Dress and Personal Adornment (Archaeology) Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Archaeology, Iconography, Textiles, History of Textiles

Abstract: This chapter (written in Spanish) provides a general characterization of the garments with beads documented in the Montelirio tholos, including considerations of their manufacture and use in mortuary practices. Firstly, the contexts in which the beads were found, the position and distribution of the latter, also in association with specific individuals, are described with attention to the post-depositional processes that affected the formation of the archaeological deposits. Secondly, the techniques of bead manufacture and assemblage deployed to create elaborate garments, as well as the characteristics of the latter, are examined in light of the evidence provided by the beads, their location, and distribution. The chapter concludes with some preliminary thoughts on the social dimension of the manufacture of such elaborate garments with beads, which most probably required organized craftsmanship, and their use in the mortuary practices developed in the Montelirio tholos.

- by Marta Diaz-Guardamino and +2
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- History of Dress, Funerary Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology

This book examines the significance of adornment to the shaping of identity in mortuary contexts within Asia, and brings these perspectives into dialogue with current scholarship in other worldwide regions. The mortuary contexts of focus in this volume represent unique sites and events where identity was visualized, and often manipulated and negotiated, through material objects and their placement on and about the deceased body. In both breadth and depth, it will be of interest to students and scholars interested in the archaeology, art, and history of Central and East Asia, as well as anyone interested in the general study of dress and adornment.

- by Leslie Wallace and +1
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- Japanese Art, Chinese Art, East Asian Archaeology, Archaeology of Personal Adornment
- by Carolyn White
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- Fashion History, Dress and Personal Adornment (Archaeology), Identity

The Kyklades or Cycladic Islands have always been popular amongst archaeologists working on the Aegean Bronze Age and the 'glorious' Classical Greek past. In contrast, not much light has been shed upon aspects of post-Roman life on the islands. Research into the post-medieval period has been a subject mainly for historians and folklorists. This paper attempts to explore aspects of the lifestyle of the peoples who inhabited this island group throughout the more recent, yet most neglected centuries of Greek history, using archaeological, textual and other sources and methods. My aim is to reconstruct everyday rural life in Greece, by focusing on the domestic sphere and addressing questions concerning society and the domestic material culture of a littoral area that has remained traditional until very recently.
This paper examines some .first results of the CYRE.P. (Cyclades Research Project) and introduces examples concerning the domestic material culture of the late medieval and post-medieval periods (early 13th-late 19th centuries) in the Aegean Islands of the Cyclades, with particular reference to housing, furniture and internal.fittings, costumes and embroideries.

Paper presented at the PREMODS network meeting held 25-26th of September 2014 at the University of Uppsala.

- by Tiina Kuokkanen and +1
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- Historical Archaeology, Dress and Personal Adornment (Archaeology)

Trinkets & Charms is an illuminating examination of dress accessories from two regions of Britain dating from c. 1300 to 1700. It reveals how these personal possessions were used
by people in their daily lives. By applying an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the archaeological objects, their place within everyday events is explored; for instance in romantic courtships, childbirth, devotion, illness, and death. Contemporary art, literature, wills, and monumental effigies are used throughout to enhance the interpretation of the archaeological evidence. This richly illustrated volume re-engages the study of medieval artefacts with the individual, and provides a new lens through which to view past possessions.

Ancient pictures are not random products -they were created for conveying messages! This is especially true in the oral culture of the Viking Age. Here, pictures often occur as Animal Art. The focal point of my work is a special kind of female dress adornment, characterized by a very dramatic design. These 'baroque' shaped brooches are best likened to interactive sculptures that change shape as the viewer changes perspective. They are often cluttered with puzzle pictures, i.e. ambiguous compositions containing many motifs. But due to the limitations of our visual system, our perception oscillates between alternative readings. Within Viking Age studies, puzzle pictures have not yet received wider attention: First, the structure of Animal Art is not consistent with our modern expectations of 'meaningful' visual art. Second, archaeology has traditionally taken a skeptical view on iconographic approaches. It was only recently that we became aware of the possibility that Animal Art might be more than a mere dating resource. -But as research funds are finite, the theoretical turn within our discipline also caused a discontinuity in Scandinavian brooch research. Furthermore, the early postprocessualists approached pictures with a preconceived idea of symbolism that blurred their vision for the polysemic potential of Animal Art. In fact, depending on the individual beholder, the same composition might either work as décor, symbol, narrative, or as multimodal text. In conclusion, much remains to be done in order to do justice to 'baroque' shaped brooches.

