Fluid Borders: Personal Ornamentation and Waterways in Bronze Age Northwest Europe

Summary

This is an abstract from the "On the Periphery or the Leading Edge? Research in Prehistoric Ireland" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper explores the role played by waterways in the social exchange characteristic of Bronze Age Europe. It uses personal ornamentation as a proxy for social groupings, based on strong theoretical arguments establishing the necessity of a common ‘grammar’ to the relay of information via physical adornment. This analysis considers the form, design, and deposition of objects of personal ornamentation in Ireland, Britain, and northern France, with particular focus on the Irish Sea, the Channel, and the major rivers of each respective region. While modern Western thought tends to conceptualize bodies of water as barriers, suggested by their frequent designation as political borders, preliminary data suggests that waterways in the Bronze Age functioned as facilitators of social exchange, as reflected in patterns of personal ornamentation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• On the Periphery or the Leading Edge? Research in Prehistoric Ireland

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25553