Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0005
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter analyzes the pottery of late prehistoric Europe. Jars, bowls, and cups were the three main categories of pottery vessels that were in use in the Early Bronze Age. Bowls and cups were ...
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This chapter analyzes the pottery of late prehistoric Europe. Jars, bowls, and cups were the three main categories of pottery vessels that were in use in the Early Bronze Age. Bowls and cups were decorated differently from jars, and their surfaces were finished differently. Jars are the only category that had a purposely roughened surface. Bowls and cups were polished smooth. And jars are the only category within which each individual vessel was distinguished from every other by the pattern of its ornament. From the latter fact, it is argued that jars in the Early and Middle Bronze Age were individualized in a way that bowls and cups were not; each was deliberately made different from all others in order that the household that owned it could mark it as its own, and perhaps even use it to display to others in the community that it had abundant stores of grain.Less
This chapter analyzes the pottery of late prehistoric Europe. Jars, bowls, and cups were the three main categories of pottery vessels that were in use in the Early Bronze Age. Bowls and cups were decorated differently from jars, and their surfaces were finished differently. Jars are the only category that had a purposely roughened surface. Bowls and cups were polished smooth. And jars are the only category within which each individual vessel was distinguished from every other by the pattern of its ornament. From the latter fact, it is argued that jars in the Early and Middle Bronze Age were individualized in a way that bowls and cups were not; each was deliberately made different from all others in order that the household that owned it could mark it as its own, and perhaps even use it to display to others in the community that it had abundant stores of grain.
Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0004
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter first discusses the concept of the frame and how it helps us to understand the visual patterning of space in late prehistoric Europe. Frames, whether they are wooden picture frames that ...
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This chapter first discusses the concept of the frame and how it helps us to understand the visual patterning of space in late prehistoric Europe. Frames, whether they are wooden picture frames that hold paintings on museum walls or boundary ditches around prehistoric sites, perform the important function of establishing for the viewer the boundaries of that which is to be viewed. The frame tells the viewer what is inside and therefore to be considered and what is outside and therefore can be ignored. The things that prehistoric Europeans placed within frames, their foci of attention, can be understood as diagrams. The chapter then considers some of the visual patterns that persist from the Early Bronze Age through the Late Iron Age, before turning to the character of the changes that took place in ways of seeing in later prehistoric Europe.Less
This chapter first discusses the concept of the frame and how it helps us to understand the visual patterning of space in late prehistoric Europe. Frames, whether they are wooden picture frames that hold paintings on museum walls or boundary ditches around prehistoric sites, perform the important function of establishing for the viewer the boundaries of that which is to be viewed. The frame tells the viewer what is inside and therefore to be considered and what is outside and therefore can be ignored. The things that prehistoric Europeans placed within frames, their foci of attention, can be understood as diagrams. The chapter then considers some of the visual patterns that persist from the Early Bronze Age through the Late Iron Age, before turning to the character of the changes that took place in ways of seeing in later prehistoric Europe.
Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0003
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter discusses the visual world of late prehistoric Europe. It first uses Teniers's painting of the interior of an inn at the beginning of the chapter in order to introduce the topic of light ...
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This chapter discusses the visual world of late prehistoric Europe. It first uses Teniers's painting of the interior of an inn at the beginning of the chapter in order to introduce the topic of light as an important issue in any consideration of seeing in times previous to the ready availability of electric light. It then describes changes in the landscape, in the character of settlements, houses, and in other aspects of the visual environment during the two millennia between the beginning of the Early Bronze Age and the end of the Iron Age. These changes were most often gradual. A number of significant trends are recognizable in the environmental evidence pertaining to changes in the landscape; and there is archaeological evidence pertaining to changes in tool use, the digging of ditches, the building of walls, and the construction of settlements and houses.Less
This chapter discusses the visual world of late prehistoric Europe. It first uses Teniers's painting of the interior of an inn at the beginning of the chapter in order to introduce the topic of light as an important issue in any consideration of seeing in times previous to the ready availability of electric light. It then describes changes in the landscape, in the character of settlements, houses, and in other aspects of the visual environment during the two millennia between the beginning of the Early Bronze Age and the end of the Iron Age. These changes were most often gradual. A number of significant trends are recognizable in the environmental evidence pertaining to changes in the landscape; and there is archaeological evidence pertaining to changes in tool use, the digging of ditches, the building of walls, and the construction of settlements and houses.
