Mina Maria - An Archaeology of Prehistoric Bodies and Embodied Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean

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Front cover: Chalcolithic cruciform figurine from Pomos, Cyprus (Cyprus Museum, 1934/III-2/2). Photograph courtesy of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.

Contents

Introduction. The Archaeology of Bodies and the Eastern Mediterranean
John Robb

Polydactyly in Chalcolithic Figurines from Cyprus
Michelle Gamble, Christine Winkelmann and Sherry C. Fox

Figurines, Paint and the Perception of the Body in the Early Bronze Age Southern Aegean
Yiannis Papadatos

Thoughts on the Funerary Use of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) Cycladic Figurines: Iconography, Form, Context and Embodied Lives
Dimitra Goula

Composite, Partial, Created and Floating Bodies: a Re-Assessment of the Knossos Temple Repositories Assemblage
Fay Stevens and Anna Simandiraki-Grimshaw

Figurines and Complex Identities in Late Bronze Age Cyprus
Daisy Knox

Handlers and Viewers: Some Remarks on the Process of Perception of Terracotta Figurines on the Example of Cypriot Goddesses with Upraised Arms
Katarzyna Zeman-Winiewska

Re-Making the Self: Bodies, Identities and Materialities in Chalcolithic Cyprus
Diane Bolger

Pots and People: An Investigation of Individual and Collective Identities in Early Bronze Age Cyprus
Jennifer M. Webb

Dressed to Impress: Metal Objects and Embodied Identities in Early and Middle Bronze Age Cyprus
Maria Mina

Placed with Care: Interaction with Decorated Mycenaean Metal Vessels
Stephanie Aulsebrook

The Performative Body and Social Identity in the Room of the Fresco at Mycenae
Anne P. Chapin

Its War, not a Dance: Polarising Embodied Identities in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean from the End of the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, 1200700 BC
Manolis Mikrakis

Nuptial Vases in Female Tombs? Aspects of Funerary Behaviour during the Late Geometric Period in Attica
Vicky Vlachou

Turning into Stone: Rock Art and the Construction of Identities in Ancient Thrace
Stella Pilavaki

Lithics and Identity at the Middle Palaeolithic site of Lakonis Cave I, Southern Peloponnese, Greece
Paraskevi Elefanti and Eleni Panagopoulou

Picrolite and Other Stone Beads and Pendants: New Forms in an Old Material during the Transition from the Chalcolithic to the Cypriot Bronze Age
Giorgos Georgiou

The Embodiment of Land Ownership in the Aegean Early Bronze Age
Ourania Kouka

From Potters Mark to the Potter Who Marks
Kostis Christakis

Grasping Identity: Theoretically informed Human Bioarchaeology in or for the Eastern Mediterranean?
Kirsi O. Lorentz

Headshaping and Identity at Tell Nader
Konstantinos Kopanias and Sherry C. Fox

Constructing Identities by Ageing the Body in the Prehistoric Aegean: the View through the Human Remains
Sevi Triantaphyllou

Secondary Burials and the Construction of Group Identities in Crete between the Second Half of the 4th and 2nd Millennia BC
Luca Girella and Simona Todaro

Bodies in a Pickle: Burial Jars, Individualism and Group Identities in Middle Minoan Crete
Borja Legarra Herrero

Fire, Fragmentation and the Body in the Late Bronze Age Aegean
Yannis Galanakis

Spatial and Temporal Variability in Identity and Representation within the Bronze Age Cemeteries of Knossos, Crete
Eleni Hatzaki

Collective Selves and Funerary Rituals. Early Mycenaean Dromoi as Spaces of Negotiation and Embodiment of Social Identities
Nikolas Papadimitriou

Burning People, Breaking Things: Material Entanglements, the Bronze Age/Iron Age Transition and the Homeric Dividual
James Whitley

Epilogue: Bodies in the Eastern Mediterranean
Kostas Kotsakis

Preface and Acknowledgements

The essays included in this volume were originally presented at the conference Embodied Identities in the Prehistoric Eastern Mediterranean: Convergence of Theory and Practice , which was held in Nicosia, Cyprus on 1012 April 2012. The idea to organise an international conference that focused on the body stemmed from the realisation that many of us archaeologists working in the eastern Mediterranean often touch on the subject of bodies, each in his or her own field of expertise, but rarely are the results of our research discussed within a common framework of the archaeology of the body. The aims of the conference were threefold: (a) to instigate a dialogue between archaeologists who study aspects relating to the body, (b) to encourage archaeologists working in the eastern Mediterranean to reappraise archaeological evidence through body-focused theoretical and methodological approaches, and (c) to highlight the way an archaeology of the body can contribute to a nuanced understanding of prehistoric cultures of the eastern Mediterranean. By encouraging the contributors to discuss their topics with relevance to their particular sets of data, we also aimed to bridge the gap that occasionally occurs between the disciplines often ambitious theoretical pursuits and the actual application of methodological strategies on the archaeological record.

Recent archaeological research has raised awareness about the relevance of the body in understanding collective and individual identities, shared or subjective experiences, symbolic meanings, existential perceptions, and social and cultural practices in past societies. This growing interest in body-focused research is also reflected in the bibliography related to the eastern Mediterranean, as indicated by the works of Hamilakis (2004; 2012), Knapp and Meskell (1997), Morris and Peatfield (2002), Meskell and Joyce (2003), Malafouris (2008), Lorentz (2009), Bulger and Joyce (2012), Simandiraki-Grimshaw (2015), to name but a few. This collection of essays, therefore, aims to contribute to past and ongoing archaeological research in the eastern Mediterranean that relates to the role of the body and embodiment in shaping prehistoric identities. The publication of this volume also reflects the conferences original scope which was to connect archaeologists working in the eastern Mediterranean, beyond the regional limits of their area of expertise, to the broader debates currently contested in the archaeology of the body. Furthermore, the essays included in this volume throw new light on already known and even new sets of data of the prehistoric eastern Mediterranean, but also open up the field to a discourse with archaeologists working in different parts of the world.

The content of the volume reflects the range of themes that were originally presented at the conference and portrays a picture of the areas of interest that occupy archaeologists working in the eastern Mediterranean. Regarding the organisation of the book, we have deliberately avoided grouping the essays according to chronological or regional criteria that would only serve to reproduce the restrictions of old scholarly traditions. By breaking down regional or chronological barriers, therefore, the volume brings together essays that highlight how different sets of data can contribute to our knowledge about themes that pertain to the perception, construction and performance of prehistoric identities. A final point that should be addressed is that the volume is heavily dominated by essays largely written by archaeologists trained in the Anglo-American tradition that focus on the archaeology of the Aegean and Cyprus. Admittedly, we deeply regret the absence of essays on the archaeology of the Balkans (with the exception of Greece), Anatolia, the Levant and the north-eastern African coast, which is nevertheless telling about the dominant trends in the research pursuits in these archaeological fields, the deeply rooted scholarly traditions, and even the hindrances that may be caused by the current state of political affairs in the wider region. Another trend that is apparent in the range of essays included in the volume is a heavy bias towards the Bronze Age, as opposed to earlier periods, which on one hand may be explained in relation to the availability of archaeological evidence, but on the other may also betray archaeologists uneasiness to apply body-centred theory to a less robust archaeological record.