58(2), pp. 564-566. (10.1017/S0009840X08001182)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2008. Kalapodi, reviewing R.C.S. Felsch 'Kalapodi II: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im Heiligtum der Artemis und des Apollon von Hyampolis in der Antiken Phokis' [Book Review]. The Classical Review 58(2), pp. 576-579. (10.1017/S0009840X08001248)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2008. Identity and sacred topography: the sanctuaries of Praisos in Eastern Crete. Presented at: BOMOS Conferences, 2002-2005 Presented at Holm Rasmussen, A. et al. eds.Religion and Society: Rituals, Resources and Identity in the Ancient Graeco-Roman World: The BOMOS-Conferences 2002-2005. Analecta Romana Instituti Danici Supplementum Vol. 40. Rome: Edizioni Quasar pp. 235-248.
2007
- Westgate, R. C., Fisher, N. R. E. and Whitley, A. J. M. eds. 2007. Building communities: house, settlement and society in the Aegean and beyond. Proceedings of a conference held at Cardiff University, 17–21 April 2001. British School at Athens Studies Vol. 15. London: British School at Athens.
- Whitley, A. J. M., Urem Kotsou, D., Germanidou, S., Dimoula, A., Karnava, A. and Evely, D. 2007. Archaeology in Greece 2006-07. Archaeological Reports, pp. 1-121.
2006
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2006. Praisos: political evolution and ethnic identity in eastern Crete, c.1400-300 BC. In: Deger-Jalkotzy, S. and Lemos, I. S. eds. Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer. Edinburgh Leventis studies Vol. 3. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 597-617.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2006. Classical art and human agency: a tale of two objects in fifth-century Greece. In: Stampolides, N. C. ed. Twenty Years of the N.P. Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art. N.P. Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art, pp. 227-236.
- Whitley, A. J. M., Urem Kotsou, D., Dimoula, A., Nikolakkopoulou, I., Karnava, A., Germanidou, S. and Hatzaki, E. 2006. Archaeology in Greece 2005-06. Archaeological Reports, pp. 1-112.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2006. The Minoans: a Welsh invention? A view from East Crete. Presented at: Archaeology and European Modernity: Producing and Consuming the 'Minoans', Venice, Italy, November 2005 Presented at Hamilakis, Y. and Momigliano, N. eds.Archaeology and European modernity: Producing and Consuming the 'Minoans'. Ausilio: Bottega d'Erasmo pp. 55-67.
2005
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2005. Archaeology in Greece 2004-05. Archaeological Reports, pp. 1-118.
2004
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2004. Archaeology in Greece 2003-04. Archaeological Reports, pp. 1-92.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2004. Classical archaeology and British identity: The role of the British School at Athens. Pharos: Journal of the Netherlands Institute in Athens XI, pp. 95-111.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2004. Cycles of collapse in Greek prehistory: the House of the Tiles at Lerna and the Heroon at Lefkandi. In: Cherry, J., Scarre, C. and Shennan, S. eds. Explaining Social Change: Studies in Honour of Colin Renfrew. Cambridge: McDonald Institute, pp. 193-201.
2003
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2003. Archaeology in Greece 2002-03. Archaeological Reports, pp. 1-88.
2002
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2002. Too many ancestors?. Antiquity 76(1), pp. 119-126.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2002. Objects with attitude: biographical facts and fallacies in the study of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age warrior graves. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 12(2), pp. 217-232. (10.1017/S0959774302000112)
2001
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2001. The archaeology of Ancient Greece. Cambridge World Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2000
- Whitley, A. J. M. 2000. Style wars: towards an explanation of Cretan exceptionalism. Presented at: Knossos: Palace, City, State, Heraklion, Greece, November 2000.
1999
- Whitley, A. J. M., Prent, M. and Thorne, S. 1999. Praisos IV: a preliminary report on the 1993 and 1994 survey seasons. Annual of the British School at Athens 94, pp. 215-264. (10.1017/S0068245400000587)
1998
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1998. From Minoans to Eteocretans: the Praisos region 1200-500 BC. Presented at: Post-Minoan Crete First Colloquium, London, UK, 10-11 November 1995 Presented at Cavanagh, W. G. and Curtis, M. eds.Post-Minoan Crete : proceedings of the First Colloquium on Post-Minoan Crete held by the British School at Athens and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 10-11 November 1995. British School at Athens Studies Vol. 2. London: British School at Athens pp. 27-39.
