Kristian A L E X Larsen (original) (raw)
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Drafts by Kristian A L E X Larsen
Bachelor Project, 2018
The state of Urartu existed for more than 200 years from the second half of the 9th century BC, a... more The state of Urartu existed for more than 200 years from the second half of the 9th century BC, and is known for its numerous mountain fortresses. What was the social and political significance of these fortresses? The aim of this project is to describe, evaluate and discuss data and hypotheses about Urartian fortresses in order to give answers to this question. My analysis is based on the Structuration Theory of Anthony Giddens and the Landscape Archaeology of in particularly Paul Zimansky, Tiffany Celena Earley-Spadoni and Adam Smith focusing on how powerful and common people interacted in time-space.
The construction of fortresses began in the Late Bronze Age, and accelerated during the Urartian period. A typical fortress is characterised by one or more buildings, one or more massive defensive walls, is situated on a hill-top and built with rock-blocks. Fortresses were adapted to the mountainous environment, strategically connected to vital spaces and connected by intervisibility making large distance communication possible.
Urartian period fortresses had a distinctive style, and incorporated administrative and religious functions. Decisions concerning land use, production and people were taken in and executed from the fortresses. They constituted nodes in a network of power, formed the backbone of the federal relations between the king and the local leaders, and protected the Haldi-cult that bound local leaders and the king together. Common people and peripheral elites have probably experienced this system as burdensome and endangering traditional values and positions, and their resistance may have put local leaders in a difficult position of loyalty conflict. Such contradictions were in the 7th century countered by a costly program of building royal strongholds, but this may in turn have upset the internal power balance leading to the eventual collapse of the Urartian state.
Thesis Chapters by Kristian A L E X Larsen
This thesis analyzes imagery in connection with objects brought home by the Danish archaeological... more This thesis analyzes imagery in connection with objects brought home by the Danish archaeological expedition to Luristan, Iran in 1963-64 based on the question: How can connections in the images help to understand them? The items consist of approx. 3000 year old figurines and rings. The purpose of the thesis is that it may contribute to understanding the visual world that is expressed in the objects, and serve to test agential realism of Karen Barad as an archaeological approach. The 21 selected objects consist of figurines, a number of rings for various purposes and in addition a mug, a libation bowl set and a pseudo-axe. Although the objects typically do not have an actual archaeological context and may be several centuries apart, they have many common features. The figurines fall clearly into two groups, which point to different practices and perhaps also origins. The metal objects also have many figurations in common. Together, the objects seem to express a world of landscapes, physical and spiritual beings and a cosmology of creative elements in a movement between order and chaos.
Papers by Kristian A L E X Larsen
Adoranten, 2023
In the Eastern Taurus Mountains of South-Eastern Turkey are found several petroglyph fields. One ... more In the Eastern Taurus Mountains of South-Eastern Turkey are found several petroglyph fields. One of them is in the plain of Tirsin almost 3000 meters above sea-level. Expeditions led by Muvaffak Uyanik in the late sixties disclosed the petroglyphs and they were published a few years later. Since then, no extensive research has been done in the area. The petroglyphs are organised in scenes, and exhibits a variety of animals and anthropomorphic figures. None of them has been successfully dated. One of the petroglyph scenes is analysed by using the approach of agential realism. This approach focuses on the totality of the petroglyph scene and makes productive use of minute details, that might otherwise be deemed insignificant. The analysis reveals a composition of three extraordinary animals gazing at what seems to be a human. Underneath, two ordinary goats are mirroring each other; one ascends and one descends, the latter appears to have killed the human. It is suggested that the scene is about powerful kings or gods confronting a human, who is transgressing the boundaries of a sacred territory. A number of sub-variants of the hypothesis are formulated and offered in order to be used for further research. ISSN: 0349-8808
Chronolog, 2023
Four brown-black hand-sized clay figurines from Kazabad, Iran call for attention because of their... more Four brown-black hand-sized clay figurines from Kazabad, Iran call for attention because of their imagery, colour and surface and because they do not seem to have any close morphological parallels. As they were obtained from locals during an archaeological expedition in 1963-64, they are not associated with a stratigraphic context. However, by using the “New Materialist”approach“agential realism”of Karen Barad, alternative opportunities of interpretation come out. By following small details using all relevant senses, significant similarities and differences are revealed. Instead of letting a basic theory direct the analysis, Karen Barad advises to think through different connections and scales. This leads to narratives and possible relations, which can be tested as hypotheses. The analyses suggest that the design and handling of the figurines followed certain practices, and that they may connect to a Mesopotamian as well as an Indo-Iranian past. Agential realism gives justice to concrete findings rather than subsuming them under categories, and it allows the marvel of engaging with the past through tangible things.
