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Visualizing Votive Practice: Exploring Limestone and Terracotta Sculpture from Athienou-Malloura Through 3D Models By Derek B. Counts, Erin Walcek Averett, Kevin Garstki, and Michael K. Toumazou, with contributions by Clay M. Cofer and Katherine A. P. Iselin. Grand Forks: The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota 2020 . Pp. 362 pages. Download (free). ISBN 9781734506877. https://doi.org/10.31356/dpb011 (ebook).

2022; Archaeological Institute of America; Volume: 126; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/719394

1939-828X

Pamela Gaber,

Archaeological Research and Protection

Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewsVisualizing Votive Practice: Exploring Limestone and Terracotta Sculpture from Athienou-Malloura Through 3D Models By Derek B. Counts, Erin Walcek Averett, Kevin Garstki, and Michael K. Toumazou, with contributions by Clay M. Cofer and Katherine A. P. Iselin. Grand Forks: The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota 2020. Pp. 362 pages. Download (free). ISBN 9781734506877. https://doi.org/10.31356/dpb011 (ebook).Pamela GaberPamela GaberLycoming College Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmailPrint SectionsMoreThis coauthored book is a ground-breaking tour de force. The site of Athienou-Malloura on Cyprus is the location of a complex set of ancient remains ranging from the Archaic through the Roman periods, including cultic installations, domestic remains, and tombs. The particular site from which hundreds of fragments of limestone sculpture come is a rural sanctuary some 9 km from ancient Idalion, the major city to which Malloura may have been a satellite. The authors have chosen a 50-piece sample from the large corpus of sculptures as the subject of a pilot project in digital publication. They have outlined clearly this form of digital publication that includes three-dimensional models accessible not only online but also offline from the PDF of the book. In addition, there is available to the reader an online, high-resolution database of 3D models. Overall, reading this book is an exciting window into the immediate future of publishing in archaeology. It is useful at this juncture to reproduce the outline of “How to Use This Book” and its three components provided by the authors (4):(1) this digital monograph in 3D PDF format that retains a traditional print publication framework but, significantly, is born digital and published open access;(2) the catalogue (Chapter 3) published in this PDF is also published online by Open Context, which allows users to query the database, explore linked data, and view and download high-resolution 3D models through a built-in visualizer; and(3) high-resolution 3D models uploaded to Sketchfab, which provides a public-facing point of access to the objects and also offers a more photo-realistic visualization of the sculptures with key features annotated.At the outset the authors explain the rationale for this publication, their dating framework, and a roadmap for using this book with its multiple access points. Their explanations are clear and careful—a useful way to present a pilot project of an unusual form of publishing. The catalogue of the selected sculptures for this pilot project is similarly thorough and clearly laid out. There are, however, some idiosyncrasies in their choices of some of the subjects in their introduction to the catalogue.For instance, their discussion of previous catalogues of Cypriot sculpture leaves out some seminal studies (e.g., F. Vandenabeele and R. Laffineur, eds., Cypriote Stone Sculpture: Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Cypriote Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussels 1994). In addition, there is a rather startling pronouncement in the introduction in which the authors contend that “artifact catalogues have … acted as the primary agents for the visualization and interpretation of the archaeological record” (3). Undoubtedly, authors of excavation reports will take issue with that statement. In the course of that discussion, they refer to print publication of artifact catalogues as “detached and mono-vocal” (4), without detailing what they mean by that description.In their discussion of previous catalogues, they repeatedly include works by authors who have never set foot on Cyprus and yet write about sanctuaries they have never visited (e.g., Reinhard Senff, Das Apollonheiligtum von Idalion: Architektur und Statuenausstattung eines zyprischen Heiligtums, Paul Åströms Förlag 1993).More promising is their discussion of the ability afforded by 3D publication, particularly as regards objects previously published in 2D (4). The authors point out that publishing a pilot project of this sort, with manipulable 3D images, offers the reader the opportunity to compare this new experience with the experience of working with traditional 2D image publication. They contend that the 3D experience is “only one step removed from holding the artifacts in one’s own hand” (4). While each reader will have to experience using these images to decide whether it is like holding the artifact itself, there is no question that there is more one can examine in moving the 3D image to view front, back, sides, and top and bottom. The use of Sketchfab, accompanied as it is with the necessity to refer either to the digital monograph or to Open Context to get the complete archaeological context for each object, is cumbersome at best. However, this is understandable given the current state of development of the technology for the type of publication this work envisages. All of this makes citation of the work difficult, but the authors have provided very clear and comprehensible examples of the proper way to cite it (https://commons.und.edu/press-books/11/).Catalogue entries present a different set of issues. Descriptions are detailed and precise with particular attention paid to dress, attributes, and iconography. There is little or no discussion of stylistic features, however. For instance, AAp-AM-2185, Male Votary Head with Conical Helmet, is a type long known as related to the Kition school of sculptors (e.g., P. Gaber Saletan, Regional Styles in Cypriote Sculpture: The Sculpture from Idalion, Garland Publishing, 1986). Somewhat surprising in view of the lack of discussion of style is the fact that one of the principal authors, Derek Counts, has published on this subject in the past (“Local Styles and Regional Trends in Cypriot Limestone Sculpture: The Athienou School,” in M. Toumazou et al., Crossroads and Boundaries: The Archaeology of Past and Present in the Malloura Valley, Cyprus, Oxbow 2012, 149–62). At the same time there is a statement that conical helmets “and other headgear are replaced with vegetal wreaths” (66), as though there were a chronological distinction between types of headgear represented in limestone sculpture. Since the conical helmets and vegetal wreaths were produced in the same period at some sanctuaries, like Lefkonico, Idalion, and others, it is puzzling that the authors assume chronological factors at play. The fact that there is no chronological relationship between instances of ethnically connected headgear and other types of ethnic garb has been view accepted by scholars for nearly 50 years (see C. Vermeule, “Cypriote Sculpture, the Late Archaic and Early Classical Periods: Towards a More Precise Understanding,” AJA 78.3, 1974, 287–90).There is not one way to summarize an evaluation of Visualizing Votive Practice. Most importantly, this book is an exciting window into archaeological publishing to come. The idea that we will be able to publish 3D, manipulable field shots of excavation trenches as well as objects is one that opens new vistas to our ability to show what we have discovered in the most immediate possible way. Any concern that some of the presentation of the sculpture itself may be lacking in stylistic discussion is nearly negligible, given that the entire work is a pilot project, with just a sample of the hundreds of sculptural fragments found at Malloura presented for the purpose of demonstrating the capabilities of this form of publication. Kudos to the authors, and all those who worked to bring this publication about.Notes[email protected] Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 126, Number 2April 2022 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Views: 833Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/719394 Views: 833Total views on this site HistoryPublished online February 08, 2022 Copyright © 2022 by the Archaeological Institute of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.