Dr Louise Hitchcock

Biography

A UCLA graduate, Louise Hitchcock has extensive experience in the east Mediterranean, including time as Parsons Fellow at the American School in Athens, a senior Fulbright Fellow in Cyprus, an Educational and Cultural Resources Fellow in Jerusalem, as well as excavation work in Egypt, Syria, Crete, and California.

She is author of numerous articles on architecture and gender in the east Mediterranean. Her books include, Minoan Architecture: a Contextual Analysisand Aegean Art and Architecture, co-authored with Donald Preziosi. She is currently involved in several research projects: including the book Theory 4 Classics, investigating the relationship between Aegean, Cypriot and Philistine architecture, and a collaborative project on the emergence of complexity in Greece with Anne Chapin of Brevard College, U.S.A. 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. In 2007, she will be the visiting Annual Professor at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

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

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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.

Current projects
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
The goals of this newly initiated 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.

Theory 4 Classics
This project involves the preparation of a manuscript in the Routledge “Theory 4 series” a new series that presents concise overviews of the major theorists writing since the end of the 19th century, but written with the discipline of Classics in mind.

Recent grants & awards

• Annual Professorship, 2006-2007
• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (Honorary)
• W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem
• Collaborative Research Grant, 2006, The University of Melbourne
• Early Career Researcher Grant, 2005, The University of Melbourne
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship in Archaeology 1999-2000, Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, Nicosia.
• Special Studies Programs (Short) Conference Attendance Grant, 2006, 2005, 2004, University of Melbourne

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Publications

Books

• L. Hitchcock, Theory 4 Classics, New York: Routledge (In Preparation - under contract)
• L. Hitchcock, Minoan Architecture: A Contextual Analysis, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology Pocket Book 155, Jonsered: Paul Åströms Förlag (2000)
• L. Hitchcock and Donald Preziosi, Aegean Art and Architecture, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999)
• L. Hitchcock, (Revised), Cylinder Seals from the Collections of the AleppoMuseum, S.A.R.British Archaeological Reports International Series 335 (1987)

Book Chapters (from 2002)

• L. Hitchcock, “Never Momentary, But Always Fluid and Flexible: Revisiting the Vernacular Tradition in Bronze Age Crete and Cyprus,” in K. Glowacki and N. Vogeikoff-Brogan (eds.) STEGA: The Archaeology of Houses and Households in Ancient Crete, Hesperia Supplement, Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens Press. (Under Submission). 10 pages + Ills.
• L. Hitchcock, “Knossos is Burning: Gender Bending the Minoan Genius,” in K. Kopaka (eds) Engendering Prehistoric ‘Stratipgraphies’ in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, Rethymnon, Crete: University of Rethymnon (Under Submission). 10 pages
• L. Hitchcock, “Cult, Context, and Copper: A Cypriot Perspective on the Unexplored Mansion at Knossos,” in Proceedings of the 9th International Congress of Cretan Studies, 1-7 October 2001 (In Press)
• L. Hitchcock, “Naturalizing the Cultural: Architectonicized Landscape as Ideology in Minoan Crete,” in R. Westgate, N. Fisher, and J. Whitley (eds) Building Communities: House, Settlement and Society in the Aegean and Beyond, Cardiff University, April 17-21, 2001. British School at Athens Series. (In Press, scheduled for 2007)
• L. Hitchcock, “’Who Will Personally Invite a Foreigner, Unless He is a Craftsman?’: Exploring Interconnections in Aegean and Levantine Architecture,” in R. Laffineur and E. Greco (eds), EMPORIA: Aegeans in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean, the 10th Annual Aegean Conference, Italian School of Archaeology, Athens, April 14-18, 2004, Aegaeum 25 (2005) pp. 691-699
• L. Hitchcock, “‘And above were costly stones, hewn according to measurement…:’ Documentation of Pre-classical Ashlar Masonry in the East Mediterranean,” in METRON: Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age, the 9th International Aegean Conference, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, April 18-21, 2002, Aegaeum 24. (2003) pp. 257-267 + Ills.
• L. Hitchcock, “Space 1999 (B)CE: Post-Processual Approaches to Minoan Architecture,” in G. Malm (ed) Toward an Archaeology and Buildings: Contexts and concepts, British Archaeological Reports International Series 1186, (2003) pp. 1-14
• L. Hitchcock, “Levantine Horned Altars: An Aegean Perspective on the Transformation of Socio-Religious Reproduction,” in P.M. McNutt and D.M. Gunn (eds) ‘Imagining’ Biblical Worlds: Spatial, Social, and Historical Constructs, Essays in Honor of James W. Flanagan, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press (2002) pp. 223-239
• L. Hitchcock and Paul Koudounaris, “Virtual discourse: Arthur Evans and the reconstructions of the Minoan palace at Knossos,” in Y. Hamilakis (ed) Labyrinth Revisited: Rethinking ‘Minoan’ Archaeology, Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow (2002) pp. 40-58

Journal Articles (from 2002)

• L. Hitchcock, “Understanding the Minoan Palaces,” in Palaces and Villas of Minoan Crete: New Interpretations, Athena Review 3.3 (2003) pp. 27- 35. Online excerpt

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