Adam T. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163239
- eISBN:
- 9781400866502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163239.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the role of things in the reproduction of a public—the first condition of sovereignty defined in Chapter 2—during the Early Bronze Age in the South Caucasus. “A public” here ...
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This chapter examines the role of things in the reproduction of a public—the first condition of sovereignty defined in Chapter 2—during the Early Bronze Age in the South Caucasus. “A public” here means a self-recognizing community that is not maintained exclusively through face-to-face interaction. It is thus in large part an assembly of strangers who are made familiar to one another through an assemblage of publicity—forms of mass mediation and sites of encounter, such as those Benedict Anderson described as fundamental to the imagination of modern nations. The suggestion that material things are critical to the creation of a public follows closely Hannah Arendt's conception of humanity as Homo faber.Less
This chapter examines the role of things in the reproduction of a public—the first condition of sovereignty defined in Chapter 2—during the Early Bronze Age in the South Caucasus. “A public” here means a self-recognizing community that is not maintained exclusively through face-to-face interaction. It is thus in large part an assembly of strangers who are made familiar to one another through an assemblage of publicity—forms of mass mediation and sites of encounter, such as those Benedict Anderson described as fundamental to the imagination of modern nations. The suggestion that material things are critical to the creation of a public follows closely Hannah Arendt's conception of humanity as Homo faber.
Jaime M. Ullinger, Susan G. Sheridan, and Donald J. Ortner
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813042299
- eISBN:
- 9780813043449
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813042299.003.0009
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
The cemetery of Bab edh-Dhra' spans from Early Bronze IA to IV (ca. 3150–2200 BC). There are no settlement remains dating to the EB IA (3150–3050 BC). Sometime during EBII-III (2850 BC–2300 BC), ...
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The cemetery of Bab edh-Dhra' spans from Early Bronze IA to IV (ca. 3150–2200 BC). There are no settlement remains dating to the EB IA (3150–3050 BC). Sometime during EBII-III (2850 BC–2300 BC), people erected a large, walled town supported by increased agriculture and secondary product use near the EBIA cemetery. Mortuary practices also shifted, and people were buried in large, above-ground charnel houses rather than shaft tombs. Both archaeological and skeletal/dental evidence indicate an increasingly sedentary lifestyle with a greater reliance on agriculture from EB IA through EB II-III. This study suggests that daily activity changes affected the ankles and feet of people at Bab edh-Dhra', but that stresses on the knee remained similar over time.Less
The cemetery of Bab edh-Dhra' spans from Early Bronze IA to IV (ca. 3150–2200 BC). There are no settlement remains dating to the EB IA (3150–3050 BC). Sometime during EBII-III (2850 BC–2300 BC), people erected a large, walled town supported by increased agriculture and secondary product use near the EBIA cemetery. Mortuary practices also shifted, and people were buried in large, above-ground charnel houses rather than shaft tombs. Both archaeological and skeletal/dental evidence indicate an increasingly sedentary lifestyle with a greater reliance on agriculture from EB IA through EB II-III. This study suggests that daily activity changes affected the ankles and feet of people at Bab edh-Dhra', but that stresses on the knee remained similar over time.
Neil Wilkin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748685721
- eISBN:
- 9781474418867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748685721.003.0012
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
This is a comprehensive review of all instances of the discovery of Beaker pottery in Neolithic contexts. A brief history of the study of this phenomenon is presented. This is followed by an analysis ...
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This is a comprehensive review of all instances of the discovery of Beaker pottery in Neolithic contexts. A brief history of the study of this phenomenon is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the forms of Beaker found in contexts as varied as chambered tombs, henge monument ditches and cursus monument interiors. Stylistic traits and deposition context are explored in some detail, and explanations for this phenomenon discussed. The paper concludes with a comprehensive appendix listing all Beakers found in Neolithic contexts in Scotland.Less
This is a comprehensive review of all instances of the discovery of Beaker pottery in Neolithic contexts. A brief history of the study of this phenomenon is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the forms of Beaker found in contexts as varied as chambered tombs, henge monument ditches and cursus monument interiors. Stylistic traits and deposition context are explored in some detail, and explanations for this phenomenon discussed. The paper concludes with a comprehensive appendix listing all Beakers found in Neolithic contexts in Scotland.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines various interpretations of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England. More specifically, it considers the key conceptual frameworks in ...
