Artefact Studies

It has long been argued that any clay tobacco pipes found in New Zealand were either the result of imports from Europe, or quite small scale production of pipes in Australia. Recent research, prompted by a chance find in the New Zealand newspaper archives, however, now seems to suggest that pipes were being manufactured in New Zealand from the early 1880s through to at least 1908, using locally sourced materials.

In C. Houlbrook and N. Armitage (eds.) The Materiality of Magic: an Artefactual Investigation into Ritual Practices and Popular Beliefs. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 37-64.


This paper is based on the presentation I gave at TAG in 2012 in the session organised by Ceri Houlbrook and Natalie Armitage. It examines materialities of magic on Iron Age and Romano-British settlement sites, and using a few select case
studies, explores some of the interfaces between archaeological theory and practice. In particular, it examines the problems of excavating and recording the potential evidence for ritualised or magical practices on developer-funded archaeological sites in Britain, and critiques  current excavation and post-excavation methodologies. It also comments on the often negative influence of archaeological consultants on project budgets and timetables, and ultimately, on the production of archaeological knowledge itself.

“Phoenician” culture is one that has often been stereotyped and defined based on these stereotypes. Consequently, it became a self-fulfilled prophecy. Is “Phoenician” identity trapped in pre-constructed spatio-temporal frames and ideas of what it should be? The following paper seeks to answer this question by looking at the material culture of the central Levantine coast during the Iron Age, especially in three main aspects: material culture of production, consumption, and the supernatural. The case studies that illustrate each aspect are examined in a framework which takes into account the regional and temporal contexts and seek to establish their uniqueness in relation to the surrounding region and the preceding era. They show that the stereotypes are the result of technologies that are spread around the Mediterranean; and that while “Phoenician” identity is deeply rooted into the Late Bronze Age, the spatial picture is much more complex as it is very fragmented and raises the problem of boundaries.

Studies of Iron Age artefacts from Britain tend to be dominated either by the study of metalwork, or pottery. This thesis presents a study not only of a different material, but also a different type of object: glass beads. These are found in a range of different sizes, shapes, colours, and employ a variety of different decorative motifs. Thus far, glass beads have been studied through typology (Guido 1978a) and compositional analysis (Bertini 2012; Henderson 1982), yet a thorough analysis of the social context of glass beads remains absent.

Through an analysis of glass beads from four key study regions in Britain, this thesis aims not only to address regional differences in appearance and chronology, but also to explore the role that this object played within the networks and relationships that constructed Iron Age society. It seeks to understand how they were used during their lives and how they came to be deposited within the archaeological record, in order to establish the social processes that glass beads were bound within.

The results indicate that glass beads were a strongly regionalised artefact, potentially reflecting differing local preferences for colour and motif. In addition, glass beads, in combination with several other types of object, were integral to Middle Iron Age dress. Given that the first century BC is often seen as a turning point in terms of settlements and material culture, this supports the possibility of strong continental exchange during an earlier period for either glass beads or raw materials. However, by the Late Iron Age in the first century BC and early first century AD, their use had severely diminished.

Les haches miniatures du canton de Fribourg Plusieurs sites du canton ont livré des haches miniatures, des époques protohistorique et romaine. La forme et les décors que certaines d'entre elles présentent en font des objets particuliers, intéressants à plus d'un titre.

The impressive front of the Dalem brooch is frequently depicted while the back is often neglected. In this chapter the brooch is studied from a craft perspective which shows that a study of both sides is essential for a full understanding of how the brooch was made. The details reveal access to specialized tools and materials, and a high level of skill, knowledge and creativity. They seem to indicate that the team of fine metalworkers included a master smith with enough experience and confidence to play with techniques and motifs. It is also likely that designs and knowledge were exchanged with other craftspeople. We do not know where the Dalem brooch was made, but it is very likely to have been an elite residence. It is argued that the master smith may have played an active and visible role in these places comparable to that of skalds in the later part of the Iron Age.

