‘Small things remembered’: the under-theorized domestic material culture of Hellenistic Greece

This paper argues that the material culture of hellenistic Greece, particularly the domestic, small-scale material culture of ‘Old Greece’ (the Greek homeland), is urgent need of being viewed synoptically by archaeologists and historians in the light of developments in material culture theory that are being applied to other periods and places. Where the archaeological evidence permits, artefacts should be interpreted in the context of the assemblages of which they form part, in order to begin to understand the value and meaning they held for those who used them. Imaginative reconstruction, such as that attempted by Deetz, may also be of value.