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This chapter examines various interpretations of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England. More specifically, it considers the key conceptual frameworks in circulation and their relational emergence in archaeology. It also explores how specific anthropological or sociological concepts affect the interpretations of antiquarians and archaeologists, as well as the kinds of references produced based on those foundations, including ethnic and cultural groups, elites and chiefs, prestige, and social differentiation based on age and sex. Furthermore, it analyses the patterns in deposition and monumentalisation of burial grounds founded in religious belief, along with the co-emergence of different relations, different materials and persons, things, and places. Finally, the chapter describes mortuary practices as transformations effected through rites of passage.Less
This chapter examines various interpretations of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England. More specifically, it considers the key conceptual frameworks in circulation and their relational emergence in archaeology. It also explores how specific anthropological or sociological concepts affect the interpretations of antiquarians and archaeologists, as well as the kinds of references produced based on those foundations, including ethnic and cultural groups, elites and chiefs, prestige, and social differentiation based on age and sex. Furthermore, it analyses the patterns in deposition and monumentalisation of burial grounds founded in religious belief, along with the co-emergence of different relations, different materials and persons, things, and places. Finally, the chapter describes mortuary practices as transformations effected through rites of passage.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England and their relationship with places and landscapes. In particular, it considers the sites chosen for ...
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This chapter examines Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England and their relationship with places and landscapes. In particular, it considers the sites chosen for mortuary activity, including the funerary transformation of the recently deceased, burial, intercession with the dead, and production of cemeteries and mounds. It first looks at the key features of landscapes of North-East England that became intertwined with mortuary activity before turning to an analysis of patterns where the dead were buried. It then discusses the changing character of places where the dead were assembled, including cemeteries, cairns, barrows, henges, sites with isolated burials, and rock shelters. Finally, the chapter explores the composition of and evidence for other activities at some of these locales to place the treatment of the dead within the context of other practices.Less
This chapter examines Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England and their relationship with places and landscapes. In particular, it considers the sites chosen for mortuary activity, including the funerary transformation of the recently deceased, burial, intercession with the dead, and production of cemeteries and mounds. It first looks at the key features of landscapes of North-East England that became intertwined with mortuary activity before turning to an analysis of patterns where the dead were buried. It then discusses the changing character of places where the dead were assembled, including cemeteries, cairns, barrows, henges, sites with isolated burials, and rock shelters. Finally, the chapter explores the composition of and evidence for other activities at some of these locales to place the treatment of the dead within the context of other practices.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the relational nature of archaeological evidence by drawing key concepts from relational theories. More precisely, it considers different concepts that can be used in ...
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This chapter examines the relational nature of archaeological evidence by drawing key concepts from relational theories. More precisely, it considers different concepts that can be used in constructing a relational yet realist view of the world, particularly within the context of the ongoing chain of relationships that have produced both the corpus of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary remains from North-East England and the interpretations of such remains. To this end, important terms used in relational thinking are defined and their usefulness and limitations are outlined. The theories discussed in this chapter largely reject a classical positivism and a ‘correspondence theory of truth’. After outlining the key theoretical and practical tenets of an archaeological relational realism, the chapter compares the many different ways that the relational nature of archaeological entities can be appreciated, with particular reference to assemblage, network, meshwork, entanglement, and phenomenon.Less
This chapter examines the relational nature of archaeological evidence by drawing key concepts from relational theories. More precisely, it considers different concepts that can be used in constructing a relational yet realist view of the world, particularly within the context of the ongoing chain of relationships that have produced both the corpus of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary remains from North-East England and the interpretations of such remains. To this end, important terms used in relational thinking are defined and their usefulness and limitations are outlined. The theories discussed in this chapter largely reject a classical positivism and a ‘correspondence theory of truth’. After outlining the key theoretical and practical tenets of an archaeological relational realism, the chapter compares the many different ways that the relational nature of archaeological entities can be appreciated, with particular reference to assemblage, network, meshwork, entanglement, and phenomenon.
Andrew Meirion Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199556427
- eISBN:
- 9780191804380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199556427.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the issue of scale and materials. It presents two case studies. The first examines how both the gigantic and the miniature were deployed in the passage tombs of Neolithic ...