The artefacts discovered during archaeological excavations carried out in Bezławki have been divided into three categories, namely a) adornments and objects made from alloys of copper and silver, b) building equipment, utilitarian and military articles made mainly from iron, c) pottery and ceramic building materials.
The ceramics category is represented by about 300 pieces of mostly medieval and modern pottery. The continuous deposits contained small quantities of the so-called grey potter from the 14th and 15th centuries. Most frequently, they were fragments of pots and jugs. Fragments of older dish-shaped vessel tiles and younger panel tiles were also found. Ceramic building materials included mainly fragments of bricks as well as floor and roof tiles.
The above-mentioned artfecats are associated with subsequent phases of the occupancy of the hill. Most of them are accidental finds, typical of church property that was not permanently occupied and where big numbers of people came and went over centuries. Only isolated artefacts date from the 14th and 15th centuries when there was a Teutonic outpost at the site.

From the Middle Paleolithic onwards, pigments have been used variably in different social and ritual activities as well as in the expression of symbolism through material culture (e.g., Brooks et al. ; D’Errico ). In the Levant and Anatolia, symbolic practices with pigments became increasingly common in the epipaleolithic and pre-pottery Neolithic periods (e.g., Bocquentin and Garrard ; Goring-Morris, Hovers, and Belfer-Cohen ; Richter et al. ; Baird ; Baird et al. ).

It is our pleasure to introduce the Distant Worlds Journal (DWJ), an online peer-reviewed journal established especially for presenting the research of early-career scholars on the ancient world. In seeking to encompass a broad range of distinct academic fields, each edition of the DWJ takes as its starting point a question or specific topic pertinent to the diverse disciplines engaged in the study of ancient cultures. In our opening edition, " Continuities and Changes of Meaning " , we thus wish to take up a question that both scrutinises and captures the very essence of scholarly endeavour: how does the meaning of an object change – or resist change? – throughout its " life " both in the past and, as an object of academic research, in the present? It was our aim in choosing this topic to not only address the changing functions, contexts, and interpretations of objects in antiquity, but also to prob-lematise our own modes of interpreting the (material and textua...

Volume 1: Main body of thesis (text)
Volume 2: Catalogue of objects

This thesis provides a comprehensive comparison and analysis of portable inscribed objects from all ethno-linguistic cultures in early medieval Britain and Ireland, in the period between the post-Roman era (c. AD 400) and ending just after the Norman Conquest (c. AD 1100).  It looks at the relationships between people and objects, observing differences in inscribing practices between object types, the application of text onto material culture, and the differences and similarities of the types of inscriptions found on these objects.  Where past research has placed focus on only a single script, culture, or object type, this thesis is the first to combine all Insular scripts (runes, Roman, ogham) and languages (Old English, Old Norse, Latin, Irish/Early Gaelic) on portable objects from all major cultures in early medieval Britain and Ireland (Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Pict, Irish, Scots). In total, 270 objects are catalogued and discussed, consisting of personal adornments and dress accessories, household and personal tools, weaponry and armour, ecclesiastical objects and church equipment, objects related to writing and reading in learned environments, funerary and memorial-related objects, and objects that cannot be identified but are categorised by raw material (i.e. metal, bone, stone). The types of object show a trend towards inscribing jewellery and dress accessories in Anglo-Saxon contexts and scripts (runes and Roman letters), whilst most of the objects of Scandinavian character and text (only runes) are made of ephemeral material including complete and incomplete pieces of bone and antler. Objects with ogham inscriptions follow a similar pattern and are primarily inscribed onto tools made of antler and bone, but, like the inscriptions in Scandinavian runes, can also be found on metal dress accessories and household items.

To analyse these objects in their social, personal, and political environments, this thesis employs the theories of object biography, gift and social exchange, and agency to look at the contexts in which the objects were used and inscribed and to consider the purposes behind the inscriptions. Additionally, ideas behind the power of writing and text, in particular those texts that are described as ‘gibberish’ or non-lexical, gives insight into how text was perceived and used in those cultures that engaged with it and how this evolved over time. The inscriptions include personal names and statements of ownership, maker, and commissioner, demonstrating direct relationships between people and things, and religious texts indicating that objects were used as vehicles for devotion and faith. This thesis has revealed that a wide variety of objects were given text in early medieval Britain and Ireland. It presents new and different perspectives on concepts of cultural and personal identity in regard to the study of material culture, providing discussions that are consistently growing and evolving as more objects and inscriptions are discovered each year.

