Style as memory: a cross-disciplinary approach to the Knossian Kamares style

Thesis

In this thesis, I explore the archaeological notion of style focusing on the long-term development of the Minoan Kamares style from Knossos, Crete (ca. 1950-1700 BC). The major hypothesis is that style constitutes a distributed memory of technical skills and knowledge. I seek to understand how this style enabled artisans’ technical skills and knowledge to continue over generations. Moreover, in approaching this style from a mnemonic perspective, I aim to develop additional insights into the dynamics that guided the openness and inventiveness of this pottery tradition.

In attempting to investigate this hypothesis, this thesis proposes a cross-disciplinary approach primarily grounded in the anthropology of art by Gell (1998) and the Material Engagement Theory (MET) of Malafouris (2013, 2019a). According to Gell’s anthropological stance on art and agency, style can be reframed as a unique temporally and spatially distributed cognitive process responsible for the continuity and development of skills and knowledge. On the other hand, Malafouris’ MET shows how things come to constitute cognition; its central premise is that we think with and through things (2018, 2019a).

It is proposed that, by grounding the re-examination of the Knossian Kamares pottery in the aforementioned anthropological and material-engagement approach, the notion of style comes to describe a transgenerational memory which enabled artisans to remember previously acquired ways of thinking and acting by engaging with and through things in the context of making novel Kamares decorations. Ultimately, this thesis proposes an alternative strategy for studying memory that accounts for the different timescales and sociomaterial contexts and can inform studies in archaeology, anthropology, and the cognitive sciences interested in investigating the relationship between memory and material culture.

Authors: Prezioso, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-ryjzpxkom
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: anthropology of art; memory; Minoan archaeology; cognitive archaeology; style; pottery
• Subjects: Archaeology; Anthropology; Philosophy of mind; Cognitive archaeology; Archaeology and art