Descrizione del progetto
Monumenti oltre le apparenze
I monumenti possono essere più che attributi di economie politiche centralizzate e gerarchiche e strutture di potere dall’alto verso il basso. Questo è ciò che desidera esplorare il progetto DAEDALOS, finanziato dall’UE. Prendendo come esempio le società del Mediterraneo orientale dell’età del bronzo, i ricercatori metteranno alla prova la narrativa predominante che circonda l’architettura di 35 siti della Grecia continentale, dell’Anatolia occidentale, di Creta, di Cipro e delle Cicladi, dove sono stati costruiti monumenti «sfarzosi» e, finora, visti come un simbolo di controllo centralizzato sulla popolazione. DAEDALOS mette in discussione questo presupposto indagando sulla centralizzazione organizzativa delle società che gestivano il lavoro e le risorse materiali investite nell’edilizia. In questo modo, il progetto punta a una visione più sfumata della storia.
Obiettivo
DAEDALOS aims to challenge the predominant metanarrative that uniformly sees monuments as an attribute of centralised, hierarchical political economies and top-down power structures, a view that exerts a strong influence on our understanding of the organisation of Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean societies. In the 2nd mill. BCE, Mainland Greece, Western Anatolia and the islands of Crete, Cyprus and the Cyclades witness a growing architectural elaboration. Impressive ‘palatial’ monuments are built, which are often interpreted as the seat of rulers exerting centralised control over the population. The surmised political power necessary for the mobilisation and management of the human and material resources invested in monumental construction is taken as further evidence for the leading function of these edifices, and for the position of their commissioners at the top of hierarchical socio-political systems. Taking into consideration the ability for human groups with no centralised leadership to efficiently manage and control resources, DAEDALOS questions the preconceived conflation of monumental architecture and centralised hierarchical power. To assess this, the project will analyse integration and segmentation patterns in 2nd mill. BCE monumental building projects of the Aegean and Cyprus, and investigate the organisational centralisation of the societies that managed the labour and material resources invested in construction. Based on the architectural study of monuments distributed over 35 sites and their examination through new, specially devised analytical parameters, DAEDALOS will explore the possibility for grassroots, bottom-up building processes and their impact on architectural creation. By doing so, the project aims to trigger a paradigm shift in the ways we approach and interpret monumental architecture while producing nuanced and compelling definitions of Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age socio-political systems.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
- monumental architecture
- monumental building projects
- building process
- ancient architecture
- palaces
- resources mobilisation
- resources management
- collective performance
- collective action
- construction sequence
- cooperation dynamics
- scale of monuments
- architectural energetics
- craftspeople
- architectural labour
- GIS
- web-GIS
- spatial analysis
- ancient leadership
- socio-political organisation
- Bronze Age societies
- dual-processualism
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsIstituzione ospitante
9000 Gent
Belgio