Giorgio Buccellati 2014 Profondo
Buccellati 2014 Dalprofondo
Dal profondo del tempo. All'origine della comunicazione e della comunità nell'antica Siria,
Firenze: Società Editrice Fiorentina
[PDF Italian version; PDF Arabic version]
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ToC of Buccellati 2014 Dalprofondo
| Table of Contents |
Premessa [Premise] Introduzione [Introduction]
Bibliografia [Bibliography] |
| General topic(s) of the book |
The past has lasting importance. That is the theme of this book and the exhibition which it accompanies. The fundamental question that faces us is: What is the common bond that holds humans together? The text is divided into the stages of the development of human co-habitation. It starts with the oldest Palaeolithic (represented by the Dmanisi hominids discovered in Georgia), moves to the beginning of civilization (as illustrated by the site of Urkesh in Syria), and concludes with a presentation of the importance of as a force of national unity in Syria today. In addition to presenting the data, we also suggest ways to approach human experience beyond and despite a profound detachment in time, through values that are still alive and conveyed even today. |
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Extended summary of Buccellati 2014 Dalprofondo
This book is the result of an exhibit organized in Rimini on the occasion of the ‘XXXV Meeting per l’amicizia tra i popoli’. After a foreword (by Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati) and an introduction by the author, the book is divided into 4 chapters, dealing with many topics about Urkesh and another site in Georgia, namely Dmanisi.
Chapter 1 describes a different approach to the knowledge of Urkesh, discussing the topic of ‘the seeing’ of an ancient archaeological site. A reflection about the span time between us and the human beings who inhabited Urkesh is presented, stressing how it is still possible to bridge a modern culture with an ancient society, introducing some aspects of anthropological studies. A summary about the last 30 years of work at Tell Mozan is sketched, underlining the importance of all the people (both specialists and local people) involved in the project.
Chapter 2 focuses on the recent excavations at Dmanisi, Georgia, undertaken under the direction of David Lordkipanidze with the assistance of Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Bucellati. The human finds can tell us a story of people who lived some millennia BP, presenting some important and profound interrogatives about humanity in general and also about the development of the fist hominids, at the dawn of the first human communities elaborating craft skills, special competence and aspects related to sociality and mutual assistance [on this topic, cf. also Mes-Pol, chapter 1].
Chapter 3 deals with some aspects on these first community of hominids (around 30000 BP) who started elaborating some abstract concepts (in a mere logical thought) related to time-calculation (the ability of observe and record on artefacts the moon phases), the growing of an extra-somatic perspective, the elaboration of the language as a base for the following elaboration of writing systems.
Chapter 4 bridges the first step in the human development (or evolution), moving from the aforementioned period (around 30000 BP) to the historical period (ca. 4000 BC), when the writing started to be invented and the communities of hominids started in shaping as cities and much more complexes communities, giving the birth to the concept of ‘culture’: the so-called ‘civilization’. The new social development and functional system are explained thanks to the example of Urkesh. The rest of the chapter presents many aspects about Urkesh, considered as a useful study-case for the aforementioned process: geographical and chronological information is provided, and the main structures and artefacts unearthed on the site are presented, also explaining the daily life of the Hurrian people living at Urkesh, stressing (though the analysis of seals, sealing and other objects, mainly from the Royal Palace of Tupkish) the role of the royal couple in the life of the town. The last part of the chapter particularly focuses on the so-call ‘necromantic pit’, known as ābi in the Hurrian language.
Chapter 5 concerns some more anthropological interrogatives: how can we (modern archaeologist and common people) approach and understand such an ancient civilization? How can we reach a certainty in our modern interpretations of so ancient phaenomena? The only solution lies on the concept of ‘empathy’ [cf. also Buccellati 2006 Emic, about the concept of -emic]: the (inner, spiritual) differences between ancient cultures and us is not so enormous, if we consider that, in the end, everybody (male or female) is a human being, with similar necessities and wit common questions about life (and afterlife, too). In this way-of-thinking, not only it is possible to better interpret some ancient phaenomena, but also we can retrace something like a ‘secret kinship’ between antiquity and modernity.
Chapter 6 offers a glimpse on future perspectives and objectives of the archaeologists: preserve the monuments and the artefacts (because of the well-known war situation in Syria), creating an archaeological eco-park; safeguard (i.e., to understand at the best) the past as an opportunity for the future, presenting the site to visitors, involving also the local community in these efforts, making also ‘virtually accessible’ the site though the internet, on the official website of the mission (visit related homepage).
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Excerpts from Buccellati 2014 Dalprofondo
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Perception and ‘meta-perception’
| Perception (1) | pp. 24-25 | Understanding and communicating What emerges from the considerations on spatial competence and charitas is the ability to connect perceptions that are not contiguous in themselves, that is, they are not received together, at the same time. Anticipating the final structure of a stone tool to be worked on, as well as predicting death as the final outcome of physical decay, all this transcends the moment of single, concrete perception. Instead, we have to assume some sort of bundle of perceptions, something we could call a complex perception or, to use a technical term, a "meta-perception". We all remember the term "pure reason" introduced by Kant. It refers to the most abstract aspect of our understanding of things, a system that is independent of individual and concrete perceptions and overlaps them to give meaning to "things". From this perspective, we can think of the hominin way of relating to things as governed by an "impure" reason, that is, by a reason that, although still tied exclusively to perceptions, was still, and in some way, a "reason". Although it is pre-logical and pre-linguistic, this "impure" reason based only on complex perception already introduces in hominins a fundamental difference from animals. The result, first of all, is the ability to communicate for the purpose of communicating, as it is not a matter of transmitting a contingent message strictly linked to the immediate context. The technique of creating a stone tool, as well as the omen of death, are transmitted from one member of the group to the other even when the tool is not needed for an immediate need, even when there is no premonition of impending death. This ability to communicate, and thereby to "educate", is the fundamental engine of progress. [English translation from Italian by mDP]. |
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Perception and transcendence
| Perception (2) | p. 60 | In comparison with transcendence The archeology of experience... We can thus refer to our effort to recover the perception of the ancients in front of their architectural spaces, as in the case of the Templar terrace. On the one hand, you are facing the great wall, and it is feel like an impassable barrier, which emphasizes the distance between the level of your humanity as opposed to the highest level of the gods. On the other hand, you can go up the great staircase which leads you to heaven, where the people live gods, in the temple. However distant you are from their experience religious, it is important to try to share the their perception of the spaces they had created. By identifying with their experience we can, in the end, better understand the monuments in the their completeness – not as dead fossils, but like a springboard that can bring us back to life they had to live on once. [English translation from Italian by mDP]. |
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Perception and understanding
| Perception (3) | p. 71 | From the beginning of civilization to our civilization – here is the second corridor that wants to compare, reciprocally, ancient and modern. A comparison which sometimes imposes itself as a short circuit: the resistance between the contact points is zero and mutual engagement is immediate. We encounter resistance when we need explanations that serve to mediate distance, that help us to get in tune, but do not accomplish necessarily (or at least not rapidly) the miracle of understanding. Understanding is the pinnacle of the human effort of to compare. Look into each other's eyes, and understand each other, without explanation. Ironically, perhaps, it is the short circuit which, while not denying the value of the effort to explain, cancels the resistance of "pure reason", and reaffirms the importance of perception. Understanding, therefore, proves our deepest humanity. In the dim light of the corridor we experience beams of light, where images and texts speak to us with absolute immediacy. Yet verifiable, not fantasized. They too lived the life we live today. [English translation from Italian by mDP]. |
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