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This chapter examines the issue of scale and materials. It presents two case studies. The first examines how both the gigantic and the miniature were deployed in the passage tombs of Neolithic Ireland; the second focuses on the miniature cups of the Early Bronze Age of the south. It argues that materials offer a way of inhabiting the world that would be otherwise difficult to comprehend; and that physical scale provides the potential for articulating geographic scale and a way of articulating people.Less
This chapter examines the issue of scale and materials. It presents two case studies. The first examines how both the gigantic and the miniature were deployed in the passage tombs of Neolithic Ireland; the second focuses on the miniature cups of the Early Bronze Age of the south. It argues that materials offer a way of inhabiting the world that would be otherwise difficult to comprehend; and that physical scale provides the potential for articulating geographic scale and a way of articulating people.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the patterns and diversity in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices from North-East England. In particular, it looks at the deposition of human remains along with ...
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This chapter examines the patterns and diversity in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices from North-East England. In particular, it looks at the deposition of human remains along with various artefacts and materials. By identifying artefacts and burials as belonging to certain types, the chapter reproduces inversions or packs objects into black boxes so they can circulate productively in the rest of the study. It also considers the shift from the deposition of corpses to cremation prior to deposition, along with changes in the attendant furniture and architecture of mortuary deposits resulting in different effects, experiences, and identities. In addition, it traces the chronological patterns in mortuary practices such as the continuing and changing uses of pottery, cists, graves, and pits. Finally, the chapter analyses the inclusion of flint and bronze knives and daggers with the dead from c.2200 BC and the use of burnt or burning wood at the site of deposition.Less
This chapter examines the patterns and diversity in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices from North-East England. In particular, it looks at the deposition of human remains along with various artefacts and materials. By identifying artefacts and burials as belonging to certain types, the chapter reproduces inversions or packs objects into black boxes so they can circulate productively in the rest of the study. It also considers the shift from the deposition of corpses to cremation prior to deposition, along with changes in the attendant furniture and architecture of mortuary deposits resulting in different effects, experiences, and identities. In addition, it traces the chronological patterns in mortuary practices such as the continuing and changing uses of pottery, cists, graves, and pits. Finally, the chapter analyses the inclusion of flint and bronze knives and daggers with the dead from c.2200 BC and the use of burnt or burning wood at the site of deposition.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines themes emerging from Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a relational realist perspective. The discussion focuses on particular ...
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This chapter examines themes emerging from Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a relational realist perspective. The discussion focuses on particular regions in the assemblage as well as the haecceities of certain burials, places, and landscapes, along with the transformations involved in becoming dead. The chapter considers change through time and differing articulations of past and present, together with connections across space generated by prehistoric mortuary practices. It also explores how places, things, bodies, materials, and graves changed and persisted in differing ways throughout the period. Finally, it analyses changing rituals of personal transformation.Less
This chapter examines themes emerging from Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a relational realist perspective. The discussion focuses on particular regions in the assemblage as well as the haecceities of certain burials, places, and landscapes, along with the transformations involved in becoming dead. The chapter considers change through time and differing articulations of past and present, together with connections across space generated by prehistoric mortuary practices. It also explores how places, things, bodies, materials, and graves changed and persisted in differing ways throughout the period. Finally, it analyses changing rituals of personal transformation.
Christine Lee
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813054834
- eISBN:
- 9780813053325
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813054834.003.0007
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Dental ablation is a rare occurrence in ancient China. While previous studies have looked at cultural reasons for this practice this study examines possible biological causes for intentional tooth ...
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Dental ablation is a rare occurrence in ancient China. While previous studies have looked at cultural reasons for this practice this study examines possible biological causes for intentional tooth removal. Could a hereditary dental anomaly have been the original source for a cultural marker? The dentitions from 243 individuals were examined, representing five late Neolithic archaeological cultures. Each individual was scored for evidence of dental ablation, dental agenesis, and supernumerary teeth. Patterns of dental agenesis did not match regions with dental ablation. The one distinguishing trait among the Dawenkou was a higher frequency of supernumerary teeth. In conclusion, the Dawenkou sample had some biologically distinguishing features in their dentition, but their relationship with dental ablation is not supported.Less
Dental ablation is a rare occurrence in ancient China. While previous studies have looked at cultural reasons for this practice this study examines possible biological causes for intentional tooth removal. Could a hereditary dental anomaly have been the original source for a cultural marker? The dentitions from 243 individuals were examined, representing five late Neolithic archaeological cultures. Each individual was scored for evidence of dental ablation, dental agenesis, and supernumerary teeth. Patterns of dental agenesis did not match regions with dental ablation. The one distinguishing trait among the Dawenkou was a higher frequency of supernumerary teeth. In conclusion, the Dawenkou sample had some biologically distinguishing features in their dentition, but their relationship with dental ablation is not supported.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This book investigates the archaeology of Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a ‘relational realist’ perspective. It shows how archaeologists undertaking regional synthesis ...
