Guggisberg, Martin
Economy and Cultural Contact in the Mediterranean Iron Age: Panel 5.9
The economy has always been a driving force for cultural contact. Analyzing the economic connections within the Ancient World can provide a promising basis for studying intercultural connections. The Iron Age is a period of increasing inter-connectivity between different 'cultures' in the Mediterranean and it offers the fascinating possibility of studying an emerging economic and cultural system. Where did the new routes pass through that the people moved and shifted commodities along? How did the emerging demand on foreign markets influence production patterns and social structure within the local communities? How did local customs react to foreign commodities and how did such imports shape local culture? This volume is a collection of papers that focus on the 8th–6th century BC. Long object biographies are meticulously reconstructed and analyzed through up-to-date methodology to provide answers on production modes, trade routes, and consumption. Debating resources, commodities, and the reception of foreign products, the volume offers new details and insights to further our understanding of the role played by the economy in cultural contacts.
Image – Narration – Context: Visual Narration in Cultures and Societies of the Old World
Narratives are primary agents in the production of social meaning and identity. They are articulated not only in oral and literal forms of expression, but also through images and artefacts. By virtue of their materiality, these objects bearing narrative potential have their specific contexts of appreciation. But how do images actually trigger narration? Can we describe the social loci of their observation? And how do these contexts – social practices, religious rituals, demonstrations of political power – interact with, and re-affect the artefacts in question? Both case studies from archaeology and approaches from a wider range of cultural studies seek to answer these questions within a broader methodological framework.