Conference Presentations by Kristian A L E X Larsen
13th ICAANE, 2023
Two light coloured animal figurines are interpreted by using the new materialist approach of Agen... more Two light coloured animal figurines are interpreted by using the new materialist approach of Agential Realism. Significant similarities and differences come to the fore when the fine details of the figurines are followed. This leads to suggestions about belonging and embeddedness in the land which can be tested as hypotheses. Method Following the new-materialist "Agential Realism" of Karen Barad, understandings must rely on locally present data rather than on preconceived typologies. Therefore, this research follows the fine details using the senses to reveal significant similarities and differences. Holding, feeling, turning, listening and viewing are employed and assisted by measurement, calculation and imagination. According to Barad, any engagement and reasoning will always constitute "an agential cut" which makes some understandings more possible and others less. Answers are not definite, but can be used as hypotheses for further studies.
Books by Kristian A L E X Larsen
Avesta, 2023
This book offers a guide to the sights of Amedi and an overview of its history. The Kurdish town ... more This book offers a guide to the sights of Amedi and an overview of its history. The Kurdish town of Amedi in Northern Iraq is located 'in the sky' on the top of a flat mountain. From here there is a breathtaking view over the great Sapna Valley as well as over thousands of years of history. A number of sites like the Parthian Rock Pictures, the Medrese, the Grand Mosque and the Mosul Gate tell amazing stories about the town and about Kurdistan as well. Too many war makers have haunted the people of Amedi, but despite of this, a deep-rooted spirit of peaceful coexistence lives on. Amedi is inscribed on the Iraqi tentative UNESCO List.
Bachelor Project, 2018
The state of Urartu existed for more than 200 years from the second half of the 9th century BC, a... more The state of Urartu existed for more than 200 years from the second half of the 9th century BC, and is known for its numerous mountain fortresses. What was the social and political significance of these fortresses? The aim of this project is to describe, evaluate and discuss data and hypotheses about Urartian fortresses in order to give answers to this question. My analysis is based on the Structuration Theory of Anthony Giddens and the Landscape Archaeology of in particularly Paul Zimansky, Tiffany Celena Earley-Spadoni and Adam Smith focusing on how powerful and common people interacted in time-space.
The construction of fortresses began in the Late Bronze Age, and accelerated during the Urartian period. A typical fortress is characterised by one or more buildings, one or more massive defensive walls, is situated on a hill-top and built with rock-blocks. Fortresses were adapted to the mountainous environment, strategically connected to vital spaces and connected by intervisibility making large distance communication possible.
Urartian period fortresses had a distinctive style, and incorporated administrative and religious functions. Decisions concerning land use, production and people were taken in and executed from the fortresses. They constituted nodes in a network of power, formed the backbone of the federal relations between the king and the local leaders, and protected the Haldi-cult that bound local leaders and the king together. Common people and peripheral elites have probably experienced this system as burdensome and endangering traditional values and positions, and their resistance may have put local leaders in a difficult position of loyalty conflict. Such contradictions were in the 7th century countered by a costly program of building royal strongholds, but this may in turn have upset the internal power balance leading to the eventual collapse of the Urartian state.