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This book investigates the archaeology of Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a ‘relational realist’ perspective. It shows how archaeologists undertaking regional synthesis study an assemblage or entanglement along with prehistoric bones, objects, materials, and structures, as well as practices, materials, technologies, people, and ideas generated in subsequent periods. It also explores the mortuary deposits of human remains, materials and artefacts, together with the associated features and architecture, with emphasis on how each changed over time. In this introductory chapter, the value of relational realism in studying mortuary deposits from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age North-East England (2500–1500 BC) is explained.Less
This book investigates the archaeology of Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a ‘relational realist’ perspective. It shows how archaeologists undertaking regional synthesis study an assemblage or entanglement along with prehistoric bones, objects, materials, and structures, as well as practices, materials, technologies, people, and ideas generated in subsequent periods. It also explores the mortuary deposits of human remains, materials and artefacts, together with the associated features and architecture, with emphasis on how each changed over time. In this introductory chapter, the value of relational realism in studying mortuary deposits from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age North-East England (2500–1500 BC) is explained.
Andrew Meirion Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199556427
- eISBN:
- 9780191804380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199556427.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the performance of material assemblage, focusing on the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age. It presents two case studies. The first deals with artefact hoards and burials in ...
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This chapter examines the performance of material assemblage, focusing on the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age. It presents two case studies. The first deals with artefact hoards and burials in southern England; the second considers the metalwork hoards, single finds, and moulds of northern Britain. It discusses how performance, assemblage, fluidity, and movement are all fundamental components of prehistoric metalwork and of the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age.Less
This chapter examines the performance of material assemblage, focusing on the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age. It presents two case studies. The first deals with artefact hoards and burials in southern England; the second considers the metalwork hoards, single finds, and moulds of northern Britain. It discusses how performance, assemblage, fluidity, and movement are all fundamental components of prehistoric metalwork and of the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age.
Andrew Meirion Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199556427
- eISBN:
- 9780191804380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199556427.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines repetition and performance in relation to prehistoric pottery manufacture in two regions of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Scotland. It considers two case studies. The first ...
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This chapter examines repetition and performance in relation to prehistoric pottery manufacture in two regions of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Scotland. It considers two case studies. The first looks at potting traditions in three settlements in a restricted region of Neolithic Orkney. It discusses how the repetition of practices also performed rupture and change. The second case study examines potting traditions associated with the mortuary rituals of Early Bronze Age northeast Scotland. It discusses how the repetition of practices performed a recognizable continuity or tradition. The two case studies highlight the significance of improvisation and performance, the point that repetitive performances are improvisatory in nature; they are creative and excessive in character, with the potential for producing both change and regularity.Less
This chapter examines repetition and performance in relation to prehistoric pottery manufacture in two regions of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Scotland. It considers two case studies. The first looks at potting traditions in three settlements in a restricted region of Neolithic Orkney. It discusses how the repetition of practices also performed rupture and change. The second case study examines potting traditions associated with the mortuary rituals of Early Bronze Age northeast Scotland. It discusses how the repetition of practices performed a recognizable continuity or tradition. The two case studies highlight the significance of improvisation and performance, the point that repetitive performances are improvisatory in nature; they are creative and excessive in character, with the potential for producing both change and regularity.
Andrew Meirion Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199556427
- eISBN:
- 9780191804380
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199556427.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Humans occupy a material environment that is constantly changing. Yet in the twentieth century, archaeologists studying British prehistory have overlooked this fact in their search for past systems ...
