Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity: A Global Archaeological Perspective

Author:   Hannah V. Mattson
Publisher:   Oxbow Books
ISBN:  

9781789255959


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   06 May 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity: A Global Archaeological Perspective


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Overview

Objects of adornment have been a subject of archaeological, historical, and ethnographic study for well over a century. Within archaeology, personal ornaments have traditionally been viewed as decorative embellishments associated with status and wealth, materialisations of power relations and social strategies, or markers of underlying social categories such as those related to gender, class, and ethnic affiliation. Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity seeks to understand these artefacts not as signals of steady, pre-existing cultural units and relations, but as important components in the active and contingent constitution of identities. Drawing on contemporary scholarship on materiality and relationality in archaeological and social theory, this book uses one genre of material culture - items of bodily adornment - to illustrate how humans and objects construct one another. Providing case studies spanning 10 countries, three continents, and more than 9,000 years of human history, the authors demonstrate the myriad and dynamic ways personal ornaments were intertwined with embodied practice and identity performativity, the creation and remaking of social memories, and relational collections of persons, materials, and practices in the past. The authors' careful analyses of production methods and composition, curation/heirlooming and reworking, decorative attributes and iconography, position within assemblages, and depositional context illuminate the varied material and relational axes along which objects of adornment contained social value and meaning. When paired with the broad temporal and geographic scope collectively represented by these studies, we gain a deeper appreciation for the subtle but vital roles these items played in human lives.

Full Product Details

Author:   Hannah V. Mattson
Publisher:   Oxbow Books
Imprint:   Oxbow Books
ISBN:  

9781789255959


ISBN 10:   1789255953
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   06 May 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

1. Personal adornment and identity construction in archaeology: An introduction Hannah V. Mattson 2. Continuity in ornament traditions: What details can tell us. Perforated shell from the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition at Franchthi Cave (Greece) Catherine Perles 3. Costume and identity in Pacific Nicaragua Geoffrey McCafferty and Sharisse McCafferty 4. Performing place-based identity: Dress, language and acculturation strategies in the Nahua world Justyna Olko 5. Forging identity: The social and symbolic significance of torques in the Iron Age Castro Culture Nadya H. Prociuk 6. Disc-on-bow and penannular brooches: Exploring aesthetics, traditions and political change in the Early Viking Age Zanette Glorstad 7. Itineraries and networks of the Mission San Joseph de Sapala beads Elliot H. Blair, Richard W. Jefferies, and Christopher R. Moore 8. Material histories of African beads: The role of personal ornaments in cultural change Carla Klehm 9. The dynamism of dress items in the Period IVb mortuary assemblages at Hasanlu, Iran Megan Cifarelli 10. A relational perspective on ornaments in pre-Hispanic ritual deposits in the northern U.S. Southwest Hannah V. Mattson 11. Assembling ornament and assembling identity Julian Thomas

Reviews

Having read this book, you will have a clear and up to date overview of the deep possibilities jewellery research has to offer: not just for archaeological pieces, but for any type of personal adornment. * Bedouin Silver *


Author Information

Hannah V. Mattson is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. She is a specialist in the American Southwest and material culture, particularly focusing on issues surrounding social identity, ritual practice, and craft production and exchange.

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