Overview

This fourth volume of the series dedicated to the excavations of Adaima is devoted to the ornaments discovered in the tombs of the site. The study concerns more than three hundred ornaments found in the graves of one hundred and eighty-seven burials. Their description, as well as that of the graves, is available on the downloadable online catalogue. Three fields relating to ornamentation are discussed: technique, aesthetics and the function of ornaments in the funeral ritual. These three spheres of material culture have been treated separately, but they are strongly embedded in social realities. Their separation makes it possible to methodically deal with various aspects of ornamentation. Nesting these spheres and examining the specificities of each in the light of the others opens up the fields for a holistic study of archaeological adornment. From the perspective of a technical systems approach, the analysis of the chaines operatoires was favoured. Multifactorial statistical analyses were used to describe the ornamental traditions. The analysis of funerary practices coupled with a use-wear analysis has highlighted the uses and meanings of ornaments in funeral ceremonies. The functional study distinguishes two levels of use before depositing: showing traces of wear, they come from the world of the living; unused, they were specifically designed for funerals. We can therefore offer several hypotheses regarding their functions, each of which can be combined with the others: signs of prestige, apotropaic or viatic value, link or marker of identity.

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