Type 'Minoan' Crete or 'Minoan civilization' (the societies of Crete in the third and second mill... more Type 'Minoan' Crete or 'Minoan civilization' (the societies of Crete in the third and second millennium bc) in any Google search, and some of the fi rst images you will get depict animals, either on their own, or interacting with humans. It is through animal imagery to a large extent that this cultural formation has become known worldwide, ever since its archaeological discovery or rather archaeological remake and constitution at the start of the twentieth century. The bull-leaping scenes from Knossos, for example, or the bull's head rhyta (vessels thought to have been used for libations) often embody Minoan-ness as a whole. To a large extent, it is animals that have constructed and popularized the image of 'Minoan' Crete in modernity. We will argue in this paper that in prehistory too it was the intricate entangle-ment of humans with other animals (along with things and environments) that co-shaped the 'Minoan phenomenon'. Moreover, such interaction cannot be easily confi ned within the 'wild', 'domestic', and 'feral' categories, and it offers in fact some compelling evidence for the problematic effects of these categorizations. Who has domesticated whom? The archaeology of animals From the start, the human story is interwoven with that of (nonhuman) animals. From the point at which humans became more or less sedentary, archaeologically termed the Neolithic period, a defi ning element of life was the consistent cohabitation with and husbanding of a range of animals (and plants). Archaeologically, it is often the presence of the remains of particular 'domesticated' animal species (e.g. cattle, pigs, sheep, goats) in conjunction with specifi c remains of human practices – the material culture – that identifi es as such these early periods of settlement. Understanding domestication was arguably one of the cornerstones of the development of zooarchaeology, the archaeological sub-discipline that studies the interaction between humans and animals on the basis of their material traces. Domestication is also a topic that is continually being redefi ned and reconceptualized today. The reassessment of animal domes-tication within a primarily zooarchaeological rather than zoological framework led to a number of key conclusions; perhaps one of the most important of these conclusions was the recognition that domestication was not likely to have been a single dramatic event but rather
This paper will discuss possible roles and perceptions of deer (red and fallow) in Late Bronze Ag... more This paper will discuss possible roles and perceptions of deer (red and fallow) in Late Bronze Age Crete. A rigid wild/domestic dichotomy is now increasingly recognised as being overly simplistic, and cannot account for the variety of human /animal relationships in the past. As far as Crete is concerned, the apparently deliberate introduction of deer during the Bronze Age equally complicates this issue and demands a critical re-evaluation of the status of these species as simply ‘wild’. There is evidence, however, for a concern with hunting of deer at this time, although whether this was done in the traditional sense or in a more performative manner is an issue that demands investigation. In this context it is proposed that demonstration of an embodied encounter between humans and deer was an important means for the construction of socio-political identity in Late Bronze Age Crete. The zooarchaeological analysis of this study explores this phenomenon through the lens of human engagement with the materiality and physicality of the animal body in the past. Specifically, through a connected sequence of social practices (hunting, feasting and deposition) incorporating humans and deer, in what is termed here a ‘cycle of engagement’.
The Wild Embodied.
In this paper I shall suggest that a cycle of engagement with wild animals, i... more The Wild Embodied.
In this paper I shall suggest that a cycle of engagement with wild animals, in this case deer and wild goat, was employed as a powerful means for expressing and embodying identities (e.g. gender and status) and power relations in West Crete during the Late Bronze Age.
I will begin by outlining in brief the socio-political context of Late Bronze Age Crete, followed by presenting some examples of the representation of deer and wild goat in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (Cretan and mainland Greece) iconographic repertoire (sealstones and fresco wall paintings). Particular attention will be paid to the portrayal of gender, links with warfare, and the ‘hunter-as-daemon’.
Using primary zooarchaeological evidence from excavated sites in Chania (W. Crete), I shall then suggest that hunting was not purely a symbolic or metaphorical device, Instead, deer, wild goats and humans were active participants within a very physical and sensory set of relationships. I suggest that this ‘cycle of engagement’ consisted of hunting, sacrifice, consumption, deposition, and the incorporation of parts of the animal body (e.g. horn, antler, tusks) into the manufacture of other objects.
