Theme:
1. Artefacts, Buildings & Ecofacts
Session format:
Session with keynote presentation and discussion
Title:
‘Beyond Spolia.’ A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Re-Used Decorated Stones
Content:
The re-use of building materials, the phenomena broadly characterized as ‘spolia’, has long been recognized in Roman and Medieval contexts, particularly in the construction of early stone churches. However, the re-use of decorated materials, including sculpture, is also a recognized phenomenon during later prehistory, particularly in the construction of Irish, French, and Iberian passage tombs, and the building of Bronze Age stone cists in Iberia, Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Norway.
In this session we argue that it is no longer tenable to regard the use of ‘spolia’ in terms of expediency; archaeologists have long argued for the deliberate selection, manipulation, and placement of previously decorated or carved stones. But is there a pattern to the re-use of decorated stones? The aim of this session is to bring together researchers examining decorated and carved stones in the Neolithic and Bronze Age with their colleagues in the late Iron Age, Roman and Medieval periods. Are there similarities in patterns of re-use across these time periods, or do we recognize distinct practices in certain periods? Do we as researchers approach the phenomena of re-use in different or similar ways in terms of theoretical framing and interpretative models? Our aim in bringing together prehistoric, Classical and early Medieval researchers is to examine what each might learn from the other, thereby enriching the debate around the re-use of decorated stones and the use of the past in general.
Keywords:
Re-use, Spolia, Past in the past, Stone sculpture, Decorated stones
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Cecilia Ljung (Sweden) 1
Co-organisers:
Andrew Jones (Sweden) 1
Marta Diaz-Guardamino (United Kingdom) 2
Sigmund Oehrl (Norway) 3
Affiliations:
1. Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
2. Department of Archaeology, Durham University
3. University of Stavanger, Museum of Archaeology
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