The School of Historical and Philosophical Studies Classics and Archaeology

Associate Professor Louise Hitchcock


Classics and Archaeology Discipline Chair (Semester 1, 2011)

Telephone:
(+61 3) 8344 7033
Email:
l.hitchcock@unimelb.edu.au
Fax:
(+61 3) 8344 4161
Location:
Room 127, Old Quadrangle
The University of Melbourne VIC 3010


Biography

A UCLA graduate, Louise Hitchcock has extensive archaeological experience in the east Mediterranean, including time as Parsons Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, a senior Fulbright Fellow at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Cyprus, and as both an Educational and Cultural Resources Fellow as well as the Visiting Annual Professor at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, and a visiting research at the Institute of Advanced Study at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, as well as excavation work in Israel, Egypt, Syria, Crete, and California. She is author of more than 30 articles on architecture and gender in the east Mediterranean. Her 4 books include, Minoan Architecture: A Contextual Analysis, Aegean Art and Architecture (co-authored with Donald Preziosi), Theory for Classics, and Aegaeum 29, DAIS: The Aegean Feast (co-edited with Robert Laffineur and Janice Crowley). She is currently involved in several research projects: including investigating the relationship between Aegean, Cypriot and Philistine architecture, and collaborative projects on the emergence of complexity in Greece and excavating the site of Tell es-Safi/Gath with Prof. Aren Maeir of Bar Ilan University. Ongoing research is devoted to the recovery, documentation, and interpretation of contextual relationships as well as the interpretation of existing monuments, especially critical considering that many of the monumental structures of the Late Bronze Age are decaying through exposure to weather and human contact.

Qualifications: MA History, University of California, Los Angeles, PhD Art History, University of California, Los Angeles.


Research

Research Strengths

Aegean Bronze Age Archaeology and Architecture (Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece, & the Cyclades). Archaeological Theory: especially contextual and spatial analysis, structuration and agency, complex society, gender, critical theory, cultural diversity, landscape, ethnicity, the politics of the past, ethics, and the transmission of culture. Cypriot Archaeology. Israelite & Philistine Architecture.

 

The Melbourne Team Early Philistine Deep Bowl in the Mycenaean Style
The Melbourne Team Early Philistine Deep Bowl in the Mycenaean Style
Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

 

Current Projects:

In the Wake of the Sea Peoples, In the Footsteps of Goliath: Excavating the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath

Collaborators: Prof. Aren Maeir, Bar-Ilan University

To be a 'Philistine' has entered our language to mean uncouth or barbaric, a perception deeply situated in Biblical thought. Just as the Greeks described non-Greek neighbours as 'Barbarians,' so too did the Biblical writers describe people settled along the southern coast of the Levant in derogatory terms. In contrast, archaeology reveals them to be a socially and economically advanced, technologically innovative (iron production), artistically sophisticated (decorated Mycenaean-Greek style pottery), and cosmopolitan culture that positively influenced the surrounding region. This ARC Discovery Project is investigating the early Iron Age remains at Tell es-Safi (Israel), ancient Gath, the largest of five Philistine cities, and biblical home of Goliath. Archaeology reveals the Philistines to be a socially and economically advanced, technologically innovative (iron production), artistically sophisticated (decorated Mycenaean-Greek style pottery), and cosmopolitan culture that positively influenced the surrounding region. Our aim is to advance our knowledge of a culture believed by many to be the product of Greek colonization of Canaan (today, Israel and Gaza) at the end of the Bronze Age (ca. 1180 BCE).

Listen to a Public Knowledge Transfer Lecture podcast Recent Discoveries at the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel.


Building Domination: Encoding Elite Identities in East Mediterranean Architecture


Type of Project: Archaeology


This project investigates the significance of architectural similarities found in Cyprus and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 BC). Components include investigating mechanisms for the transfer of ideas, and documentation and analysis of design details and building techniques. A catalog of architectural features supports preliminary conclusions that construction was local while certain designs were transferred by elites to enhance their prestige.


"Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings": Exploring Interconnections in Aegean and Levantine Architecture


This long term project extends the study of interconnections in Cypriot and Aegean architecture to the cultures of the Bronze and Iron Age Levant, including the Canaanites, the Philistines, and Early Israel, altogether, 16 features and 30 sites. My hypothesis is that widespread distribution of certain features be understood as part of a broader east Mediterranean cultural network structured through maritime trade, common technologies, and varying political circumstances.


From Minos to Menelaos: Uncovering Palatial Society in Prehistoric Greece


Collaborators: Prof. Anne P. Chapin, Brevard College and Dr. Emilia Banou, University of the Peloponnese


The goals of this project are to understand and document the early stages of complexity prehistoric Greece, particularly with regard to the Mycenaean mainland where rich monumental tombs provide the earliest evidence of political complexity, beginning with publication of pottery collected during the British Survey of Vaphio-Palaiopyrgi.

 

Recent Grants and Awards


Selected Publications

Books


Book Chapters (from 2005)


Journal Articles (from 2002)


Joint Publications (from 2005)


Recent RHD Completions

 

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