I suggest that each of these practices could be considered through theories of embodied experience: hunting as participation in ‘the wild’ (with unfamiliar realms and animals that transcend everyday practice), of sacrifice (as a physical demonstration of the backing of deities), of feasting (as incorporation through the sensory and embodied experience of communal eating), and of conspicuous display (through the specific practice of repeated deposition in large pits). Equally, I shall draw on recent theories on human/animal relations to suggest that animals were active ‘agents’ throughout this whole process and beyond, through the incorporation of iconic elements of the animal body into the material culture repertoire, including hunting equipment itself (for example the possible use of wild goat horn in the construction of bows, Chadwick 1973 ).
Type 'Minoan' Crete or 'Minoan civilization' (the societies of Crete in the third and second mill... more Type 'Minoan' Crete or 'Minoan civilization' (the societies of Crete in the third and second millennium bc) in any Google search, and some of the fi rst images you will get depict animals, either on their own, or interacting with humans. It is through animal imagery to a large extent that this cultural formation has become known worldwide, ever since its archaeological discovery or rather archaeological remake and constitution at the start of the twentieth century. The bull-leaping scenes from Knossos, for example, or the bull's head rhyta (vessels thought to have been used for libations) often embody Minoan-ness as a whole. To a large extent, it is animals that have constructed and popularized the image of 'Minoan' Crete in modernity. We will argue in this paper that in prehistory too it was the intricate entangle-ment of humans with other animals (along with things and environments) that co-shaped the 'Minoan phenomenon'. Moreover, such interaction cannot be easily confi ned within the 'wild', 'domestic', and 'feral' categories, and it offers in fact some compelling evidence for the problematic effects of these categorizations. Who has domesticated whom? The archaeology of animals From the start, the human story is interwoven with that of (nonhuman) animals. From the point at which humans became more or less sedentary, archaeologically termed the Neolithic period, a defi ning element of life was the consistent cohabitation with and husbanding of a range of animals (and plants). Archaeologically, it is often the presence of the remains of particular 'domesticated' animal species (e.g. cattle, pigs, sheep, goats) in conjunction with specifi c remains of human practices – the material culture – that identifi es as such these early periods of settlement. Understanding domestication was arguably one of the cornerstones of the development of zooarchaeology, the archaeological sub-discipline that studies the interaction between humans and animals on the basis of their material traces. Domestication is also a topic that is continually being redefi ned and reconceptualized today. The reassessment of animal domes-tication within a primarily zooarchaeological rather than zoological framework led to a number of key conclusions; perhaps one of the most important of these conclusions was the recognition that domestication was not likely to have been a single dramatic event but rather
This paper will discuss possible roles and perceptions of deer (red and fallow) in Late Bronze Ag... more This paper will discuss possible roles and perceptions of deer (red and fallow) in Late Bronze Age Crete. A rigid wild/domestic dichotomy is now increasingly recognised as being overly simplistic, and cannot account for the variety of human /animal relationships in the past. As far as Crete is concerned, the apparently deliberate introduction of deer during the Bronze Age equally complicates this issue and demands a critical re-evaluation of the status of these species as simply ‘wild’. There is evidence, however, for a concern with hunting of deer at this time, although whether this was done in the traditional sense or in a more performative manner is an issue that demands investigation. In this context it is proposed that demonstration of an embodied encounter between humans and deer was an important means for the construction of socio-political identity in Late Bronze Age Crete. The zooarchaeological analysis of this study explores this phenomenon through the lens of human engagement with the materiality and physicality of the animal body in the past. Specifically, through a connected sequence of social practices (hunting, feasting and deposition) incorporating humans and deer, in what is termed here a ‘cycle of engagement’.
The Wild Embodied.
In this paper I shall suggest that a cycle of engagement with wild animals, i... more The Wild Embodied.
In this paper I shall suggest that a cycle of engagement with wild animals, in this case deer and wild goat, was employed as a powerful means for expressing and embodying identities (e.g. gender and status) and power relations in West Crete during the Late Bronze Age.
I will begin by outlining in brief the socio-political context of Late Bronze Age Crete, followed by presenting some examples of the representation of deer and wild goat in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (Cretan and mainland Greece) iconographic repertoire (sealstones and fresco wall paintings). Particular attention will be paid to the portrayal of gender, links with warfare, and the ‘hunter-as-daemon’.