1997
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1997. Cretan laws and Cretan literacy. American Journal of Archaeology 101(4), pp. 635-661.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1997. Beazley as theorist. Antiquity 71(271), pp. 40-47.
1996
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1996. Gender and hierarchy in early Athens: The strange case of the disappearance of the rich female grave. Metis: Revue d'Anthropologie du Monde Grec Antique 11, pp. 209-232.
1995
- Whitley, A. J. M., O'Conor, K. and Mason, H. 1995. Praisos III: A report on the architectural survey undertaken in 1992. Annual of the British School at Athens 90, pp. 405-428. (10.1017/S0068245400016270)
1994
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1994. Protoattic pottery: a contextual approach. In: Morris, I. ed. Classical Greece: ancient histories and modern archaeologies. New Directions in Archaeology Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 51-70.
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1994. The monuments that stood before Marathon: tomb cult and hero cult in Archaic Attica. American Journal of Archaeology 98(2), pp. 213-230.
1991
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1991. Social diversity in Dark Age Greece. Annual of the British School at Athens 86, pp. 341-365. (10.1017/S0068245400014994)
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1991. Style and society in Dark Age Greece: The changing face of a pre-literate society 1100-700 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1988
- Whitley, A. J. M. 1988. Early states and hero cults: a re-appraisal. Journal of Hellenic Studies 108, pp. 173-182.
Addysgu
Part two BA/BSc undergraduate modules
- HS2350 History of Archaeological Thought
- HS2389 Art and Archaeology of Classical Greece
- HS2386 Art and Archaeology of Archaic Greece
- HS2387 The Aegean Bronze Age: Emergence to Collapse
Postgraduate
- HST203 Themes in Classical Archaeology
- HST536 Interpreting the Past
Teaching profile
Greek Archaeology and Archaeological Theory
Projects
The Praisos Project, 1992-2013
The Praisos Project is an integrated survey and excavation project focussing on the site and environs of the ancient city of Praisos in Eastern Crete, famed in antiquity as the city of the Eteocretans ('True Cretans'). The aims of the project are; first to understand the history of settlement in the region, from Neolithic times until the present; second to understand the urban structure and use of domestic space within the settlement and city; and third to understand how the material culture of the 'Eteocretans' differed, if at all, from their Greek neighbours to the North-East and West. It is funded by the British School at Athens; the British Academy; the Society of Antiquaries of London; the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, Philadelphia (INSTAP); the Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; Packard Humanities Institute (for excavation). Its value is £200,000.
Project publications
2011
Report: 'Praisos V: A preliminary report on the 2007 season of excavation'. Annual of the British School at Athens 106 [2011]: 3-45.
2010
Contribution to festschrift: 'Eteocretans and Eteobritons: the intellectual prehistory of the Minoans. In N.V. Sekunda (ed.), Ergasteria: Works Presented to John Ellis Jones on his 80th Birthday, 36-43. Gdańsk: Institute of Archaeology, Gdańsk University.
2008
Article: 'Identity and Sacred Topography: The Sanctuaries of Praisos in Eastern Crete,' in Anders Holm Rasmussen and Susanne William Rasmussen (eds), Religion and Society: Rituals, Resources and Identity in the Ancient Graeco-Roman World: The BOMOS-Conferences 2002-2005 (Analecta Romana Instituti Danici Supplementum XL), 233-246. Rome: Edizioni Quasar.
2006
Article: 'Praisos: political evolution and ethnic identity in Eastern Crete, c.1400-300 B.C.' in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and I. Lemos (eds), Ancient Greece from the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer(Edinburgh Leventis Studies 3), 597-617. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Article: 'The Minoans: A Welsh Invention? A View from East Crete', in Y. Hamilakis and N. Momigliano (eds), Archaeology and European Modernity: Producing and Consuming the 'Minoans', 55-67. (Creta Antica 7). Padua: Bottega D'Erasmo.
