Call for papers: Rethinking ancient jewellery

RETHINKING ANCIENT JEWELLERY
 

One-day international workshop
Call for Papers
held at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University
07 December 2013

Taking its point of departure from several recent “holistic” approaches towards the investigation of ancient jewellery, this workshop reassess current developments in the field. This workshop will treat ancient jewellery not just as precious ornaments or works of art but as artefacts that should be used as a source material in investigations of various aspects of ancient society. Unfortunately, ancient jewellery has traditionally been consigned to museum catalogues or site reports, with a concentration on form and material. The principal goal of these studies has been to establish dates for individual pieces and create workable typologies. This workshop is designed to seek new methodological approaches and will revise how ancient jewellery is described and classified from art historical, archaeological and technological perspectives.

The one-day workshop aims to bring together scholars studying ancient jewellery and personal adornment with the goal of not only discussing current perspectives and new methodologies but also to create a platform of interdisciplinary exchange for the study of such material. The workshop will consist out of two sessions. The first will focus on jewellery from the Roman period, while the second will bring together scholars working on other temporal and cultural areas of ancient adornment to bring out wider methodological approaches to the study of ancient jewellery (that might be applied to other periods). Possible topics could include aspects of technology, the sources and trade of precious material, the social meaning of jewellery and new methodologies for analyzing ancient jewellery; however, other topics related to ancient jewellery are also welcome.

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We invite paper abstracts on any topic of ancient jewellery and personal adornment with a focus on re-evaluation and methodological innovations. Papers should be 20 – 25 minutes in length and will be followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion. Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words that describes the paper that you propose to present at the workshop on 7 December 2013. Abstracts should be accompanied by a short personal statement about yourself and your research interests.

Please email abstracts and statements to Courtney Ward at courtney.ward@arch.ox.ac.uk by 17 November 2013 (feedback will be given on 20 November). The language for this workshop is English.
Organizers: Courtney Ward (University of Oxford) and Natascha Sojc (Leiden University)
For more information email: courtney.ward@arch.ox.ac.uk; n.sojc@arch.leidenuniv.nl