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Craft Traditions of the Ancient Mediterranean

Material Culture, Knowledge Networks, and Technological Change

Edited by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Lin Foxhall, Ann Brysbaert

To Be Published September 15th 2013 by Routledge – 272 pages

Series: Routledge Studies in Archaeology

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Description

This edited volume investigates knowledge networks based on materials and associated technologies in Prehistoric Europe and the Classical Mediterranean. It emphasises the significance of material objects to the construction, maintenance, and collapse of networks of various forms – which are central to explanations of cultural contact and change. Focusing on the materiality of objects and on the way in which materials are used adds a multidimensional quality to networks. The properties, functions, and styles of different materials are intrinsically linked to the way in which knowledge flows and technologies are transmitted. Transmission of technologies from one craft to another is one of the main drivers of innovation, whilst sharing knowledge is enabled and limited by the extent of associated social networks in place.

Archaeological research has often been limited to studying objects made of one particular material in depth, be it lithic materials, ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood or others. The knowledge flow and transfer between crafts that deal with different materials have often been overlooked. This book takes a fresh approach to the reconstruction of knowledge networks by integrating two or more craft traditions in each of its chapters. The authors, well-known experts and early career researchers, provide concise case studies that cover a wide range of materials. The scope of the book extends from networks of craft traditions to implications for society in a wider sense: materials, objects, and the technologies used to make and distribute them are interwoven with social meaning. People make objects, but objects make people – the materiality of objects shapes our understanding of the world and our place within it. In this book, objects are treated as clues to social networks of different sorts that can be contrasted and compared, both spatially and diachronically.

Contents

1. Introduction Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Lin Foxhall, and Ann Brysbaert 2. Material and Craft Networks in the Prehistory of Asia Minor Bleda S. Düring 3. Metalwork Exchange Networks in Chalcolithic Italy: Facts or Fictions? Andrea Dolfini 4. Buildings that Wrap Objects and Objects that Wrap Buildings Lesley McFadyen and Ana Vale 5. Talking Shop: Multicraft Workshop Materialities in Prehistoric Tiryns, Greece Ann Brysbaert 6. Glass Technology in Mycenaean Greece: Tracing the Networks of Origins, Evolution and Exchange in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean Kalliopi Nikita 7. Temporality, Materiality and Women’s Networks: The Production and Manufacture of Loom Weights in the Greek and Indigenous Communities of Southern Italy Alessandro Quercia and Lin Foxhall 8. Chasing Spools: Ceremonial Textiles and Elite Networks in Early Iron Age Europe Margarita Gleba 9. Interactions between Basketry and Pottery in Early Iron Age Attica Judit Lebegye 10. Tracing the Network Behind the Pot: Pottery Production and Networking at Athens during the Eleventh Century BCE Rik Vaessen 11. Skeuomorphic Pottery and Consumer Feedback Processes in the Ancient Mediterranean Justin St. P. Walsh 12. Materials Make People: How Technologies Help Shaping Figurines in Early Iron Age Central Europe Katharina Rebay-Salisbury 13. Signs from the Past: Ornaments on Shields Marion Uckelmann 14. Discussion Marcia-Ann Dobres

Author Bio

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury is Project Manager and Research Associate in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, UK. Her research centres on studying human representations, identities and social relations in the Late Bronze and Iron Age of Central Europe. Before moving to Leicester, Dr. Rebay-Salisbury worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK. Together with Marie Louise Sørensen she investigated changing burial rites in the European Bronze Age, in particular focusing on the introduction of cremation.

Lin Foxhall is Professor of Greek Archaeology and History at the University of Leicester, UK. She has also held posts at Oxford University and University College London. At present she is the Principal Investigator of the large collaborative research programme ‘Tracing networks’ funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Her research expertise falls squarely between Archaeology and Ancient History, with a focus on archaic and classical Greece.

Ann Brysbaert is Professor in Archaeology and Ancient Materials and Technologies at DIKEMES, Greece as well as Honorary Lecturer at the University of Leicester, UK. Together with Lin Foxhall she initiated the Tracing Networks programme in 2007. For 2010-2012, she was awarded a Senior Humboldt

Name: Craft Traditions of the Ancient Mediterranean: Material Culture, Knowledge Networks, and Technological Change (Hardback) – Routledge 
Description: Edited by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Lin Foxhall, Ann Brysbaert. This edited volume investigates knowledge networks based on materials and associated technologies in Prehistoric Europe and the Classical Mediterranean. It emphasises the significance of material objects to the construction, maintenance, and collapse of...
Categories: History of Art & Design, Material Culture, Classical Greek & Roman Archaeology, Art