PIRATalES

The proposed research project aims at a diachronic study of pirate tales (hereafter, piratales) from Greece, starting from the earliest recorded pirate acts and extending to piracy of the present century. Piratales refers to records drawn from a range of source materials (e.g. inscriptions, archives, oral testimonies) capable of furnishing a better understanding of piracy as a socio-political, economic and culture phenomenon. The PIRATalES project represents a new phase of the APPirA project (2021-2024), which was funded by the H.F.R.I. and hosted by the University of Athens. APPirA revealed two important facts, which inspire and largely shape the current research proposal: (1) Despite differences per period and per region, diachronic features to piracy present themselves, not only with respect to a piratical modus operandi and locations where pirate activity occurred but also with respect to the wider cultural consciousness of piracy as a phenomenon. (2) Pirate activity does, in fact, generate a strong archaeological signature, although the detection of this signature requires significantly innovative methodologies. Accordingly, PIRATalES seeks to systematize an archaeological approach to piracy. For purposes of this, we will elicit piratales from across a broad spectrum of piratical activity in Greece by identifying commonalities and anomalies that occur in three distinct spheres: (1) the pirates’ modus operandi and regions of operational activity, (2) examples of wider cultural perceptions of piracy and (3) an investigation of the material culture of piracy. As a subfield of archaeology, the archaeology of piracy poses significant challenges such as identifying remains that genuinely pertain to piracy. Our research holds the potential to reveal diachronic patterns to the phenomenon, as well as the dynamic underpinnings that enable piracy to regenerate across time and space, offering a watershed contribution to the archaeology of piracy.