This thesis analyzes imagery in connection with objects brought home by the Danish archaeological... more This thesis analyzes imagery in connection with objects brought home by the Danish archaeological expedition to Luristan, Iran in 1963-64 based on the question: How can connections in the images help to understand them? The items consist of approx. 3000 year old figurines and rings. The purpose of the thesis is that it may contribute to understanding the visual world that is expressed in the objects, and serve to test agential realism of Karen Barad as an archaeological approach. The 21 selected objects consist of figurines, a number of rings for various purposes and in addition a mug, a libation bowl set and a pseudo-axe. Although the objects typically do not have an actual archaeological context and may be several centuries apart, they have many common features. The figurines fall clearly into two groups, which point to different practices and perhaps also origins. The metal objects also have many figurations in common. Together, the objects seem to express a world of landscapes, physical and spiritual beings and a cosmology of creative elements in a movement between order and chaos.
Adoranten, 2023
In the Eastern Taurus Mountains of South-Eastern Turkey are found several petroglyph fields. One ... more In the Eastern Taurus Mountains of South-Eastern Turkey are found several petroglyph fields. One of them is in the plain of Tirsin almost 3000 meters above sea-level. Expeditions led by Muvaffak Uyanik in the late sixties disclosed the petroglyphs and they were published a few years later. Since then, no extensive research has been done in the area. The petroglyphs are organised in scenes, and exhibits a variety of animals and anthropomorphic figures. None of them has been successfully dated. One of the petroglyph scenes is analysed by using the approach of agential realism. This approach focuses on the totality of the petroglyph scene and makes productive use of minute details, that might otherwise be deemed insignificant. The analysis reveals a composition of three extraordinary animals gazing at what seems to be a human. Underneath, two ordinary goats are mirroring each other; one ascends and one descends, the latter appears to have killed the human. It is suggested that the scene is about powerful kings or gods confronting a human, who is transgressing the boundaries of a sacred territory. A number of sub-variants of the hypothesis are formulated and offered in order to be used for further research. ISSN: 0349-8808
Chronolog, 2023
Four brown-black hand-sized clay figurines from Kazabad, Iran call for attention because of their... more Four brown-black hand-sized clay figurines from Kazabad, Iran call for attention because of their imagery, colour and surface and because they do not seem to have any close morphological parallels. As they were obtained from locals during an archaeological expedition in 1963-64, they are not associated with a stratigraphic context. However, by using the “New Materialist”approach“agential realism”of Karen Barad, alternative opportunities of interpretation come out. By following small details using all relevant senses, significant similarities and differences are revealed. Instead of letting a basic theory direct the analysis, Karen Barad advises to think through different connections and scales. This leads to narratives and possible relations, which can be tested as hypotheses. The analyses suggest that the design and handling of the figurines followed certain practices, and that they may connect to a Mesopotamian as well as an Indo-Iranian past. Agential realism gives justice to concrete findings rather than subsuming them under categories, and it allows the marvel of engaging with the past through tangible things.
13th ICAANE, 2023
Two light coloured animal figurines are interpreted by using the new materialist approach of Agen... more Two light coloured animal figurines are interpreted by using the new materialist approach of Agential Realism. Significant similarities and differences come to the fore when the fine details of the figurines are followed. This leads to suggestions about belonging and embeddedness in the land which can be tested as hypotheses. Method Following the new-materialist "Agential Realism" of Karen Barad, understandings must rely on locally present data rather than on preconceived typologies. Therefore, this research follows the fine details using the senses to reveal significant similarities and differences. Holding, feeling, turning, listening and viewing are employed and assisted by measurement, calculation and imagination. According to Barad, any engagement and reasoning will always constitute "an agential cut" which makes some understandings more possible and others less. Answers are not definite, but can be used as hypotheses for further studies.
Avesta, 2023
This book offers a guide to the sights of Amedi and an overview of its history. The Kurdish town ... more This book offers a guide to the sights of Amedi and an overview of its history. The Kurdish town of Amedi in Northern Iraq is located 'in the sky' on the top of a flat mountain. From here there is a breathtaking view over the great Sapna Valley as well as over thousands of years of history. A number of sites like the Parthian Rock Pictures, the Medrese, the Grand Mosque and the Mosul Gate tell amazing stories about the town and about Kurdistan as well. Too many war makers have haunted the people of Amedi, but despite of this, a deep-rooted spirit of peaceful coexistence lives on. Amedi is inscribed on the Iraqi tentative UNESCO List.