Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East
Exhibiting an imaginative materiality, showing a genealogical nature
Edited by Silvana Di Paolo
Paperback (Published)
(May 2018)
ISBN: 9781784918538
8.07 x 11.42 inches
Price: $48.00
In stock
This volume represents a first attempt to conceptualise the construction and use of composite artefacts in the Ancient Near East by looking at the complex relationships between environments, materials, societies and materiality.
Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East: Exhibiting an imaginative materiality, showing a genealogical nature’ examines the complex relationship between environment, materials, society and materiality with particular reference to the composite artefacts in the ancient Near East. On the one hand are the objective and natural attributes of materials, possibly exalted from their transformation: a form of fascination immanent in all kind of technical activity which promotes the transition from the ordinary into an ‘extra-ordinary’ realm, imbuing the object with new meaning. On the other hand is the idea that properties of materials are not fixed attributes of ‘matters’, but are processual as well as relational: the qualities of artefacts are subjective and are included in the worldview of artisans making them, as well as in the mind of who observes who appreciate them. Thus, the craftsmanship is oriented towards the achievement of sophisticated products through assemblage techniques and the blending of contrasting properties and qualities of materials. The term ‘composite’ is a combination of the power of technology and the ability to form new images: the strict relationship between creativity, technology and manufacture produces novel interactions and solutions. Although the primary concern of this volume is to provide specific case studies in which theoretical assumptions and hypotheses can be applied to the ancient evidence, most of the papers take not only the general perspective, such as the relationship between materials and humans, but also a defined body of evidence – material, textual and visual through which they address the issue. This volume represents a first attempt to conceptualise the construction and use of composite artefacts: the richness of approaches, the development of new issues depending on specific case studies, and the overturning of widely accepted ideas, show the interest towards this category of objects and the opportunity to enlarge this field study in the future.
Silvana Di Paolo – Introduction: New Lines of Enquiry for Composite Artefacts? ;
Section 1. The Planning: Materiality and Imagination
Silvana Di Paolo – From Hidden to Visible. Degrees of Mental and Material Construction of an ‘Integrated Whole’ in the Ancient Near East ;
Alessandro Di Ludovico – A Composite Look at the Composite Wall Decorations in the Early History of Mesopotamia ;
Section 2. Symbols in Action
Chikako Watanabe – Composite Animals Representing the Property of Thunder in Mesopotamia. ;
Elisa Roßberger – Shining, Contrasting, Enchanting: Composite Artefacts from the Royal Tomb of Qatna ;
Megan Cifarelli – Entangled Relations over Geographical and Gendered Space: Multi-Component Personal Ornaments at Hasanlu [Open Access: Download]
Section 3. Sum of Fragments, Sum of Worlds
Jean M. Evans – Composing Figural Traditions in the Mesopotamian Temple ;
Frances Pinnock – Polymaterism in Early Syrian Ebla ;
Anna Paule – Near Eastern Materials, Near Eastern Techniques, Near Eastern Inspiration: Colourful Jewellery from Prehistoric, Protohistoric and Archaic Cyprus
- Edited by Silvana Di Paolo
Other Titles in this Series
Stone Tools in the Ancient Near East and Egypt
Ground stone tools, rock-cut installations and stone vessels from Prehistory to Late Antiquity
What Difference Does Time Make? Papers from the Ancient and Islamic Middle East and China in Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Midwest Branch of the American Oriental Society
New Research on Old Collections in Southwest Asian Archaeology
Proceedings of the Workshop Held at the British Museum, London, 31 July – 2 August, 2023
Penser l’espace en Mésopotamie : contributions à la compréhension spatiale à travers les aménagements
Scripta memoriae Jean-Claude Margueron dedicata
Too Much Writing, Too Few Scribes: Extra-Scribal Writing in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean (1650-1100 BCE)
Mortals, Deities and Divine Symbols: Rethinking Ancient Images from the Levant to Mesopotamia
Studies Offered to Tallay Ornan
Similar Books
Ḫattušaš utnē išḫameški
Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Piotr Taracha on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
Telling Contexts
Archaeological and Textual Studies in Honor of Elizabeth Bloch-Smith and Mark S. Smith
Die Entwicklung erdbebensicherer Bautechniken in der Frühen und Mittleren Eisenzeit in Ostanatolien
Volume 11
Kultur – Kontakt – Kultur
Beiträge anlässlich der 66. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Frankfurt/Main und Mainz, 25.–29. Juli 2022
Volume 35
Sprachwissenschaftliche und kulturhistorische Reflexionen
Festschrift zu Ehren von Jörg Klinger
Volume 31
A Numismatic History of Barikot
Catalogue and Analysis of the Coin Finds from the Excavations at Bir-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai (Barikot), Swat, Pakistan (1984-2022) Pakistan (1984-2022). With a contribution by Luca M. Olivieri
Volume 69
Alexander the Great and the Campaign of Gaugamela
New Research on Topography and Chronology. IAMNI 1 (Italian Archaeological Mission to Northern Iraq)
Volume 53
Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia II: From Prehistoric Times to the End of the Iron Ages
Proceedings of the 2nd Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia Colloquium, 23-25 April 2021, Online (Arkeolojihaber Youtube Channel)
Volume 43
Assyria and the West
A Fresh Look at the Unshakeable Pillars of Late Bronze and Iron Age Chronology in the Eastern Mediterranean World
Autocratic Rule in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 14th Melammu Workshop, Krakow, 46 October 2021
Volume 12
Boğazköy Tablets in the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations (Bo 95–Bo 3993)
Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesinde Bulunan Boğazköy Tabletleri (Bo 95–Bo 3993)
Volume 3
Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue – Volume 2
Sessions 3, 7 and 8 from the Conference Broadening Horizons 6 Held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019
Ceramic Finds in Context (Roman to Early Islamic Times)
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project VII
Volume 13
Christian Settlements and Monasteries in the Northern Judaean Shephelah and the Western Samaria Hills during the Byzantine Period
From Egypt to the Levant and Beyond
African Individuals and Groupsain Cuneiform Texts from the Late Bronze Age
Volume 133
Groundbreaking Technologies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant
8igh Resolution and Multi-scale Functional Analysis of Ground Stone Tools
Volume 3
It All Began with Stratigraphy and Chronology
Archaeology in Central Anatolia. Festschrift Dedicated to Sachihiro Omura on his 77th Birthday
Khirbet al-Khalde
Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023
Volume 2
