| Abstract |
The subject of this thesis is stone, one of the earliest materials used by man during the
development of civilization. The study includes the world of the stone, the masons and
the moving workers who constructed great works in the entire Balkan region, the types
of masonry, the symbolic background, as well as the circumstances under which it
seems to return today, after a few decades of decline, as a construction material. It is an
inter-scientific work focusing on the theoretical methods of Anthropology and of the
Social Sciences in general, as well as of History and Archaeology.
For the completion of the thesis project alternative methodological tools were
employed: ethnographic research, study of the sources, archival research and study of
material remains, ethnoarchaeological approaches and material related to Visual
Anthropology, such as photography and video. The ethnographic research aimed at
identifying the social, economic and other circumstances that led to mass skilled work
and at recording experience and pre-industrial techniques. The project research was
based on observation, examination of material remains, interviews, mostly semistructured,
as well as on the study of photographic collections. The research tools were
narrations in the form of semi-structured interviews and the biographical approach. For
the selection of the sample the technique of theoretical sampling was used. The
gathering of interviews and biographical narrations led to an indisputable “information
overload” (the new data did not add any substantially new or unknown information).
Research was conducted regarding the symbolic codes in the masons’ customs,
particularly those related to the departure and return of the groups or to the function of a
community’s boundaries which, apart from defining the place, also acted as symbols
with multiple functions. A synchronic research of the symbolic codes was also regarded
as necessary by studying the stone carvings and their symbols in a selected Cretan area,
the plain of Messara. Their best possible recording and classification was attempted
according to form, content and dating. This research, apart from the stone carvings
themselves, also studied the way whereby modern societies perceive them and the
meaning they attach to them.
The basic theoretical framework that was used for explaining the return of stone in
construction was derived from the approaches of “Anthropology of Consumption” and
the role of home as a symbol of place. The employment of Bourdieu’s theoretical
framework, the theory of class distinction, offered the possibility of conducting
research in multiple levels: focus was placed on the active persons themselves, the
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masons who are still using the stone as a construction material, but also on owners of
old stone-built houses, either restored or not, as well as on owners of new houses with
some stone-built parts.
The research related to the return of stone as a construction material, which actually
started after 1974 and increased after 1990, was one of the initial questions of this
thesis. A substantial role was played by the official ideology, according to which the
monuments represented Greek and timeless values, but also by tourism. In developing
tourist areas traditionalism is expressed through the restoration of old houses and the
construction of new stone-built architectural parts and is regarded as a tourism resource,
just as many other elements connected with the past. In developed islands the symbolic
use of stone as representation of the “exotic” has taken such dimensions that entire
“operations” have been organized stripping ruined houses in various deserted villages.
Stone is the cheapest available material to be used for traditional buildings that can be
adjusted to the natural or structured environment.
The practice of using stone in construction has not spread fully yet, however it is not
confined only to rustic imitation. The history of stone as a construction material and its
decline over long time periods of the twentieth century was studied in its cultural
background. In Greek cities the upper class sought distinction through house
construction and adopted a new ideology early enough. The improvement of the living
standards, a few decades after World War II, meant the diffusion and dissemination of
the habits set by the upper class to the popular classes. The elements that composed the
image of the dominating groups were gradually assimilated by the lower classes. The
phenomenon of reversion appeared quite fast. The return into the use of stone in
construction has become an element of social distinction over the last quarter of the
twentieth century. It is a phenomenon that reflects social mobility. As a status symbol,
stone was adopted by the upper classes and then it spread to the lower social classes.
The social classes that use stone today are completely different from those that
identified this material with the dream of building a house even a few decades ago.
They are mostly educated bourgeois. However, stone itself is not used in the same way.
It does not always play a static role, but is used as a complementary construction
material in specific visible parts of buildings. Luxurious residences built even in urban
areas are faced with stone and are enclosed with low stone walls. After 1990 and the
mass arrival of masons from countries with social and political instability, stone
construction spread even faster.
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Studying the societies engaged with jobs related to stone, we came upon an interesting
ethnoarchaeological example, a method of quarrying (Elounda whetstone) by heating
the rocks with fire. In the area of Elounda whetstones are found in successive layers
between hard limestone. Although many ethnoarchaeological researches have been
carried out throughout the world regarding the use of fire in the quarrying of flint, the
method of whetstone quarrying was not known. Through research and observation it
was found that the quarrymen, who believe that this technique yields better product
with less but systematic work, were right.
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