The Sensoaesthetic Aspect of Ancient Materials, 1-2nd July, Exeter in collaboration with the Cyprus Institute (original) (raw)
Introduction to 'An Archaeology of Materials' 2011. Routledge.
An archaeology of materials poses a number of fundamental questions. For a start, what is a material? Does it have a discrete essence, or is it something more fluid and variable? Similarly do materials have a set of objectively measurable or experienced properties, or are their qualities relational, emerging in the process of very specific interactions? Is matter inert or animate? Moreover what is the relationship between materials and the forms of things that are made from them? In this book I will outline some of the ways that philosophers, scientists and social theorists have addressed these questions. Some of this thinking on materials, I will argue, works to restrict our interpretations of how materials worked in the past; others offer more radical possibilities for thinking through prehistoric materials
Artchaeology: a sensorial approach to the materiality of the past
2009
a sensorial approach to the materiality of the past UNARTE CARTE_ARTCHEOLOGY.indd 2-3 9/16/09 9:42:05 PM One of the specific characteristics of art is the performer's direct, sensorial contact with the shapes, textures, colors of materials, or with phenomena, in order to evoke an idea.
Handmade: An Archaeological Exploration of Materials and Making (syllabus, 2016)
This interactive, seminar course provides an introduction to the archaeology of materials and making. The course combines theoretical reflection with hands-on activities and a detailed examination of archaeological case studies. On a theoretical level, we will explore the conceptual terrain mapped out in recent years amidst a flurry of archaeological interest in things, objects, materials, materiality, sensory experience, and embodiment. On a practical level, we will engage directly with a series of materials – among them, clay, stone, wood, and bone – in order to develop an appreciation for the properties of these materials, the constraints that they impose, and the opportunities that they present, as well as the skills, techniques, and creative improvisations that enabled ancient people to transform them into objects of use and value. For each type of material, we will also examine a selection of archaeological, ethnoarchaeological, and ethnographic case studies in order to explore the challenges involved in dealing with archaeological evidence and to highlight cross-cultural similarities and differences. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a richer, embodied understanding of the archaeological record that draws directly on our own felt sense of materials and the process of making.
Materiality and Object Design and Function: Perspectives from Artefacts
Materiality in Roman Art and Architecture
The aesthetic qualities of materials used for artefacts have rarely been considered, and aesthetics in relation to the functionality of objects is especially neglected. The paper addresses these issues through an examination of a particular object category, vessels and containers, with a focus on three types of materials, namely glass, metal and organic materials. Firstly, definitions relating to aesthetics are discussed, followed by an overview of our knowledge of aesthetic cultural values in the Roman period. The paper then investigates evidence, principally from the surviving objects of the Early Roman period, but also drawing on written sources, that allows us to gain an understanding of the ways that these materials may have been aesthetically valued in contemporary culture. It finally considers the social functions of the aesthetic features of artefacts.
In search of the lost senses in archaeology: Experimental creations and sensory apprehensions
The Countless Aspects of Beauty, 2018
The present study focuses on the experience of contemporary creators and collaborating archaeologists, aiming to reinstate aspects of the ancient world through the reconstruction of garments, jewels, vases, perfumes, etc. The aim of the research was to delineate the relationship between the different senses and the creative process and their contribution to a multisensory approach to the ancient world that enriches contemporary aesthetic perception and the understanding of elusive aspects of antiquity.
RECREATING ARTEFACTS AND ANCIENT SKILLS: FROM EXPERIMENT TO INTERPRETATION
2022
This volume focuses on the role and means of archaeological experimentation in understanding the processes involved in the design, manufacture and use of past artefacts. We set out looking for contributions that would test existing theoretical hypotheses but also others that bring forth innovative approaches. When asking for contributions, we suggested the five stages of an experimental approach as main-themes: 1. Selection and acquisition of raw materials, identical to those present in the archaeological assemblages. 2. Production of replicas following the technological transformation schemes identified by the direct study of archaeological items. 3. Experimental use as indicated by the publications/ethnographic comparisons or as suggested by the morphology/use-wear evolution of the archaeological items. 4. Microscopical analysis of use-wear patterns. 5. Comparison of experimental data with archaeological data in order to validate the existing hypotheses on their manufacture and use by the human communities. A second aim was for the invited authors to come from various archaeological backgrounds and cover a broad spatial and temporal interval.
