Monica Palmero Fernandez | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Monica Palmero Fernandez

What is a goddess? Is it (she?) a woman? Does it share the same attributes as women? Is the term ... more What is a goddess? Is it (she?) a woman? Does it share the same attributes as women? Is the term " goddess " (and " god ") even appropriate to designate a broad spectrum of divine entities in ancient Mesopotamia that are anchored in natural phenomena? Finally, how may we approach and interpret the material remains associated with them? This paper will attempt to elucidate some theoretical and methodological issues associated with the archaeology of religion that have risen in the course of my doctoral research. Traditional historical approaches to the study of religion in ancient Mesopotamia have focused on reconstructing a genealogy of deities based on the works of a literate elite, with the aid of iconographic studies to reconstruct the visual character of the gods. However, the basic concept of what a " goddess " is has rarely been the subject of discussion, thus generally understood as the counterpart of the male term " god ". As such, they are wives, daughters, mothers, spinsters even. But, is such a circumscribed interpretation of the roles and representations of these divine entities warranted, in particular for the proto-and early literate periods? The traditional approaches emphasise the visual imagery of divinity from an anthropocentric perspective, and do not inform us about how the individuals negotiated their beliefs in a reality construed of material things and immaterial ideas. In contrast, recent theoretical and methodological approaches in archaeology have pushed forward the notion of materiality, which addresses objects as they are implicated in the construction of social identities, as well as how object worlds shape human experience. This bottom-up approach focuses on understanding the social experience of religion and stems from the understanding that: 1) artefacts have agency; 2) they can fulfil multiple purposes; 3) sociocultural norms mediate sensual perception of reality, not universalist aesthetic values. Another, complementary approach, is offered by the feminist theory of intersectionality, which challenges the universality of the term " woman " and instead aims to unpack the complex relationships between categories such as gender, status and age, as well as highlight the performativity of gender. By combining these two approaches, it may be possible to reconstruct a more complex belief system that incorporates a scale of divinity, ranging from the main anthropomorphic deities and the variety of phenomena they represent, to holy cultic objects or even humans. This paper is part of a broader project to assess the conceptualisation of goddesses in the early historic periods of ancient Mesopotamia, for which textual sources are limited and difficult to understand. By cross-referencing archaeological and textual material, it is possible to tap into questions on the establishment of centralised belief systems with associated cultic practices that do not depend heavily on comparative analysis with later material.

This paper will provide an update on my ongoing doctoral research on the development of the figur... more This paper will provide an update on my ongoing doctoral research on the development of the figure of Inanna/Ishtar with specific focus on gender aspects of her figure, the temples dedicated to her and their associated rituals, and her role in socio-political development during the 3 rd millennium B.C. (Late Uruk to beginning of the Old Babylonian period). The presentation will focus on the site of Mari, where a variety of temples from this period have been uncovered and excavated in the past, with their remains mainly dating to the Early Dynastic period before a destruction level that coincided with the end of EDIIIb (end of " Ville 2 " , dated to around 2100 B.C. or ECM 6/ESM 6 in the new ARCANE periodization table). The main focus will be on recontextualising the objects that were found in the INANNA.NITA temple, one of the temples that I am investigating as a case study. Of particular interest as a case study is the seeming male aspect of the deity in this specific temple, as expressed in the name. For the purposes of this presentation, I will further focus on the evidence of anthropomorphic dedicatory statues and figurines from this temple and compare the evidence with that from other temples around the town (in particular the temple dedicated to INANA.ZA.ZA, but also those of Ištarat, Ninḫursaĝ, Šamaš and Dagān). The aim will be to establish any trends in the gender associated with the devotees and the gender associated with the deity. In order to analyse the results, an intersectional framework will be adopted to allow for distinctions across the socioeconomic parameters of the devotees alongside the relative position of the deity in the local and regional pantheon and their relationship to institutionalised cult (that is, cult with the support of the Palace). The link between the figure of Inanna and the office of kingship is expected to produce specific results that correlate with her/his position as a cross-regional deity. Finally, some preliminary conclusions about the role of the relationship between religion and power in the production of gender norms in ancient Mesopotamia will be discussed.

