History and Memory: Lost Civilizations

Let me first express solidarity with the people of eastern Turkey as they grieve so many lost lives during the earthquake. May they find solace for broken hearts and may they be provided shelter from the cold winter.

I wrote this entry a while back but the relevant issue of Archaeology Magazine was not yet available online, so I stored it away. Ironically it is about memory and history: May the people of Turkey not be forgotten now in their time of great need.

Some moments in history stay actively in human memory. Others drift silently away until no hint remains.

I’m intrigued by this idea lately because I’ve been studying the Hittites, a huge empire that seemingly evaporated from human memory until the material remains began to be dug up in the late 19th century. Any elementary student can tell you about Egyptians or pose in their characteristic style, but the Pharaoh’s “Brother,” his equal in power and influence, the Great King of Hatti? Nope, no popular cultural knowledge about him stowed in our youth.

This is not surprising since the field of Hittitology really didn’t get going until the twentieth century and the kind of overview history books that a non-scholar can muddle through have only begun to appear in this generation. I am writing a mystery series set in the Hittite Empire that will offer good historical background about this fascinating period while being primarily entertaining. It is, in a way, my little start on launching a generation of elementary kids who can spout facts about Hittites, although I’ll be starting with letting the adults in on the millennia-old secrets.

So, given this focus, I’m intrigued by “lost sites” or archaeological finds that break the expectations and assumptions we popularly hold about the ancient world. The recent issue of Archaeology Magazine has brief introductions to two such sites. Apollo’s Island, A first look at a previously unknown Aegean sanctuary by Yannis Stavrakis and Off the Grid, by Malin Grunberg Banyasz

Archaeologist Yannos Kourayos has been digging on the Aegean island of Despotiko for 15 years. Despotiko, you might well ask, where is that? I’ve never heard of it—Mykonos, Patros, Rhodes, Paros—lots of beautiful Greek islands, but not Despotiko. It turns out that there was a major Archaic Greek (7th and 6th century BCE) temple to Apollo there, but until Kourayos dug it up, no one remembered it. The literary record didn’t mention it and the site was abandoned after the Roman period. Kourayos describes it as a Panhellenic sanctuary both because Apollo was important to all Greeks, but also because the beautiful artifacts found on the site come from Egypt, Syria and all over the Mediterranean world. This was clearly an important, well-attended temple. The island looks much as it did centuries ago since almost no construction has occurred on this island over the centuries—there are advantages to being forgotten and neglected!

The other archaeological discovery is a case of finding something lovely in a place where you did not at all expect to find it. What has been “forgotten” is the interconnectedness of the ancient Mediterranean world. In the Middle Bronze Age Canaanite community at Tel Kabri in modern Israel they have uncovered a large palace with floor and wall frescoes in the “distinctly Aegean style during the mid-sixteenth century B.C.” These fresco fragments resemble those from the Greek island of Santorini which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption and thus has beautifully preserved frescoes. This kind of Greek fresco has never been found before in Israel. Should you be going to Israel and want to visit this site, the article includes information about arranging that in advance.