"Memories for Life: Materiality and Memory of Ancient Near Eastern inscribed private objects" (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Votives Project, 2020
The Memories for Life project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, was initiated in 2017 to study the hundreds of objects dedicated by non-royal individuals to the divine in the ancient Near East. These objects, inscribed in the cuneiform script in the Akkadian and Sumerian languages, inform us about worship practices and dedicatory traditions spanning almost three millennia, from c. 2900BCE to 100BCE. In this article for The Votives Project, the project team tells us about some of the project’s aims, as well as the techniques and methodologies that are being used to study this fascinating corpus of inscribed votive objects. The team of the Memories for Life project includes: PI Jakob Andersson (Uppsala); Joint PI Christina Tsouparopoulou (Cambridge); Postdoctoral research associates: Nancy Highcock (Cambridge), Rune Rattenborg (Uppsala), Seraina Nett (Uppsala); research assistants: Silvia Ferreri (Cambridge), Philippa Browne (Cambridge), Nils Melin Kronsell (Uppsala) and Russell Clark (Cambridge).
Composite artefacts are by their nature a different way of interacting with the world, and an interface between the material sphere where raw materials are physically transformed and assembled, and the cognitive sphere where different areas of the brain are involved in performing hierarchical constructive actions (attention, memory, and imagination). They, in fact, possess a transformative agency in relation to their creation and use. In the ANE, the evidence for the widespread use of multi-component objects (statuary and small artefacts, jewelry, vases, furniture pieces, etc.) is undisputable. This workshop is a first occasion to reflect on composite objects as aggregates of associations and relationships. They can be interpreted as: 1) nodes in a web of connections between creativity, mental planning, and making, in this way permitting to explore the complexity of their manufacture (from the choise and availability of materials to the assemblage of contrasting material properties and colours); 2) the sum of fragments serving for the whole (each element possessing a singular material nature, unique origin and context); 3) 'indexes' items, offering a means to enchain relations between peoples, things and places; 4) 'ecological' objects, subject to an extended phase of use, as well as repair and recycling and because changes in environments can act by inviting novel interactions with new materials and technologies.
This paper argues that mortuary practices can be understood as 'techno-logies of remembrance'. The frequent discovery of combs in early medieval cremation burials can be explained by their mnemonic significance in the post-cremation rite. Combs (and other objects used to maintain the body's surface in life) served to articulate the reconstruction of the deceased's personhood in death through strategies of remembering and forgetting. This interpretation suggests new perspectives on the relationships between death, material culture and social memory in early medieval Europe. How was the past perceived and created in early medieval Europe? Recent studies have discussed the dual roles of literacy and orality as ways by which the past was produced, reproduced and sometimes invented. Early medieval memory can be regarded as a social and ideological , rather than psychological, phenomenon. A wide range of studies have explored the roles and interactions between literacy and oral tradition in actively selecting and transforming the past in the light of contemporary socio-political needs. In this way, it is argued that the political structures, world-views and identities of kingdoms and communities were negotiated through the making and remaking of social memory. 1 Yet words (spoken or written) are only one means by which the past can be communicated, negotiated and contested. Social memory can be communicated through commemorative ceremonies and bodily
Memory is a constructed system of references, in equilibrium, of feeling and rationality. Comparing ancient and contemporary mechanisms for the preservation of memories and the building of a common cultural, political and social memory, this volume aims to reveal the nature of memory, and explores the attitudes of ancient societies towards the creation of a memory to be handed down in words, pictures, and mental constructs. Since the multiple natures of memory involve every human activity, physical and intellectual, this volume promotes analyses and considerations about memory by focusing on various different cultural activities and productions of ancient Near Eastern societies, from artistic and visual documents to epigraphic evidence, and by considering archaeological data. The chapters of this volume analyse the value and function of memory within the ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian societies, combining archaeological, textual and iconographical evidence following a progression from the analysis of the creation and preservation of both single and multiple memories, to the material culture (things and objects) that shed light on the impact of memory on individuals and community.
This paper is now published (go to my papers for a pdf) but a pdf version of the text and a copy of the powerpoint are attached. How was it made? What was it used for? Why does it look like that now? How do we know? These, along with many other questions, are common in archaeology and museums alike but in order to answer them, we have to keep thinking of new techniques. Framing good specific questions, having an understanding of what science can and cannot do, working collaboratively, developing a reasonably robust data-set, publishing the results promptly and maximising the knowledge through effective dissemination are critical to good research. This paper looks at exhibition-driven research on a wide range of objects, both within the British Museum collections and on temporary loan from abroad, and reveal how this has thrown new light on evidence for polychromy, manufacturing techniques and function of different classes of object from ancient Mesopotamia, Iran and Afghanistan.
2020
Archaeological archives take up a significant amount of shelf space in any archaeological depot or museum, yet these are rarely presented as primary storytelling tools. As the public image of archaeology is still largely defined by the physical remains of sites and the finds that are associated with them, these are also often the focus of archaeological publications and displays, confining the purview of archaeological documentation to behind-the-scenes research. However, these records do not just illustrate an object, feature or site, they connect the past to the present as narratives of human interpretation and changes in archaeological and museological practice. In this paper, I draw from four brief case studies from my own research, each pertaining to different aspects of collection interpretation, display, and engagement. These practical examples highlight the importance of integrating documentary and material collections in research and outreach spaces. This integration helps ...
Reclaiming the past: Using old artefacts as a means of Remembering
Interarchaeologia, 3. Papers from the Third Theoretical Seminar of the Baltic Archaeologists (BASE) held at the University of Latvia, Latvia, October 5-6, 2007. Memory, Society and Material Culture. A. Šnē & A. Vasks (eds.) Rīga – Helsinki – Tartu – Vilnius. , 2009
This paper provides an overview of the occasional ancient artefacts from Iron Age burials in Finland. These artefacts, which are often much older than the grave itself, have sometimes been interpreted as the remains of an older settlement or burial layers, but the question of deliberate deposition should be taken into consideration, too. Old monuments and landscapes are appreciated not only for their ritual but also for their commemorative role. Ancient burial mounds and abandoned houses were re-used, especially during the Viking Age, in both Scandinavia and the British Isles. The choice of burial location seems thus to be connected to the selective remembering or forgetting of the past. Burials are sometimes also manipulated in other ways; certain artefacts might either be removed from or deposited into the grave. In this paper, I will suggest that portable artefacts could play an important part in the construction of social memory. Especially weapons could accrue new meanings and mnemonic values through their recycling. They could become heirlooms or objects of memory that played a public role in society.