Abstract
At the site called Katalymata, on the island of Gavdos off the south western Cretan shores, the University of Crete is excavating a spacious building complex dating back to the Bronze Age (3rd and mainly 2nd millennia BC). In this paper, we discuss a theatrical performance inspired by this discovery and investigation, which was first presented in situ on the field in 2012. The play was created by young members of the research team, who are themselves both archaeologists and actors. It is based on the accounts in the excavation notebooks of the prehistoric activities revealed in the building’s stratigraphy and enlivened by the memories of the modern islanders of their happenings at home. It also draws upon wider cognitive pieces of relevant knowledge—philosophical, literary and other. This combination was moulded to produce a structured narrative of domestic life on the island through time, and illustrate some specific aspects and overall meanings, material and symbolic, of ‘dwelling’ down the ages. Since its Gavdiot premiere, the work has been adapted for different media to travel in Greece and elsewhere in Europe, as a performative guided tour played in historic houses, as a lecture performance for conferences and art venues, and as an audiovisual installation in museums of contemporary art.
Highlights
HHaarrddllyy ttoouucchheedd bbyy mmooddeerrnn ddeevveellooppmmeenntt, GGaavvddooss'’ss nnaattuurraall aanndd mmaann--mmaaddee ffeeaattuurreess sshhaappee aann iiddeeaall "“llaabboorraattoorryy"”ffoorraarrcchhaaeeoollooggiiccaall, vviizz.. iinntteerrddiisscciipplliinnaarryy, rreesseeaarrcchh [[33]]
The “construction” of our performance took almost two years. It was the fruit of the collaboration of six actors/performance makers, three of whom are archaeologists—(post)graduates of the University of Crete and members of the Gavdos excavation team
It all began in the summer of 2010, when a month was spent on the island to collect archival material through the interviews of a number of inhabitants, visitors, and archaeologists and other researchers of the multi-disciplinary project
Summary
Gavdos is the largest and most remote of the isles that surround Crete (Figure 1a,b). It was the fruit of the collaboration of six actors/performance makers, three of whom are archaeologists—(post)graduates of the University of Crete and members of the Gavdos excavation team It all began in the summer of 2010, when a month was spent on the island to collect archival material through the interviews of a number of inhabitants, visitors, and archaeologists and other researchers of the multi-disciplinary project. We focused on their ties with the place and its antiquities, as well as on local (and more remote) memories of houses and attitudes to living in them. Announcements on Radio Gavdos and on social media platforms, together with a number of wider press releases and interviews, which included information on the ancient finds, informed the audience about the upcoming event [34,35,36]
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