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Daily Negotiations with Materiality: Re–Assembling Halaf Ornamentation
Belcher, E.
Belcher, E.
Publication Date
2023-11
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(c) 2023 Rijksmuseum van Oudheden and the authors.
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Yes
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openAccess
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Abstract
In this paper we consider the making, daily use and deposition of ornaments in the Halaf period. We seek to move beyond rigid ‘craft production’ interpretive frameworks intersecting symbolism, complexity and social inequality. Instead, we seek different ways of knowing prehistoric ornaments, through their materiality, assemblage and visuality as evidence of ambiguous mutable person-object relationships and experiences. Making and decoration of/with ornaments offers insights into social concepts of embodiment, personhood, identity and belonging, and should be interpreted as having ambiguous, multiple uses and meanings. Using six case studies of ornament types from excavated assemblages, we critically examine existing methods of small finds’ presentation and suggest more dynamic ways of artefact analysis, interpretation and publication. We present this interpretative model as a methodology applicable broadly to small find studies in all archaeological contexts. In our analysis we re-orient towards considering assemblages of dynamic communities of makers, users and identities embedded in these objects’ life histories.
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Published version
Citation
Belcher E and Croucher K (2023) Daily Negotiations with Materiality: Re–Assembling Halaf Ornamentation. In: Düring BS and Akkermans PMMG (Eds) Style and society in the prehistory of West Asia. Essays in Honour of Olivier P. Nieuwenhuyse. PALMA: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities (volume 29) Leiden : Sidestone Press. Pp. 115-134.
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Type
Book chapter