This paper will discuss the application of new analytic frames to the study of textual and iconog... more This paper will discuss the application of new analytic frames to the study of textual and iconographic material associated with cult in the Early Dynastic period, based on theories of materiality, embodiment and intersectionality. The focus will be on recontextualising textual evidence and artefacts alongside the renegotiation of space (i.e. architectural changes) in order to reconstruct religious experience at the temple and how it may inform our understanding of social and cultural development. The " Shara " temple at Tell Agrab will be analysed as a case study. Traditional historical approaches to the study of religion have focused on literate societies. Texts and visual imagery are used to reconstruct a genealogical concept of religion, describing a hierarchical system of deities, their attributes, and how they developed over time. This normative reconstruction of belief systems does not inform about how individuals negotiated those beliefs in a reality construed of material things. In contrast, recent theoretical and methodological approaches in archaeology have pushed forward the notion of materiality, which addresses objects as they are implicated in the construction of social identities, as well as how object worlds shape human experience. This approach may help enrich our 'image' (i.e. reconstruction) of religious experience in the past. This bottom-up approach focuses on understanding the social experience of religion and stems from the understanding that: 1) artefacts have agency; 2) they can fulfil multiple purposes; 3) sociocultural norms mediate sensual perception of reality, not universalist aesthetic values. The material remains from the " Shara " temple at Tell Agrab have recently been reassessed by Jean (2012) and Dittman (2014), and this study will build on the revised evidence from the site. The temple was uncovered in the 1930s by the Oriental Insitute's Iraq Expedition in the Diyala Region. The Oriental Institue's publications are still one of the main sources of information on Early Dynastic architecture and material culture associated with religion. However, they present a series of issues that are in need of reassessment: 1) publications were structured within an art historical framework that dissociated artefacts from the archaeological contexts in which they were found and imposed modern sociocultural norms about art, such as symmetry or realistic rendering, onto the material; 2) the final reports on the excavations focused on the description of architectural features and, although the authors describe findspots in some detail, little is devoted to interpreting deposition patterns and reconstructing the life cycles of artefacts and internal features of buildings such as the altars or the so-called " offering tables; " and 3) in the publication, certain artefacts were relegated to a secondary status based on modern concepts of value.

A presentation and open discussion on the theme of "Contested Pasts" led by Roger Matthews, Mónic... more A presentation and open discussion on the theme of "Contested Pasts" led by Roger Matthews, Mónica Palmero Fernández, Nick Harper, Mitch Miranda and Ben Camp. Part of the the Archaeology Research Seminar Series at the University of Reading. Presented on 10 December 2014.

Workshop presentation, ‘Defining the sacred: approaches to the archaeology of religion in the Nea... more Workshop presentation, ‘Defining the sacred: approaches to the archaeology of religion in the Near East.’ 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (8th ICAANE), Warsaw, Poland

Doors have a long established tradition in the symbolic realm of Mesopotamian society. The extraordinary examples recovered from the Neo-Assyrian site of Balawat in northern Iraq provide the perfect canvas for an interdisciplinary investigation on experience and visibility in Mesopotamian studies. Three analytical approaches are brought together: philological, art historian, and archaeological – with special attention to architecture and the built environment. Contemporary theoretical approaches are also investigated, such as the analysis of space and the experience of space. The third set of doors was found in a temple context by a team of archaeologists in the 1950s, and provides a wealth of information on the religious and architectural context of doors. Coupled with comparative information recovered from other Neo-Assyrian sites, we can attempt to reconstruct the religious experience of the doors and the space in which they were set. Theories of spatial experience, religious architecture, and other contemporary approaches to the experience of the religious space, will be discussed and the data tentatively interpreted accordingly. Contemporary Neo-Assyrian texts illuminating aspects of religiosity will also be taken into account when relevant to the discussion. The aim is to explore interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to the study of religiosity in ancient near eastern studies.

