How to account for the uniformity and diversity in ornament assemblages?
Lecture Series »World Archaeology Seminars«
»How to account for the uniformity and diversity in ornament assemblages? A discussion around Franchthi (Argolid, Greece)«
Catherine Perlès | Université Paris Nanterre
The remarkably long archaeological sequence from Franchthi offers a rare opportunity to study the conception, production and use of ornaments from a diachronic, rather than synchronic, perspective. In this respect, there is a striking contrast between the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornament assemblages, characterized by an unexpected continuity throughout the millennia, despite frequent changes in the status of the cave and the economic basis, and the Neolithic assemblages, marked by diversity both within and among the successive phases. These features run contrary to the presumed discontinuities in occupation in the early periods, and the presumed continuity in the Neolithic. This leads us to investigate the potential factors underlying the homogeneity or diversity of the assemblages, and to revisit the cultural (pre)historic landscape of Greece.