A Very Early “Fashion”: Neolithic Stone Bracelets from a Mediterranean Perspective

Ring-shaped objects, used mainly as bracelets, appear in the archaeological record associated with the first farming societies around the Mediterranean area. These bracelets, among other personal ornaments, are related to the spread of the farming economy in the Mediterranean (10th–6th millennium BC). In particular, stone bracelets, given their intricate technology, are linked with the early stages of craft specialization and the beginnings of complex social organization. Likewise, their frequency in Early Neolithic assemblages and the lithologies in which they were made have become an important element in the study of the circulation networks of goods, as well as the symbolic behaviors and aesthetic preferences of the first farming groups. This research provides the first overview of the stone bracelets of Neolithic groups in the Mediterranean. We compare the similarities and differences among these ornaments in different geographical zones across the region including Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain. Using all the information available about these ornaments – chronology, typology, raw materials and manufacturing processes, use-wear, repair, and alteration practices – we shed light on a complex archaeological trans-cultural manifestation related to the spread of the Neolithic lifestyle across the European continent.

Textiles

As with many crafts, textiles and their production have been a poor relation in studies of ancient Egypt, and even today a detailed academic description of a stele or relief is more likely to concentrate on artistic merit, hieroglyphs, role, and status with only the most basic description of clothing. The study of textiles has been seen as a gendered (female)—non-archaeological (museum and craft)—specialization, and only recently has this changed. This chapter seeks to place textiles and clothing at the heart of our understanding of Egyptian society as the main signifier of gender, status, and personal wealth. It also briefly addresses how wealth was measured in the ancient world and the impact of textiles on land use and the economy.

Prehistoric Western Asia

This chapter deals with prehistoric Western Asia, ca. 9500–4000 BC, when this region was the focus of a series of far-reaching socioeconomic developments that were to change the world. Early in this period a gradual shift occurred from a mobile hunter-gatherer way of life to sustained settlement in villages that were increasingly dependent upon farming. Later on, social ranking, economic intensification, and craft specialization emerged at sites throughout the Middle East (Anatolia, Iran, Mesopotamia, and the Levant), laying the foundations for the earliest urban societies in the region. The chapter argues that these changes, far from being unilateral or monolithic, reflect significant multicultural developments and long-lasting trajectories of regional differentiation, requiring the agency of innumerable individuals and generations over millennia.

Standardization of ceramic shape: A case study from the Iron Age pottery from northeastern Taiwan

The emergence of ceramic specialization in prehistoric societies is often linked to shifts in the complexity of social structures, because standardized ceramic production can reflect craft specialization and the presence of elite control. Previous work on identifying specialization relies on typological or linear metric analysis. Here we demonstrate how to investigate ceramic standardization by analyzing outlines of ceramic vessels. Outline analysis is useful because, unlike more commonly-used landmark analysis methods, it can effectively quantify shape differences for objects that lack distinctive measurement points needed for landmark analysis. We demonstrate this method using pottery from Kiwulan, a large multi-component Iron Age site (AD 1350-1850) in northeastern Taiwan. To measure ceramic specialization, we quantified pottery standardization by analyzing shape variables with reproducible geometric morphometric methods. We computed coefficients of variation (CVs) for shape coefficients obtained by elliptical Fourier analysis to test for shape standardization. We found significant differences in pottery shape and shape standardization that indicate changes in pottery production resulting from contact with mainland Han Chinese groups in northeastern Taiwan. Our case study, which includes an openly available research compendium of R code, represents an innovative application of outline-based methods in geometric morphometry to answer the anthropological questions of craft specialization.

Politura and Polychromy on Ancient Marble Sculpture

The highly nuanced surface polishes evident on marble sculptures from the later Greek and Roman periods were integral to their material and polychrome aesthetics in antiquity. This paper reconsiders these polishes (L. politura, -ae) that remain often summarily described and little examined. Aspects of the textual, archaeological, and physical evidence for polishes on marble sculpture are critically commented upon and post-antique assumptions about the techniques and intended viewing of polished marble surfaces are critiqued. The polishes on marble statuary may be profitably compared to other translucent painted media, including the ancient tradition of painted glass, exemplified by the little-known Paris Plate, and the larger, diverse range of translucent stone sculpture in antiquity. These comparisons form a basis for rethinking common assumptions about polished white marble, its relative status in antiquity, and the craft specialization of ancient sculptors.