Missing Evidence in the Study of Ancient Cultures
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Edited by:
Cécile Michel
About this book
Ancient cultures are studied through literary sources and artefacts, both of which are limited and often contradictory. Scholarly traditions often privilege one type of evidence over the other, depending on their research questions and the stories they want to tell. As a result, our understanding of the past may be shaped by bias. New archaeological discoveries force historians to rethink their views of the past. Missing evidence, though difficult to identify, can lead to educated guesses and a re-evaluation of previous ideas. However, over-reliance on a single dataset leads to the risk of overlooking important perspectives. While scholars have developed methods for dealing with insufficient data, methodological reflection on the subject is rare.
This volume presents case studies from ancient civilisations that explore how different types of missing evidence (e.g. missing, contradictory or neglected evidence) affect our perceptions of ancient cultures and shape the narratives we provide. Covering Southwest Asia, China, India, Greece, Etruria, early Christianity, Mesoamerica and Central Asian Buddhism, it invites scholars to compare the situation in their own fields to the state-of-the-art in others.
Author / Editor information
Cécile Michel, CNRS, Nanterre, France; Michael Friedrich, CSMC, Univ. Hamburg, GER; Jorrit Kelder, British School at Athens, Greece.
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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Written Artefacts, Transmitted Literature and Missing Evidence: An Introduction
1 - Absence of Evidence: Lost or Neglected
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The Lost Libraries: An Archaeology of Maya Books
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Missing Evidence and Clues to Evidence, a Dialectic Process: The Apostolic Tradition
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Reconstructing the Book of Zambasta: The Role of ‘Missing Evidence’
95 - Quantity of Evidence: Too Little or Too Much
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Identifying Missing Evidence in an Abundant Cuneiform Corpus
119 -
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Minding the Gap: The Administrative Documents of the Old Kingdom and the Wadi el-Jarf Archive
147 -
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Some Methodological Reflections Concerning Ancient Chinese Manuscripts
161 - Quality of Evidence: Fragmentary or Contradictory
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Missing Evidence and Evidence Dismissed: Mycenaean Archaeology and Its Struggle with Contemporary Written Sources
201 -
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Direct and Indirect Evidence about Etruscans: Partial and Contradictory Views
221 - In Lieu of a Conclusion
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Missing, Lost, and Forgotten Sources: Some Thoughts on the Situation in Ancient India
253 -
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Contributors
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Indices
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