Light has a fundamental role to play in our perception of the world. Natural or artificial lightscapes orchestrate uses and experiences of space and, in turn, influence how people construct and negotiate their identities, form social relationships, and attribute meaning to (im)material practices. Archaeological practice seeks to analyse the material culture of past societies by examining the interaction between people, things, and spaces. As light is a crucial factor that mediates these relationships, understanding its principles and addressing illumination's impact on sensory experience and perception should be a fundamental pursuit in archaeology. However, in archaeological reasoning, studies of lightscapes have remained largely neglected and understudied. This volume provides a comprehensive and accessible consideration of light in archaeology and beyond by including dedicated and fully illustrated chapters covering diverse aspects of illumination in different spatial and temporal contexts, from prehistory to the present. Written by leading international scholars, it interrogates the qualities and affordances of light in different contexts and (im)material environments, explores its manipulation, and problematises its elusive properties. The result is a synthesis of invaluable insights into sensory experience and perception, demonstrating illumination's vital impact on social, cultural, and artistic contexts.
1: Costas Papadopoulos and Holley Moyes: Illuminating Sensory Archaeologies Section I. Darkness 2: Paul Pettit, Stefanie Leluschko, and Takashi Sakamoto: Light, Human Evolution, and the Palaeolithic 3: Efrosyni Boutsikas: The Role of Darkness in Ancient Greek Religion and Religious Practice 4: Athanasia Zografou: Constructing the Invisible: Light and Darkness in the Topography of Hades 5: Holley Moyes, Lillian Rigoli, Stephanie Huette, Daniel R. Montello, Teenie Matlock, and Michael J. Spivey: Darkness and the Imagination: The Role of Environment in the Development of Spiritual Beliefs 6: Gail Higginbottom and Vincent Mom: Illuminating Time: The Visibility of Temporality in Prehistory Section II. Light in Myth, Ritual, and Cosmology 7: Robert Hensey: Rediscovering the Winter Solstice Alignment at Newgrange, Ireland 8: A. César González-García: Light and Shadow Effects in Megalithic Monuments in the Iberian Peninsula 9: Lucy Goodison: Sunlight, Divination, and the Dead in Aegean Ritual Tradition 10: Timothy R. Pauketat: Illuminating Triangulations: Moonlight and the Mississippian World 11: Ruth M. Van Dyke: The Chacoan World: Light and Shadow, Stone and Sky 12: Kevin Conti and William Walker: Animate Shadows of Bears and Giants Section III. Light in Sacred Architecture 13: Giulio Magli: The Beautiful Face of Ra: The Role of Sunlight in the Architecture of Ancient Egypt 14: Iakovos Potamianos: The Handling of Light: Its Effect on Form and Space in the Greek Temple and the Byzantine Church 15: Mikkel Bille and Tim Flohr Sørensen: In Visible Presence: The Role of Light in Shaping Religious Atmospheres 16: Maria Sardi and Ioannis Motsianos: Lighting in Muslim and Christian Religious Buildings: A Comparative Study Section IV. The Meaning of Light 17: Emília Pásztor: Prehistoric Light in the Air: Celestial Symbols of the Bronze Age 18: Bissera V. Pentcheva: Phenomenology of Light: The Glitter of Salvation in Bessarion's Cross 19: Eleni Bintsi: The Light of the Flame: Use and Symbolism of Light and Lighting Devices in Traditional Greek Culture 20: Eric C. Lapp: Encountering Photoamulets and the Use of Apotropaic Light in Late Antiquity Section V. Light in Private, Domestic, and Working Environments 21: Mary Shepperson: Visibility, Privacy, and Missing Windows: The Lighting of Domestic Space in Ancient Mesopotamia 22: Jean-Philippe Carrie: Lighting the 'Good Life': The Role of Light in the Aristocratic Housing System during Late Antiquity 23: Peter Dawson and Richard Levy: Thirty Days of Night: The Role of Light and Shadow in Inuit Architecture North of the Arctic Circle 24: David Griffiths: Household Consumption of Artificial Light at Pompeii 25: Ian West: Industrialising Light: The Development and Deployment of Artificial Lighting in Early Factories Section VI. Simulations and Reconstructions of Light 26: Aaron Watson and Ronnie Scott: Materialising Light, Making Worlds: Optical Image Projection within the Megalithic Passage Tombs of Britain And Ireland 27: Simon Stoddart, Caroline Malone, Michael Anderson, and Robert Barratt: Light and Dark in Prehistoric Malta 28: Matt Gatton: The Eleusinian Projector: The Hierophant's Optical Method of Conjuring the Goddess 29: Dorina Moullou and Fragiskos V. Topalis: Reconstructing Artificial Light in Ancient Greece 30: Dragoş Gheorghiu: Lighting in Reconstructed Contexts: Experimental Archaeology with Pyrotechnologies 31: Eva Bosch: Çatalhöyük: A Study of Light and Darkness - A Photo-Essay Section VII. Light in Object Curation and Knowledge Production 32: Eleni Kotoula: Light and its Interaction with Antiquities and Works of Art: A Conservator's Perspective 33: Malcolm Innes: Lighting and Museum Exhibits 34: Nessa Leibhammer: Modalities of Meaning: Light and Shadow in Archaeological Images Tim Ingold: Afterword: On Light
Costas Papadopoulos is an Assistant Professor in Digital Humanities & Culture Studies at Maastricht University. His work has its roots in ethnography, archaeology, digital humanities, and museum and cultural studies, exploring modelling and representation at the intersections of the physical and the digital. It advances understandings of the experience and perception of heritage; engages with debates on the role of interactive research in digital humanities; explores ways to build epistemological frameworks for multimodal research; and integrates Arts into STE(A)M learning via socially-engaged research by facilitating digital literacy and creative thinking. Most of his research has focused on digital applications in archaeology and heritage with a particular emphasis on 3D visualisation. He is PI of PURE3D which develops an Infrastructure for the Publication and Preservation of 3D Scholarship. Holley Moyes is a Professor of Anthropology and Heritage Studies and an Affiliate Faculty in the Cognitive and Information Sciences department at the University of California, Merced. Her main area of expertise is the archaeology of religion and she is particularly interested in ritual spaces. Although most of her field work is conducted in ancient Maya ritual cave sites in Belize, Central America, her broader interests encompass cross-cultural ritual cave use. She has published over 40 journal articles and book chapters on the subject of caves and her book Sacred Darkness: A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Caves won a 2013 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title.