- by Michael Neiß
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- Iconography, Research Methodology, Metalwork (Archaeology), Viking Age Archaeology

« Corps de mode et art du vêtir. Retracer l’histoire du costume, de l’Antiquité égyptienne aux derniers défilés Couture » « Mode et société : valorisation du luxe par l’image » « Des origines de la Haute Couture à la "fringue"... more

« Corps de mode et art du vêtir. Retracer l’histoire du costume, de l’Antiquité égyptienne aux derniers défilés Couture »
« Mode et société : valorisation du luxe par l’image »
« Des origines de la Haute Couture à la "fringue" réactionnaire et militante »

- by Gaylord Brouhot
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- History, Cultural History, Art History, Late Antique and Byzantine History

In a number of linen tunics from late antique Egypt tiny red threads have been unobtrusively woven into the fabric. Their purpose has long been a mystery to those studying 'Coptic' textiles. Based on a combination of literary and textile evidence, I show that these threads (unlike clearly decorative red braids) most likely had an apotropaic purpose.

- by Tineke Rooijakkers
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- Archaeology, History of Dress, Textiles, Egyptian Archaeology

Renaut Luc, « Vêtements [barbares] », in Bruno Dumézil (dir.), Les Barbares, Paris, PUF, 2016, pp. 1362‑1369.

The reproduction of this article in whole or in part without the written permission from either Anita or Robert Jirka is prohibited.

This thesis is an examination of the 19th century adornment assemblage recovered from the archaeological excavation of two features (1859-1884) at the Industrial School for Girls in Dorchester located at 232 Centre Street in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The school was administered by middle class Bostonian women that wished to train working class girls from broken, abusive, or unfit homes in professionalized domestic work. This thesis is a rare examination of a site that is single-gendered, and predominantly single-classed and aged with a large collection of documented activity. This investigation was conducted in order to question the values that the administration of the institution placed on dress and how the social movements of the time, such as domesticity, womanhood, gentility, and the Second Great Awakening, influenced those values. The school was to act as a home with the matron as the “mother” that would impart values and give a regimented schedule with an environment filled with objects that were to exude purity and domesticity. An extensive investigation of the Secretary Records, Annual Reports, and Intake Records were consulted in conjunction with the adornment assemblage of 2,832 artifacts to answer this question. After this investigation it was found that the girls were dressed in similar styles to that of each other and domestic servants as a way to assert the girls’ place in society, economic thrift, and morality. These ideas were directly related to the values the administration placed on adornment objects due to the influence of social movements at the time.

- by Madelaine A . Penney
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- History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Historical Archaeology

The aim of this article is: on the one hand, to examine the state of research on the archaeological traces of the "princely costume" of the eastern Germanic or "ponto-Danubian" tradition at two fibulae of sheet metal from the first half and the middle of the 5th century on the territory of the Visigoth kingdom; on the other hand, to identify its repercussions in the "Hispano-Visigoth" costume of the so-called "middle class", with silver-plated fibulae of the second half of the 5th and the first half of the 6th century. We examined here the "princely" discoveries of the first half and the middle of the 5th century in Southern Gaul and Spain, as well as the most visible reminiscences of the "princely" eastern Germanic costume in the necropolis of the Hispano-Visigoth kingdom First of the middle 5th century and the first half of the 6th century. The female tombs of the Hispano-Visigoth kingdom containing fibulae in silver plate correspond to the notion so-called as "middle class". The question of the ethnicity of the porters of this costume is in this case totally relevant. Women's costumes, as an ethnographic index of traditional societies, are among the most stable. However, at the high social level, the costume resulting from an ethnographic tradition can also become an indication of belonging to the "ruling class". In this case, the costume of prestige, whatever its origins, sooner or later begins to be imitated by the "ordinary" population. The village communities of Visigoth Spain were predominantly Roman, then it can be concluded that the diffusion in this milieu of the "Barbarian" ponto-Danubian fashion shows the beginning of the fusion of the material culture of the Visigoths and Hispano-Romans. Identity is then used "at convenience", according to the socio-political context, both by the elites and by a large part of the Hispano-Roman population, to show their belonging to a specific social status and/or as a symbol of prestige and power.

