Interpretative Framework. The interpretative framework of each project is discussed within a descriptive and analytical perspective. Examples of proposed results are linked to interpretative approaches in an effort to understand how obtained data are interpreted and used. This section discusses also the project’s relationship to Landscape Traditions and the influential role of previous research.
Interpretative Framework. Xxxx Xxxxx is a very well read philologist specialised in the ancient Greek world, but also sculptured with the ideas of French Human Geography, which he uses widely in his attempt to reconstruct the history of Crete. The sources used include ancient historical texts and myths, writings of Travellers and previous researchers, inscriptions and archaeological finds, ethnographic data and information from the locals, but also landscape observations. The sites he is mostly interested in are caves and it seems that the social behaviour that strikes him most is encapsulated in refuge and ritual sites. These, he tries to understand them by combining a variety of information and observations, paying particular attention to topography and the landscape. His background in Human Geography is evident in discussions of the history of use of a site or region over time and the consideration of human activities in relation to environment. For example cave function is studied diachronically and changes are explained in terms of socio-political circumstances, and living in the mountains is discussed again over time, in relation to subsistence and the social characteristics of different periods. Xxxxx’x research is characterised by a multitude of influences from archaeological and philological traditions: We can discern a traveller’s exploratory interest, where ancient sources, myths and concurrent Cretan life figure widely in the texts; the narrative form of his descriptions and the inductive – common sense – line of thought is typical of the Travellers’ tradition and culture-history’s theoretical framework, observed also in his descriptions of material culture; on the other hand, his interest in topography, geology and the history of the landscape reveal strong influences from the historical and Human Geography traditions. In some cases narrative and site descriptions are related to a research question and a hypothesis, where he travels us through the landscape and his thought in quite a detailed manner, whereas in other cases descriptions of what is observed may not be linked to interpretative suggestions, but be just presented as information and ‘proper’ archaeological records. Indeed, this is a brilliant example to attest the interplay between various traditions of thought. Interpretations are primarily on the site level, and more specifically on function and chronology, but he proceeds further to combining site information for regional and inter-regional explanations. ...