Using primary zooarchaeological evidence from excavated sites in Chania (W. Crete), I shall then suggest that hunting was not purely a symbolic or metaphorical device, Instead, deer, wild goats and humans were active participants within a very physical and sensory set of relationships. I suggest that this ‘cycle of engagement’ consisted of hunting, sacrifice, consumption, deposition, and the incorporation of parts of the animal body (e.g. horn, antler, tusks) into the manufacture of other objects.
I suggest that each of these practices could be considered through theories of embodied experience: hunting as participation in ‘the wild’ (with unfamiliar realms and animals that transcend everyday practice), of sacrifice (as a physical demonstration of the backing of deities), of feasting (as incorporation through the sensory and embodied experience of communal eating), and of conspicuous display (through the specific practice of repeated deposition in large pits). Equally, I shall draw on recent theories on human/animal relations to suggest that animals were active ‘agents’ throughout this whole process and beyond, through the incorporation of iconic elements of the animal body into the material culture repertoire, including hunting equipment itself (for example the possible use of wild goat horn in the construction of bows, Chadwick 1973 ).
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Papers by Kerry Harris
Talks by Kerry Harris
In this paper I shall suggest that a cycle of engagement with wild animals, in this case deer and wild goat, was employed as a powerful means for expressing and embodying identities (e.g. gender and status) and power relations in West Crete during the Late Bronze Age.
I will begin by outlining in brief the socio-political context of Late Bronze Age Crete, followed by presenting some examples of the representation of deer and wild goat in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (Cretan and mainland Greece) iconographic repertoire (sealstones and fresco wall paintings). Particular attention will be paid to the portrayal of gender, links with warfare, and the ‘hunter-as-daemon’.
Using primary zooarchaeological evidence from excavated sites in Chania (W. Crete), I shall then suggest that hunting was not purely a symbolic or metaphorical device, Instead, deer, wild goats and humans were active participants within a very physical and sensory set of relationships. I suggest that this ‘cycle of engagement’ consisted of hunting, sacrifice, consumption, deposition, and the incorporation of parts of the animal body (e.g. horn, antler, tusks) into the manufacture of other objects.
I suggest that each of these practices could be considered through theories of embodied experience: hunting as participation in ‘the wild’ (with unfamiliar realms and animals that transcend everyday practice), of sacrifice (as a physical demonstration of the backing of deities), of feasting (as incorporation through the sensory and embodied experience of communal eating), and of conspicuous display (through the specific practice of repeated deposition in large pits). Equally, I shall draw on recent theories on human/animal relations to suggest that animals were active ‘agents’ throughout this whole process and beyond, through the incorporation of iconic elements of the animal body into the material culture repertoire, including hunting equipment itself (for example the possible use of wild goat horn in the construction of bows, Chadwick 1973 ).
In this paper I shall suggest that a cycle of engagement with wild animals, in this case deer and wild goat, was employed as a powerful means for expressing and embodying identities (e.g. gender and status) and power relations in West Crete during the Late Bronze Age.
I will begin by outlining in brief the socio-political context of Late Bronze Age Crete, followed by presenting some examples of the representation of deer and wild goat in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (Cretan and mainland Greece) iconographic repertoire (sealstones and fresco wall paintings). Particular attention will be paid to the portrayal of gender, links with warfare, and the ‘hunter-as-daemon’.
Using primary zooarchaeological evidence from excavated sites in Chania (W. Crete), I shall then suggest that hunting was not purely a symbolic or metaphorical device, Instead, deer, wild goats and humans were active participants within a very physical and sensory set of relationships. I suggest that this ‘cycle of engagement’ consisted of hunting, sacrifice, consumption, deposition, and the incorporation of parts of the animal body (e.g. horn, antler, tusks) into the manufacture of other objects.
I suggest that each of these practices could be considered through theories of embodied experience: hunting as participation in ‘the wild’ (with unfamiliar realms and animals that transcend everyday practice), of sacrifice (as a physical demonstration of the backing of deities), of feasting (as incorporation through the sensory and embodied experience of communal eating), and of conspicuous display (through the specific practice of repeated deposition in large pits). Equally, I shall draw on recent theories on human/animal relations to suggest that animals were active ‘agents’ throughout this whole process and beyond, through the incorporation of iconic elements of the animal body into the material culture repertoire, including hunting equipment itself (for example the possible use of wild goat horn in the construction of bows, Chadwick 1973 ).