Twice Upon a Time in the West?

Towards an Inter-cultural Comparison of Recent and Ancient Contact Situations

Abstract

The text raises the question whether and to what extent the study of situations of cultural encounter and their intercultural comparison, especially with regard to ethnographic-historical examples described by various sources and only archaeologically documented situations, the former can be used for the interpretation of the latter. To this end, testimonials of such encounter situations are outlined, each over a period of about three centuries: On the one hand, the archaeological findings of the 8th to 5th century BCE in southern Italy during the so called »Great Greek colonization«, on the other hand the circumstances of about 1500-1800 AD when European immigrants arrived in North America. In both situations, there was an intensive exchange of the newcomers with the indigenous communities. Does a comparison of the two situations allow for conclusions about the lesser-known (archaeological) example? The study calls for the use of a »historic ethno-archaeology« which beyond concrete analogies is able to open the researcher’s eye for the possible variety and width of different reactions and actions in such encounter situations. This not only allows new perspectives for the researcher often preconditioned by modern Western lifestyles, but also the view of the supposedly weaker element in their own actions and priorities.