Theme:
1. The Material Record: Current Trends and Future Directions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Embodied Identities: Unraveling Symbolic Threads through Ornaments, Garments, and Portable Objects
Content:
Personal ornaments, encompassing a diverse array of modified or unmodified objects, have left an indelible mark in the archaeological record. Beads, pendants, necklaces, bracelets, and other adornments crafted from natural and human-made materials seamlessly integrate with garments, collectively altering the body's appearance. Their visibility and durability suggest shared cultural significance beyond personal needs, prompting interactions within and between social groups. Worn to stand out within communities, distinguish from other groups, facilitate communication, denote status, role, marital status, age group, and tribal hierarchy, ornaments played a multifaceted role in societal dynamics throughout prehistory.
In parallel, recent research has shed light more broadly on portable symbolic elements of material culture like ornaments, plaques, and figurines, as well as tools and handheld devices with incisions or patterns. Despite receiving less scholarly attention than monumental structures, these items hold immense significance in understanding the symbol-making and communication traditions of prehistoric communities. They offer valuable insights into the lives and identities of individuals and groups, with contextual nuances revealing details in burials, domestic spaces, or waste deposits. Manufacturing techniques, decoration styles, and material composition provide essential information about artisans and systems of exchange.
This session welcomes contributions exploring evidence of body adornment practices and portable symbolic items, emphasizing their significance in shaping identities, meanings and symbolically charged communication. From personal ornaments in burial contexts to the interpretative potential of small finds, we invite diverse perspectives on diachronic changes, social systems, and innovative theoretical approaches to deepen our understanding of the intricate relationships between bodies, identities, and material culture throughout prehistory and beyond.
Keywords:
ornamentation practices, adornments meaning, identity, intercultural communication, social cognition, prehistory
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:
Aldona Kurzawska (Poland) 1
Co-organisers:
Emma Baysal (Turkey) 2
Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka (Poland) 3
Mattia Cartolano (Italy) 4
Sera Yelözer (Turkey) 5
Affiliations:
1. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences
2. Department of Archaeology, Ankara University
3. Faculty of Archaeology Adam Mickiewicz University
4. University of Bologna
5. National Geographic Society funded Small Things Big Stories Project
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