Substances: 'Following the material' through two prehistoric cases. co-author: Lynn Meskell
In this article, we argue for a multi-dimensional research strategy incorporating material, social and phenomenological analysis in the study of figurines and other human effigies. We call this approach 'following the material'. To illustrate, we examine two case studies: figurines from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük (Turkey) and human effigies from the Formative region of Moche (Peru). We look first at the material substances from which artifacts are made and the material contexts in which they were produced, circulated and deposited, before turning to analysis of the representation of the body. This enables us to see these objects as themselves bodiesnot merely imperfect replicas of actual humans, but material objects made of substances that afford particular kinds of interactions between fleshly and artifactual bodies. This focus on the materiality of artifacts reveals tight connections between objects in human form, material culture, environment, landscape, and political economy.
Material Culture Artefacts as Entangled Narratives with Reference to Roman Pottery.
2015
The research essay explores new scientific approaches in the study of the artefact as material culture and in particular the contemporary theory that the artefact embodies a narrative of itself, its time, and its society. There has been a progressive shift away from object-specific archaeology where attention tended to focus on sign values with which to identify and date cultures. Artefacts ranging from something as simple as a glass bead to a monumental architectural structure, are now considered to connect or become entangled with their cultural and historical environments beyond their obvious functional forms and usages. Such theorising requires a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach in research and interpretation. Reference will be made to pottery artefacts in Roman material culture to illustrate contemporary theories and methodologies . To put the contemporary theories and methodologies in perspective, the science of archaeology in its classical form as well as the related sciences which archaeology drew into its ambit, require some discussion. The artefact per se will be defined with commentary on how it fits into, and participates in the material culture of a society. The current literature in which authors argue in favour of the agency of the artefact to affect makers, owners and users, will be reviewed. In the final section of the essay, reference is made to Roman material culture to illustrate that the artefact can be ‘read’ as a narrative of entangled social, economic, ideological, and religious values and practises. Though Roman primary sources offer very limited insights into the aesthetic values assigned to pottery in material culture, this will nevertheless receive attention. The essay reflects academic arguments to support contemporary debate that artefacts, when considered only as archaeological objects, will reveal little beyond their cultural origin, typology, dating, materials, method of production, circulation and usage. The alternative which is being promoted, is a meta-methodology with which artefact can be ‘read’ as having agency to generate and gain reciprocal meanings and values. When the artefact can be understood from that point of view, it can be considered as an entangled narrative.
Substances: 'Following the material' through two prehistoric cases
2014. With Mary Weismantel. In Journal of Material Culture, 19/3:233-251. In this article, we argue for a multi-dimensional research strategy incorporating material, social and phenomenological analysis in the study of figurines and other human effigies. We call this approach ‘following the material’. To illustrate, we examine two case studies: figurines from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük (Turkey) and human effigies from the Formative region of Moche (Peru). We look first at the material substances from which artifacts are made and the material contexts in which they were produced, circulated and deposited, before turning to analysis of the representation of the body. This enables us to see these objects as themselves bodies – not merely imperfect replicas of actual humans, but material objects made of substances that afford particular kinds of interactions between fleshly and artifactual bodies. This focus on the materiality of artifacts reveals tight connections between objects in human form, material culture, environment, landscape, and political economy.