This paper asks, what can decorative metalwork tell us about the way in which identities were expressed in Viking- Age Lincoln? It presents the non-ferrous metalwork material from early medieval Lincoln, England (c. AD 800–1100), for the first time as a coherent assemblage. The artefact types – mainly dress-accessories and related decorative objects – are described in terms of their art-historical and stylistic characteristics, and placed within the context of manufacturing evidence from Lincoln. The question is asked, did the production of decorative metalwork play a key role in the deliberate creation or manipulation of ‘ethnic’ identities? Many of the objects found in Lincoln reveal Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Hiberno-Norse and Frankish influences, and provide insights into the complex identities of Lincoln’s ninth- to eleventh-century inhabitants on multiple levels. However, the manufacturing evidence, providing an insight into the deliberate choices that were made by Lincoln’s metalworkers with respect to the manipulation of such identities, suggests that ethnic considerations may perhaps have been less important than is sometimes assumed.

This is a draft and I would appreciate any comments or critique of its form or content.

- by Margot Muir
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- Cultural Studies, African Studies, Gender Studies, Fashion design

Viking Age pictures seldom appear as self-sufficient monuments. More often, they survive as Animal Art on utility goods. The role of the caster gives important clues towards the conditions of ornamental production, as well as the meaning of Animal Art. Did some motifs work as pictograms in the context of Viking Age orality, or do they represent mere nonsense?

- by Sławomir Wadyl
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- Archaeology, Material Culture Studies, Medieval Studies, Arms and Armor Studies

The essays in this volume engage explicitly in a variety of theoretical and methodological strategies for the interpretation of dress, dressed bodies, and their representations in the ancient world. Focusing on personal ornaments, portraiture and architectural sculpture, the collected papers investigate the visual, somatic and semantic significance of the act of getting dressed, what it meant to be dressed in various ways, and how dress contributed to and shaped identities in antiquity. Authors draw from a wide range of disciplinary frameworks, integrating literary and archaeological evidence, experimental archaeology, social theory and the study of iconography. This volume spans a broad area both geographically and chronologically, bringing the ancient Near East into dialogue with the Classical world from prehistory through late antiquity. The breadth and inclusivity of this volume provide a strong theoretical and methodological foundation for the collaborative study of the dynamic role of dressed bodies and images that depict them.

The second half of the 4 th century and the beginning of the 3 rd century BC witnessed an eastward expansion of the area inhabited by Celtic communities. Large territories from the eastern Carpathian Basin (the Great Hungarian Plain and Transylvania) were colonized in successive phases by Celtic groups. The first scope of this paper is to investigate the routes and the chronology that defined the advance of some Celtic groups in Banat, an area on which their presence is less documented in comparison with the neighbouring territories. The second scope is to identify the nature of the relationships between the colonists and the indigenous populations.

- by Aurel Rustoiu
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- Anthropology of Dress, Balkan History, Funerary Archaeology, Celts (Archaeology)

The catalog to a fashion exhibition I co-curated in 2009.

- by Francesca Granata and +1
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- Fashion design, Fashion Theory, Dress Studies, Anthropology of Dress

Textile crafts, and weaving in particular, have contributed much to the overall development of technology. Looms were invented in the Neolithic and represent the first ‘machines’ of human history. Essential goods for daily use, especially clothing, as well as utilitarian textiles, ostentatious objects for display and luxury items were produced with this craft.
Textiles were valuable, as can be inferred from the recycling of fabrics. Worn out garments were used as binders, packaging and even as a dressing material in prehistoric times. Clothing, however, not only offered protection against the elements – even in prehistoric times textiles and jewellery were more than just simply means to dress – they are an essential feature of every culture. In the past as well as today, clothing represents an important non-verbal means of communication and conveys aspects of identity about the wearer such as age, gender, social status and group memberships.
This book is dedicated to historians, costume designers, archaeologists, and anyone interested in handcraft and artisanship. The temporal and geographical scope of this investigation is the Neolithic to Late Iron Age of Central Europe, which is the period before the introduction of writing. The book ends with the Roman occupation in Central Europe. Austrian finds and sites as well as those of neighbouring countries are the primary focus.