Papers on Near Eastern Archaeology by Monica Palmero Fernandez

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2019

Against the backdrop of the destruction of Iraqi heritage over the past quarter of a century, thi... more Against the backdrop of the destruction of Iraqi heritage over the past quarter of a century, this article critically reviews key aspects of the current state of Iraq’s cultural heritage, including damage to heritage buildings caused by Daesh in Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul. We bring together Iraqi and non-Iraqi expertise in heritage, archaeology, and human rights law to frame our approach, building on the movement to link cultural diversity, heritage, and cultural rights. We emphasise the need for planning to enhance protection of Iraq’s heritage, in particular through the preparation of inventories, the provision of resources for heritage education in schools and the development of Iraq’s museum sector. Iraq’s presence on the UNESCO World Heritage Lists needs to be enhanced, and the issues of illicit site looting and traffic in looted antiquities must be addressed within international contexts. Iraq’s future accession as State Party to the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention is a priority in achieving these goals. The paper stresses the need for co-creation of heritage knowledge and a gender-sensitive human rights approach for the future of Iraq’s globally significant cultural heritage.

Papers by Monica Palmero Fernandez

The dataset consists of digitised copies of original Kodachrome diapositives taken during the 198... more The dataset consists of digitised copies of original Kodachrome diapositives taken during the 1988 and 1989 seasons of excavation at the site of Jemdet Nasr, located in southern Iraq (32.717°N 44.779°E). The excavation was carried out in 1988 and 1989 under the direction of Roger J. Matthews. The excavation was funded by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, of which Matthews was the director at the time. The diapositives include stills of fieldwork activity, archaeological features, objects in situ and after processing in the on-site laboratory, as well as images of local individuals building a traditional reed house and stills of sealing impressions taken by Matthews at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad (mainly dating to the 4th millennium BC). Due to the onset of the Gulf War in 1990, excavations were halted permanently and only preliminary reports were published of the two seasons. The purpose of the digitisation project is to allow for better integration of the material through o...

In 2019 RASHID International examined public spaces in Iraq and their role in the promotion and p... more In 2019 RASHID International examined public spaces in Iraq and their role in the promotion and protection of cultural rights. The report reiterates a key definition of ‘public space’ and analyzes public spaces in connection with their political role, their accessibility to women, families and disabled persons, cultural facilities as public spaces, as well as social media and the wider internet, the ‘virtual public space’.

Submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, it formed part of a study to inform the UN General Assembly in autumn 2019.

Internet Archaeology, 2020

This article presents a cost-effective method for digitising photographic film for archival purpo... more This article presents a cost-effective method for digitising photographic film for archival purposes using a DSLR camera, focussing on the widely used colour reversal Kodachrome film produced by Eastman Kodak between 1935 and 2009. It discusses the digitisation of an archive of 787 Kodachrome slides taken between 1988 and 1989 during the excavation of Jemdet Nasr, an archaeological site located in southern Iraq (Project website). Results obtained using a film scanner (Nikon Coolscan IV ED) are compared with two different scanning software solutions (SilverFast and VueScan), a flatbed scanner (HP Scanjet 8300), and two DSLR cameras with macro lens (a Canon EOS KissX3 with 105mm lens and a Canon EOS 80D with 90mm lens). The results demonstrate the cost-effective value of the DSLR method for archives where time and resources are limited, but where digital photography equipment might be readily available, such as an archaeological unit or a university department. The method allows for high quality, fast and economical digitisation of excavation and collection archives that will enhance research. The method also offers superior results in rendering the high dynamic range of photographic film such as Kodachrome.

Towards a human-rights approach to cultural heritage protection, 2019

Blog post for the AHRC project 'Heritage in Conflict' focusing on a human rights approach to the ... more Blog post for the AHRC project 'Heritage in Conflict' focusing on a human rights approach to the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage with the case of Iraq as illustrative of the potential for recognition of cultural heritage as a human right and its impact on issues concerning minority communities, gender and cultural diversity, humanitarian assistance, and sustainable development.

International Journal of Heritage Studies , 2020

Against the backdrop of the destruction of Iraqi heritage over the past quarter of a century, thi... more Against the backdrop of the destruction of Iraqi heritage over the past
quarter of a century, this article critically reviews key aspects of the
current state of Iraq’s cultural heritage, including damage to heritage
buildings caused by Daesh in Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul. We bring
together Iraqi and non-Iraqi expertise in heritage, archaeology, and
human rights law to frame our approach, building on the movement
to link cultural diversity, heritage, and cultural rights. We emphasise the
need for planning to enhance protection of Iraq’s heritage, in particular
through the preparation of inventories, the provision of resources for
heritage education in schools and the development of Iraq’s museum
sector. Iraq’s presence on the UNESCO World Heritage Lists needs to be
enhanced, and the issues of illicit site looting and traffic in looted
antiquities must be addressed within international contexts. Iraq’s future
accession as State Party to the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention is a priority in achieving these goals. The paper stresses the need for co-creation of heritage knowledge and a gender-sensitive human rights approach for the future of Iraq’s globally significant cultural heritage.