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Humans occupy a material environment that is constantly changing. Yet in the twentieth century, archaeologists studying British prehistory have overlooked this fact in their search for past systems of order and pattern. Artefacts and monuments were treated as inert materials which were the outcomes of social ideas and processes. As a result materials were variously characterized as stable entities, such as artefact categories, styles, or symbols in an attempt to comprehend them. This book argues that, on the contrary, materials are vital, mutable, and creative; and archaeologists need to attend to the changing character of materials if they are to understand how past people and materials intersected to produce prehistoric societies. Rather than considering materials and societies as given, the book argues that we need to understand how these entities are performed. The book analyses the various aspects of materials, including their scale, colour, fragmentation, and assembly, in a wide-ranging discussion that covers the pottery, metalwork, rock art, passage tombs, barrows, causewayed enclosures, and settlements of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland.Less
Humans occupy a material environment that is constantly changing. Yet in the twentieth century, archaeologists studying British prehistory have overlooked this fact in their search for past systems of order and pattern. Artefacts and monuments were treated as inert materials which were the outcomes of social ideas and processes. As a result materials were variously characterized as stable entities, such as artefact categories, styles, or symbols in an attempt to comprehend them. This book argues that, on the contrary, materials are vital, mutable, and creative; and archaeologists need to attend to the changing character of materials if they are to understand how past people and materials intersected to produce prehistoric societies. Rather than considering materials and societies as given, the book argues that we need to understand how these entities are performed. The book analyses the various aspects of materials, including their scale, colour, fragmentation, and assembly, in a wide-ranging discussion that covers the pottery, metalwork, rock art, passage tombs, barrows, causewayed enclosures, and settlements of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland.
Colin Renfrew
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265666
- eISBN:
- 9780191771927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265666.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
The discovery of the early bronze age sanctuary on the Cycladic island of Keros is briefly described. Why islanders in the Aegean should establish the world’s first maritime sanctuary around 2500 BC ...
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The discovery of the early bronze age sanctuary on the Cycladic island of Keros is briefly described. Why islanders in the Aegean should establish the world’s first maritime sanctuary around 2500 BC is then considered, and other instances of early centres of congregation are briefly discussed. Specific features of the Special Deposit South at Kavos, a key component of the sanctuary, are then reviewed along with those of the accompanying settlement on the islet of Dhaskalio. The Aegean context for the development in the later bronze age of cult, involving the reverence of specific deities, is then surveyed. The conclusion is reached that the Confederacy of Keros may not have involved the practice of cult in this sense, but rather the performance of rituals of congregation such as are widely seen at very early centres before the development of hierarchically ordered (‘state’) societies.Less
The discovery of the early bronze age sanctuary on the Cycladic island of Keros is briefly described. Why islanders in the Aegean should establish the world’s first maritime sanctuary around 2500 BC is then considered, and other instances of early centres of congregation are briefly discussed. Specific features of the Special Deposit South at Kavos, a key component of the sanctuary, are then reviewed along with those of the accompanying settlement on the islet of Dhaskalio. The Aegean context for the development in the later bronze age of cult, involving the reverence of specific deities, is then surveyed. The conclusion is reached that the Confederacy of Keros may not have involved the practice of cult in this sense, but rather the performance of rituals of congregation such as are widely seen at very early centres before the development of hierarchically ordered (‘state’) societies.
Chris Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199656370
- eISBN:
- 9780191804724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199656370.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This book has investigated Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a relational realist perspective. Through relational realism, the book has been able to ...
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This book has investigated Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a relational realist perspective. Through relational realism, the book has been able to describe a region of reality produced by various actants and to shed light on an assemblage or an entanglement. Relational realism represents a new approach to archaeological interpretation and restates practices and principles that have long been the basis of how archaeology operates. Throughout this book, interpretations have been described as strongly or weakly articulated in recognition of the temporary and contingent nature of the assemblage. Finally, it has shown how the assemblage is drawn through time and how time itself emerges from the intra-actions within the assemblage.Less
This book has investigated Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in North-East England from a relational realist perspective. Through relational realism, the book has been able to describe a region of reality produced by various actants and to shed light on an assemblage or an entanglement. Relational realism represents a new approach to archaeological interpretation and restates practices and principles that have long been the basis of how archaeology operates. Throughout this book, interpretations have been described as strongly or weakly articulated in recognition of the temporary and contingent nature of the assemblage. Finally, it has shown how the assemblage is drawn through time and how time itself emerges from the intra-actions within the assemblage.
