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

— —

Hannah V. Mattson

Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity

A Global Archaeological Perspective

Hannah V. Mattson

$135

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxbow Books
28 June 2021

Precious metal & precious stones: artworks & design; General & world history; Archaeological methodology & techniques

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.

Edited by: Hannah V. Mattson
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9781789255959
ISBN 10: 1789255953
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 28 June 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

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.

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

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 *