Thesis Chapters by Monica Palmero Fernandez

The goddess Inanna/Aštar is usually described as the goddess of love and war, as well as the morn... more The goddess Inanna/Aštar is usually described as the goddess of love and war, as well as the morning and evening stars (i.e. the planet Venus). Thorkild Jacobsen famously described Sumerian Inanna as being “truly all woman and of infinite variety.” She is also associated (together with the god An) with the city of Uruk, where she is described as the patron goddess of the Eanna religious precinct from prehistoric times. The interpretation of the deity is intrinsically linked with literary compositions from the Old Babylonian period, such as Inanna’s Descent, or Iddin-Dagān A hymn. However, the evocative power of such texts tends to overshadow the analysis of the evidence that exists for the cult of the deity beyond the literary character and obscures the critical investigation of the invention of traditions as legitimising practices that can build social cohesion as well as create inequality. It is within the context of the shaping of elite identity and the onset of dynastic kingship towards the end of the Early Dynastic period that this dissertation explores, from a gender perspective, the construction of the identity and image of the goddess Inanna/Aštar. On the basis of the recontextualisation of archaeological evidence from three case studies (Mari, Aššur and Khafajah) and the analysis of commemorative practices and associated epigraphic material, this dissertation will demonstrate that, from an archaeological and textual perspective, the existing evidence does not support beyond reasonable doubt that Inanna/Aštar was worshipped in Uruk or elsewhere from prehistoric times. Instead, the flourishing of temple architecture during the Early Dynastic period suggests that such practices were the result of conscious efforts to circumscribe sacred authority in order to utilise it as a tool to reorganise social logic and eventually concentrate secular power in the figure of a male ruler. Gender dynamics are examined in order to better understand the roles that male and female individuals played within the temples dedicated to the goddess, and how said dynamics and associated ritual practices co-constructed the image and identity of the goddess in relation with the construction of the image of the king.

Drafts by Monica Palmero Fernandez

This factsheet accompanies RASHID International's submission to the Universal Periodic Review pro... more This factsheet accompanies RASHID International's submission to the Universal Periodic Review process in 2019.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3871824

It was prepared as part of RASHID International's participation in the UPRinfo Pre-Sessions as a factsheet to disseminate the content of our report and recommendations.

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2019

Submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, it formed part of a study to inform the UN General Assembly in autumn 2019.

Internet Archaeology, 2020

Towards a human-rights approach to cultural heritage protection, 2019

International Journal of Heritage Studies , 2020

Against the backdrop of the destruction of Iraqi heritage over the past quarter of a century, thi... more Against the backdrop of the destruction of Iraqi heritage over the past
quarter of a century, this article critically reviews key aspects of the
current state of Iraq’s cultural heritage, including damage to heritage
buildings caused by Daesh in Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul. We bring
together Iraqi and non-Iraqi expertise in heritage, archaeology, and
human rights law to frame our approach, building on the movement
to link cultural diversity, heritage, and cultural rights. We emphasise the
need for planning to enhance protection of Iraq’s heritage, in particular
through the preparation of inventories, the provision of resources for
heritage education in schools and the development of Iraq’s museum
sector. Iraq’s presence on the UNESCO World Heritage Lists needs to be
enhanced, and the issues of illicit site looting and traffic in looted
antiquities must be addressed within international contexts. Iraq’s future
accession as State Party to the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention is a priority in achieving these goals. The paper stresses the need for co-creation of heritage knowledge and a gender-sensitive human rights approach for the future of Iraq’s globally significant cultural heritage.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3871824

It was prepared as part of RASHID International's participation in the UPRinfo Pre-Sessions as a factsheet to disseminate the content of our report and recommendations.