Ritualized Technologies in the Aegean Neolithic? The Crafts of Adornment (original) (raw)
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Metal “Ring Idols”: a Material Approach to Metalworking in the Aegean Neolithic
Sympozjum Egejskie, vol. 4: Papers in Aegean Archaeology, 2023
The “ring idol” is a type of adornment produced from the sixth millennium onwards in the Aegean and the Balkans. While the first productions are made of stone, those from the end of the Neolithic, between the fifth and fourth millennia, are mostly of gold, copper and silver. These objects have a characteristic morphology, with a concave ring and a pierced extension. In the first deposits of metallic objects found in Aegean Neolithic layers, the discovery of “ring idols” is recurrent. Some seem to have been hammered, others possibly cast. This can be observed by traces on their surface. The metal was also perforated to permit suspension, and polished. Some traces have been erased by polishing; therefore, we do not have enough information on the techniques and tools used in these cases. To fill current gaps in knowledge, I collaborated with a blacksmith and cutler to apply experimental archaeology approaches to reconstruct the manufacturing process. Cold and hot hammering, casting, polishing and perforation have been tested. Stone tools were used, consisting mostly of hammers and abrasive stones. As a result, the experimental “ring idols” made of copper bear traces that can be compared with those on the archaeological artefacts.
Stone axes have received a lot of attention in northern European Neolithic studies, with work on raw material sourcing, production, use, exchange, deposition and symbolism. By comparison, and with a few important exceptions, stone axe studies in the prehistoric Aegean have been more limited in scale and scope focusing mainly on typological and techno-morphological issues. This paper uses the evidence from the Late Neolithic site of Makriyalos to explore the technological and social significance of axes and related edge tools in Northern Greece. Linking raw material characterization to a critical characterization of the chaînes opératoires of the Makriyalos edge tools reveals that these were far from mundane artefacts. In fact, they were the result of complex choices, informed by cultural understandings of appropriateness, which conditioned the selection of stone, the manner of use and the character of deposition.
In the Near East obsidian is of particular interest to archaeologists because it is an exotic material and best known for is use in tool manufacture, but it is also occasionally used to make items of personal adornment. Some of these items are very highly finished, while others appear much more rudimentary though it is by no means obvious why this should be. Here we will review such artefacts at two contemporary late Neolithic communities, Domuztepe in SE Anatolia and Tell Arpachiyah in northern Iraq. Both have seemingly unusually high numbers of such objects as well as evidence for obsidian tool production on site. At Domuztepe some objects are highly finished while others appear much more ad hoc. At Arpachiyah on the other hand, the objects appear very similar to each other so as to seem standardised or at least the product of a single workshop. Our main aim in this paper is to try to unravel the evidence needed to determine whether they were produced on site, or whether they were acquired as finished objects (or both).
Self-adorned in Neolithic Greece: A biographical synopsis
Self-adorned in Neolithic Greece: A biographical synopsis. In Beauty and the Eye of the Beholder: Personal Adornments across the Millennia (ed. M. Mărgărit & A. Boroneanț). Târgoviște: Cetatea de Scaun, 2020
In this article a panoramic view of the production and use of personal adornment artifacts in Neolithic Greece is committed. Any synopsis of the practices of self-adornment in such a large time- span and space faces the problems emerging either from research bias and lacunae, or the intrinsic difficulties concerning the interpretation of objects that may have been connected into past bodies. An outline of the main characteristics of ornament production and distribution in Neolithic Greece is followed by a focused view on a selection of some of the biographical fragments of the self-adornment practices in Neolithic Greece.
Journal of Field Archaeology, 2023
This paper examines, in parallel, two key archaeological material groups: the kilns and the ceramics from the exceptional tell site of Imvrou Pigadi, the first known and systematically excavated MiddleNeolithic pottery workshop in Thessaly. The study forms an all-encompassing, material-based, and scientifically integrated framework based on macroscopic and microscopic analyses, including typological classification and geoarchaeology with an emphasis on micromorphology, as well as an examination of spatial organization. Direct and indirect evidence for standardization and specialization in technology and production practices points to advanced pyrotechnological knowledge and expertise in pottery manufacture at the site. Moreover, the paper examines the social interplay developed around pottery production by discussing cooperation and the organization of social space within the community. Overall, this analysis touches upon the discussion of the wider community of pottery manufacturing centers in Neolithic Thessaly and places the site within its cultural context, offering new insights into craftsmanship and social reciprocity. You can DOWNLOAD the paper for FREE in the link below: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DN6ANQ99EMXEIKMSZUBM/full?target=10.1080/00934690.2023.2243692