The Materiality of Representation: A Preface

Nanoglou, Stratos

doi:10.1007/s10816-009-9067-y

Cited by 33 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Nanoglou's work (e.g. 2005;2009) from Moche, Peru, to discuss the material substances they were made of/for and their affordances and meanings as bodies. Nakamura and Meskell (2009) examined figurine making as performance (see also Meskell 2007), while Gheorghiu (2010) employed the methodological framework of experimental archaeology to explore figurine making as an embodied ritual.…”

Section: Figurine Studies and Sensorialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nanoglou's work (e.g. 2005; 2008; 2009) has problematized the materiality of representation, particularly exploring the affordances of clay and stone in the Neolithic figurines from central and northern Greece. Similarly, Weismantel and Meskell (2014) have focused on figurines from Çatalhöyük, Turkey, and human effigies from Moche, Peru, to discuss the material substances they were made of/for and their affordances and meanings as bodies.…”

Section: Figurine Studies and Sensorialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digital Sensoriality: The Neolithic Figurines from Koutroulou Magoula, Greece

Papadopoulos¹,

Hamilakis²,

Kyparissi‐Apostolika³

et al. 2019

CAJ

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The image-based discourse on clay figurines that treated them as merely artistic representations, the meaning of which needs to be deciphered through various iconological methods, has been severely critiqued and challenged in the past decade. This discourse, however, has largely shaped the way that figurines are depicted in archaeological iterations and publications, and it is this corpus of images that has in turn shaped further thinking and discussion on figurines, especially since very few people are able to handle the original, three-dimensional, physical objects. Building on the changing intellectual climate in figurine studies, we propose here a framework that treats figurines as multi-sensorial, affective and dynamic objects, acting within distinctive, relational fields of sensoriality. Furthermore, we situate a range of digital, computational methods within this framework in an attempt to deprive them of their latent Cartesianism and mentalism, and we demonstrate how we have applied them to the study of Neolithic figurines from the site of Koutroulou Magoula in Greece. We argue that such methodologies, situated within an experiential framework, not only provide new means of understanding, interpretation and dissemination, but, most importantly, enable researchers and the public to explore the sensorial affordances and affective potential of things, in the past as well as in the present.

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Section: Figurine Studies and Sensorialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figurine Studies and Sensorialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Sensoriality: The Neolithic Figurines from Koutroulou Magoula, Greece

Papadopoulos¹,

Hamilakis²,

Kyparissi‐Apostolika³

et al. 2019

CAJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The potency of the image rests in the materiality of the representation and engagement with representations within social contexts. When the body is materialized in representation, particular structuring principles—or aesthetics—affect choices about what material and technologies are used to make these images (see Nanoglou, 2009b). Aesthetics and structuring principles here are conflated somewhat, but are connected in the sense that they are inherently social, historical, and mediate relationships by expressing idealized principles and practices specific to society (Gell, 1998).…”

Section: Evoking the Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Materiality, Technology, and Constructing Social Knowledge through Bodily Representation: A View from Prehistoric Guernsey, Channel Islands

Kohring

2014

Eur. j. archaeol.

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The role of the human body in the creation of social knowledge-as an ontological and/or aesthetic category-has been applied across social theory. In all these approaches, the body is viewed as a locus for experience and knowledge. If the body is a source of subjective knowledge, then it can also become an important means of creating ontological categories of self and society. The materiality of human representations within art traditions, then, can be interpreted as providing a means for contextualizing and aestheticizing the body in order to produce a symbolic and structural knowledge category. This paper explores the effect of material choices and techniques of production when representing the human body on how societies order and categorize the world.

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“…An ongoing fascination with meaning coupled with an often scanty dataset and challenging archaeological contexts have led scholars to develop highly theoretical treatments that are particularly prominent in the literature on prehistoric European figurines (e.g. Hamilton 1996; Insoll 2017; Nanoglou 2005; 2008a,b; 2009; Talalay 1993; Ucko 1968) in which Meskell (2017, 17) notes that ‘it is in the study of prehistoric periods that much of the recent theoretical innovation [in figurine studies] has emerged’. Perhaps most influential among the more recent literature is Bailey's seminal monograph of 2005, in which he drew on frameworks of miniaturization and the human body from art history and cultural theory to posit a universal human reaction to certain visual and material aspects of the figurines.…”

Section: Introduction: Miniature Figurinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Materiality of Shabtis: Figurines over Four Millennia

Howley¹

2019

CAJ

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Miniature human figurines have inspired many theoretical advances in archaeological literature, centred around universal human reactions to the material affect of their form. However, confirmation that ancient audiences had such reactions to figurines can be difficult to access in the archaeological record. Egyptian shabtis, a type of funerary figurine, allow such reactions to be accessed by the archaeologist due to their widespread use throughout a long period of Egyptian history and their continuing popularity in other cultures since ancient times: evidence consists of a broad range of textual, artistic and archaeological data from many different cultures over a period of roughly 4000 years. This evidence confirms not only that ancient Egyptian craftsmen responded to and sought to maximize the material affect of the shabtis, but that a significant part of the human response to miniature human figurines is indeed conditioned by their material qualities, independent of the figurines’ original religious function and the cultural background of the viewer.

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The Materiality of Representation: A Preface

Cited by 33 publications

References 17 publications

Digital Sensoriality: The Neolithic Figurines from Koutroulou Magoula, Greece

Digital Sensoriality: The Neolithic Figurines from Koutroulou Magoula, Greece

Materiality, Technology, and Constructing Social Knowledge through Bodily Representation: A View from Prehistoric Guernsey, Channel Islands

The Materiality of Shabtis: Figurines over Four Millennia

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