- by Karina Grömer and +2
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- Semiotics, Sociology, Experimental Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology

Huulthin (shawls) play an important role in Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations’ oral histories, social organization, and ceremonial life. Drawing upon archival, material, museum, and ethnographic data, this research explores changes in huulthin as emblematic of broader social, economic, and spiritual transformations.
Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations’ huulthin do not exist in a vacuum—they are intimate possessions, collectively produced and displayed. Huulthin are a material iteration of deep histories, spiritual beliefs, social relationships, and trade networks. In the last 240 years, colonial encounters, capitalist economies (fueling rampant resource extraction and industrialization), settlement, and Canada’s aggressive assimilationist agenda have brought dramatic change to the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
Huulthin are a material, symbolic, spiritual, and embodied interface: between individuals and tribal communities, physical and spiritual worlds, knowledge and display, and perhaps most importantly, between history and a rapidly changing world.

- by Sławomir Wadyl
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- Archaeology, Material Culture Studies, Arms and Armor Studies, Eurasian Nomads

Strings of colorful glass beads were a popular commodity traded throughout ancient Nubia in the earlier half of the first millennium AD. Combining macroscopic examination with laboratory analyses (LA-ICP-MS), the author breaks new ground in Nubian studies, establishing diagnostic markers for a study of trading markets and broader economic trends in Meroitic and post-Meroitic Nubia. Archaeometric results, lucidly presented and discussed, identify the origins of the glass from which the beads under investigation were made. The demonstrated South Indian/Sri Lankan provenance of some of the ready-made beads from Nubian burial contexts and a reconstruction of their distribution patterns in Northeast Africa is the first undisputed proof of contacts between Nubia and the Red Sea coast. Reaching beyond that, it shows Nubia’s involvement in the Asian maritime trade, whether directly or indirectly, during a period of intensive interchanges between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.

- by Joanna Then-Obłuska and +1
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- Late Antiquity, Archaeometry, Dress and Personal Adornment (Archaeology), Nubian-Egyptian Relations
- by Helga Rösel-Mautendorfer and +2
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, History of Dress, Creativity

This chapter explores the concept of portraiture in West Mexican ceramic effigies, particularly
Lagunillas Style E figures (Figures 1 and 2). In scholarship on ancient West Mexican
figures, those of the Lagunillas style, along with other West Mexican ceramic styles,
have been casually described as portraits. Despite this claim, scholars have yet to make a
compelling argument affirming that West Mexican ceramic effigies do indeed represent
a form of portraiture. This chapter will do just that, arguing that Lagunillas Style E figures
represent a highly stylized form of portraiture that relies on the depiction of key features,
especially adornment, in order to communicate the identity of the subject.

Studies in pre-Roman dress are an important part of the DressID project, as well as Roman dress, as the earlier material helps to understand the origins of local dress variants in the Roman provinces. In the Roman provinces of Noricum and Pannonia we know of elaborate headdresses, hats, veils and bonnets that were typical elements of local dress, and were depicted on tombstones in the 1st, 2nd and early 3rd centuries AD. The use of hats and veils clearly had its origins in Iron Age culture. There we have rich evidence for headdresses of different kinds. The aim of this article is to present those sources, focusings on the central ande Alpine area, i.e. modern Austria, Slovenia and part of northern Italy.

- by Karina Grömer and +1
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Self and Identity, Anthropology of Dress, History of Dress

M. Callewaert, Les fibules romaines : archéologie, usages et fonctions, In : Il n'y a pas d'Âge(s) pour se faire beau. La parure de Cro-Magnon à Clovis, Catalogue d'exposition du Musée du Malgré Tout, CEDARC, 2012,