Within the past twenty years, Roman household archaeology has experienced a shift towards analyses of find distributions, as undertaken e.g. by P.M. Allison, J. Berry and B. Sigges. The basic idea of this method is expressed by L. Nevett, who differentiates between static (architecture, wall and floor decoration) and movable (objects to be used) elements of ancient houses. She regards objects as indicators for “small-scale, short term activities” that have actually taken place (Nevett 2010, 96), whereas architecture as a given ‘container’ can only reflect an intended use of rooms.
When trying to trace the activities of female household members within the house, this method seems an appropriate way to overcome solely text based analyses. The proposed paper therefore has a twofold structure: The first part presents what is usually referred to as “mundus muliebris” in literary, epigraphic and archaelogical sources. The second part of the paper exsamines the distribution of those kinds of objects which have been presented as female attributes; the Insula del Menandro in Pompeii, whose finds have been exemplary published (considering the circumstances of the excavation of Pompeii), will serve as a sample.
The paper has a clearly methodological focus rather than actually discussing women’s economic role, but this general approach can help rethinking the possibilities and limits of tracing certain persons and their activities within the ancient house. Therefore, the paper aims to show how far the analysis of find distributions can take us and which problems we have to face. At first sight, there seems to be a strong coherence of textual and material sources on the role of women within the domestic sphere, but we have to consider which kind of activities can only be traced by this method and how many appropriate samples there are for studies like this.

The material and the visual are combined in the archaeological record. Design and style of artefacts, but also different technological choices (e.g. materials, tools, and methods) participate actively in the production, reproduction and transformation of sociocultural meanings and values. These aspects become more pronounced when we consider long-term trends and developments.
The study of visual culture is closely related to the study of art objects and images, but we seek to expand the discussion on portable material culture that is not necessarily perceived as ‘art’. Decorated everyday items, dress accessories, and weapons can be named as examples of such objects. These items were often locally produced and can be seen as indicators of everyday visual culture. We would like to discuss the changes in the social, cultural and religious environments that affect design, style and iconography of portable material culture. We are interested in the dynamics of transformation, whether the changes took place gradually or rather abruptly and what was the scale of the changes in the visual culture (e.g. restricted to certain artefact types or used as a cross- reference between different artefact categories).
We welcome contributions that examine these topics and we would be particularly interested in papers that focus on a long-term perspective. This view helps to see a bigger picture, which is necessary for more balanced narratives about specific ideas (e.g. the spread of Christianity). The aim of this session is to bring together a wide range of case studies across all periods and places in Europe that enables insights into how the concept of visual culture can be expanded and explored in archaeology.

A new 2 year AHRC-funded research project, " Roman and Late Antique Artefacts from Egypt: Understanding society and culture " , began in June 2017 led by Ellen Swift (Principal Investigator; University of Kent), with April Pudsey (Co-Investigator; Manchester Metropolitan University) and Jo Stoner (Research Associate; University of Kent). The project is the first in-depth study of Roman and Late Antique Egypt that uses everyday artefacts as its principal source of evidence; it aims to enhance our understanding of social experience, social relations, and cultural interactions, among the population of Egypt in this period. UK museums hold significant collections of artefacts from Roman and Late Antique Egypt as a result of late nineteenth and early twentieth century archaeological excavations, yet most of these objects have never been studied systematically, from a social perspective. The project will study artefacts from the collection of UCL's Petrie Museum in Bloomsbury, London, one of the largest and best-documented in the UK. The research will bring together specialists in the interpretation of ancient Egyptian texts on papyrus, and archaeological artefacts, drawing on new methodologies and interpretative approaches including the 3D scanning and the experimental recreation of objects. Our exhibition at UCL's Petrie museum towards the end of the project, open to the general public, will present our research on the Petrie collection of Roman musical instruments in particular, displaying the originals, and prototypes & replicas made via 3D scanning/printing technology. Visitors will be able to experience the sounds of the artefacts, handle and play the replica items, and learn how the artefacts would have been used to create particular experiences, for instance in religious and ritual activities. Please see the project blog at the following address:
http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/egypt-artefacts/blog/