1999
Report: (with M. Prent and S. Thorne): "Praisos IV: A Preliminary Report on the 1993 and 1994 Survey Seasons," Annual of the British School at Athens 94 (1999), 215-64.
1998
Article: "From Minoans to Eteocretans: The Praisos Region 1200-500 B.C." In W.G. Cavanagh, M. Curtis, J.N. Coldstream and A.W. Johnston (eds) Post-Minoan Crete: Proceedings of the First Colloquium, 27-39. London: British School at Athens.
1996
Report: (with K. O'Conor and H. Mason) "Praisos III: A Report on the Architectural Survey Undertaken in 1992," Annual of the British School at Athens 90 (1995), 405-428.
1992
"Praisos," in J. W. Myers, E.E. Myers and G. Cadogan (eds) The Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete, 256-61. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press.
Pottery Production and Consumption in Iron Age Crete: Knossos and Sybrita, 2005-2009
This project is essentially a petrological (primarily petrographic) analysis of the coarser and plainer pottery from Early Iron Age Knossos and Sybrita in Crete. The study of Early Iron Age coarsewares in the Aegean has suffered from comparative neglect as compared to those of the Bronze Age. The aim is an improved understanding of patterns of production and consumption of the coarse and plain pottery used in everyday life, especially in domestic contexts, in Knossos and Sybrita. It is funded by The Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) and the British School at Athens. This is a collaborative project involving J. Whitley (Cardiff), Dr Anna Lucia D'Agata (National Research Centre, Rome) and Dr Marie Claude Boileau, of the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens.
Project publications
(forthcoming 2013)
Article (written jointly with M.C. Boileau) True Grit : Production and exchange of cooking wares in the ninth-century Aegean'. For A. Villing and M. Spataro (eds), Ceramics, Cuisine and Culture: the Archaeology and Science of Kitchen Pottery in the Ancient Mediterranean World (British Museum/Oxbow books, out in 2012/13)
2010
Article (written jointly with M.C. Boileau): 'Patterns of production and consumption of coarse to semi-fine pottery at Early Iron Age Knossos,' Annual of the British School at Athens 105: 225-68.
Article (written jointly with M.C. Boileau and A.L. D'Agata). 'Pottery production in Iron Age Crete viewed in the context of regional and external trade networks: a ceramic petrology perspective'.Bollettino di Archeologia Online: Volume Speciale.
2009
D'Agata, A.L. and Boileau, M.-C. 2009. 'Pottery production and consumption in Early Iron Age Crete: The case of Thronos Kephala (ancient Sybrita)', Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 51, 145-202.
(jointly with M.C. Boileau and A. L. D'Agata): 'Pottery technology and regional exchange in Early Iron Age Crete', in P.S. Quinn (ed) Interpreting Silent Artefacts: Petrographic Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics, 157-72. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Transformations in the Mediterranean 1200-500 BC, 2010-2015
This is an umbrella project, run by Professor Manfred Bietak (Vienna) and Professor Hartmut Matthäus (Erlangen), whose purpose is to understand the social and economic processes that led to a 'connected' Mediterranean in the Iron Age. The principal aim of the project is primarily to understand the processes by and through which the Mediterranean became transformed (or 'got connected'). Providing an improved chronological framework is a first step in this understanding. Activities include: workshop in Vienna, January 2008; workshop in Cambridge 'Bridging the Divide', 6th-7th November 2009. Dr Simon Stoddart (Cambridge), Dr Alexandra Villing (British Museum) and myself represent the British branch of this largely Austrian/German enterprise.
Research group
Strategies, Structures and Ideologies of the Built Environment: Regionalism and Continuity in the History and Prehistory of Greece
Research on houses, including excavation of houses at Praisos, forms part of this AHRB-funded project on houses and settlements in Greece and the Aegean from the Middle Bronze Age to the late Hellenistic period, directed by Nick Fisher and myself and largely conducted by Ruth Westgate. The aim of the project is to investigate the structures of domestic space and the internal arrangement of settlements in three regions of the Aegean (central Greece, Crete and Macedonia) between 2000 and 100 BC.