Considerations of space are fundamental in archaeological research because we study space in relation to time in order to contextualise our findings and imbue them with meaning. Often, space is simply seen as a neutral backdrop for human interaction to take place. The interactive relations of space and time in the production of both a practical and a social environment have often been overlooked, and considering space as an active component in the building of social networks between people and things is only useful if we understand that the neutrality of space is an illusion. Instead, inhabited and other spaces are imbued with memory (we may remember our late grandfather upon entering his living room years later), sensory experiences (the empty school corridors echo our footsteps during summer breaks, the smell of cooking may linger on in the kitchen hours after dinner), emotions (we may feel anxious in a tightly packed lift) and filled with matter (dust, air, objects, humidity). Gibson (1979: 16, 23) describes the inhabited environment from a physical or material perspective, consisting of mediums (for example, the air we breathe), substances (all solid materials surrounding us: rocks, sand, plants) and surfaces. Surfaces are the interfaces between mediums and substances and the locations where all action takes place. The environment's affordances are thus real, objective and physical since they point in two directions: to the environment and to the observer (Gibson 1979: 129). Gibson's emphasis on materials and their physical makeup (see also Ingold 2011) are very useful notions because they indicate the dynamic relationships between materials and people at any given time: how they live together through each motion and how materials may either allow or limit people in what they want to do during any given moment.
2014
This book introduces the research work conducted in the four-year lifespan of the European Marie Curie Actions Initial Training Network (FP7-PEOPLE-Marie Curie Actions-ITN-Project no. 265010) New Archaeological Research Network for Integrating Approaches to ancient material studies, with the acronym NARNIA which has concluded after four years. This is currently the largest project to receive funding from the European Commission in the fields of archaeology and archaeological sciences, with a budget over 4.5 million Euros and 20 recruited research fellows. The book will hopefully act as a testimony of the individual and collective work that has been conducted for the past four years by all our fellows and members of the NARNIA partnership. The papers presented by our fellows in this publication, are short summaries of their research, which will be more extensively published in peer-reviewed journals and, hopefully, monographs following the submission of their doctoral theses. We envisage this book to serve as a medium for people outside the network to become acquainted with the research that was undertaken by our fellows under the supervision of the NARNIA scientific staff, but also as a token of the hard work, dedication and passion of all the people that worked hard for NARNIA to become a milestone in archaeological research.
Τoo Many Hydriae: Interpreting Material Actions Through a Vase’s Sensory Qualities
DIE MATERIALITÄT GRIECHISCHER VASEN Mikrohistorische Perspektiven in der Vasenforschung, Martin Langner – Stefan Schmidt (Hrsg.), 2020
das Corpus Vasorum antiquorum wird als Vorhaben der Bayerischen akademie der Wissenschaften im rahmen des akademienprogramms von der Bundesrepublik deutschland und vom freistaat Bayern gefördert isBn 978-3-7696-3780-9 © Verlag der Bayerischen akademie der Wissenschaften münchen 2020 Layout, repro, satz, druck und Bindung: kösel, krugzell Gedruckt auf säurefreiem, alterungsbeständigem papier (hergestellt aus chlorfrei gebleichtem zellstoff) printed in Germany www.badw.de Vorwort Martin Langner materialität und objektevidenz griechischer Vasen Bettina Kreuzer zu machart und design der halsamphora Brüssel r 296 Isabelle Algrain paint it Black: Boeotia, attica and Black-Glaze pottery Anne Coulié, Cécile Jubier une enquête sur le gris: les fragments à fond blanc du Louvre G 249 Vicky Vlachou too many hydriae: interpreting material actions through a Vase's sensory qualities E. Marianne Stern the epinetra from the athenian acropolis Kathleen M. Lynch, Capacity of sympotic Vessels from the excavations of the athenian agora Norbert Eschbach kein Öl in panathenäischen preisamphoren? zu funktion und Bedeutung einer repräsentativen Gefäßgattung der attischen Vasenmalerei Alexandra Villing using Greek Vases: developing use-wear analysis as an archaeology of practice Angelika Schöne-Denkinger Überarbeitet-verändert-übermalt. restaurierungen attischer Gefäße der Berliner antikensammlung im 19. Jh. Liste der autoren in Zusammenarbeit mit Nathalie Buisson