Scholarship on Archaic and Classical Greek lamps has traditionally been in the form of typological studies and catalogues. This dissertation represents an alternative to such works, offering a fuller picture of the function of lamps in Greek life. Incorporating archaeological, iconographic, and literary evidence, the study takes a gendered approach to lamp use, examines the objects’ social and symbolic functions, and explores their conceptual place in Greek society. The core of the dissertation consists of three main chapters. Chapter two looks at women and lamps. It begins with an examination of the opening lines of Aristophanes’ Ekklesiazousai, and then assesses women’s lamp use in the home, where the objects helped women perform tasks ranging from early-morning baking to genital depilation. Their use by women at Athens during funeral processions is also considered. Indeed, women and lamps were closely linked during these periods. The objects came to symbolize domesticity and, by association, femininity. They also helped to create and perpetuate female stereotypes, and could be instrumental in controlling women’s behaviors. Women’s conceptions of their lamps grew from use: they saw them as quiet companions and perhaps emblems of burden. Chapter three investigates male lamp use. Lamps and their stands played a role in civic and private dining. They functioned on many levels within red-figure representations of the symposium, and these images offer clues about lamp use at actual symposia. When carried by individuals for street lighting, lamps facilitated travel in the dark while marking the social status of their users. Many literary references suggest that men connected the objects with the concept of exposure, of matters private as well as political, an idea connected to the objects’ use and symbolism in the female arena. Chapter four explores the significance of lamps in the contexts of burial and religion. To a certain extent, the association between women and lamps observed in the home obtained in these spheres, especially in graves on Sicily and in cults of female deities. The study and its findings expand our understanding of uses and perceptions of an often overlooked class of objects, and of gender and social dynamics in Archaic and Classical Greece. / The Classics

My dissertation project utilizes a theoretical perspective derived from historical ecology to explore the trajectory in prehistoric subsistence that began with the initial colonization of the region and eventually led to the domestication of indigenous plants, such as goosefoot and maygrass, roughly 5,000 calendar years ago. Because a major handicap for exploring prehistoric subsistence in eastern North America is the rarity of sites with preserved flora and fauna, I apply formal models derived from behavioral ecology to stone tool assemblages and archaeological site distributions to evaluate models that have been proposed for the emergence of domesticated plants. Based on my results, I argue that the origins of plant domestication came about within the context of a boom/bust cycle that has its roots in the Late Pleistocene and culminated in the Mid-Holocene. More specifically, warming climate caused a significant peak in the availability of shellfish, oak, hickory, and deer, which generated a "tipping point" during the Middle Archaic period where hunter-gatherer groups narrowed their focus on these resources. After this "boom" ended, some groups shifted to other plant resources that they could intensively exploit in the same manner as oak and hickory, which included the suite of plants that were subsequently domesticated. This is likely due the combined effects of increasing population and declining returns from hunting, which is evident in my analysis of biface technological organization and site distributions from the lower Tennessee and Duck River Valleys. Consequently, these conclusions are an alternative to Smith's (2011) assertion that plant domestication in eastern North America came about as a result of gradual niche construction with no evidence for resource imbalance or population packing.

Many studies of the Archaic Greek kore focus exclusively on stylistic considerations in an attempt to date these statues more and more accurately. Other studies propose various meanings for the kore. Each of these approaches can be extremely subjective, with the result that the large body of extant literature about the kore tends to be repetitive and argumentative in nature, and, with several exceptions, does not advance the understanding of the kore to any appreciable degree past where it had developed by the 1980s. I use a different, more empirical methodology to study a small group of korai, found in the 1880s near the Erechtheion on the Athenian Akropolis. Symmetry analysis of the patterns painted onto these korai at the time of their creation reveals both consistency of pattern use through the period of seventy years between c560 BCE and c490 BCE, as well as some anomalous patterns. I tabulate the various patterns, as well as their frequency of occurrence, and briefly speculate that there is a correlation between the pattern consistencies and anomalies and events in the known historical record, such as the mid-6th century rule by the Peisistratids and the democratic reforms of Kleisthenes. I also propose other directions in which the study of the kore could be taken using symmetry analysis. / Thesis (Master, Classics) -- Queen's University, 2008-01-31 13:25:56.567

La séquence culturelle régionale de l’Archaïque supérieur et terminal de la vallée de l’Outaouais n’est pas complétée, mais les variations stylistiques, technologiques et fonctionnelles des artéfacts sur le plan régional et local facilitent le découpage culturel. La reconstruction de la chaîne opératoire des haches, des herminettes et des gouges en pierre polie des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux, deux sites du sud-est ontarien, pourrait permettre de déceler une tradition technologique régionale à cheval entre l’Archaïque laurentien, l’Archaïque post-laurentien et d’autres courants des Grands Lacs. L’analyse des haches, des herminettes et des gouges des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux démontre l’utilisation massive de l’amphibolite. La moitié distale de ces outils est surtout polie et finement abrasée et la moitié proximale souvent éclatée, mais parfois abrasée. Ces éléments technologiques et l’industrie de pierre taillée démontrent des ressemblances et des différences avec les sites laurentiens de la région, et certains sites post-laurentiens du Québec et de l’Ontario méridional. Le matériel en pierre polie des sites Muldoon et Lamoureux démontre des liens technologiques vers l’Ouest tout en gardant un contact avec la sphère d’interaction postlaurentienne. La vallée de l’Outaouais semble alors prendre une place indépendante dans l’Archaïque supérieur, certaines continuités technologiques s’observent entre l’Archaïque laurentien et l’Archaïque post-laurentien. / The Late and Terminal Archaic cultural sequence of the Ottawa Valley region is not well defined. Definition of cultural boundaries should be based on stylistic, technological and functional variations, on a regional and local scale. The “chaîne opératoire” reconstruction of ground stone celts and gouges from the Muldoon and Lamoureux sites could lead to the recognition of a regional technological tradition linked to the Laurentian Archaic, the Post-Laurentian Archaic (Narrow Point) and other cultural trends from the Great Lakes. The analysis of celts and gouges from Muldoon and Lamoureux show a massive use of amphibolite. The distal half of these tools is mostly finely abraded and polished. The proximal half is frequently broken off, but sometimes abraded. These technological traits prove to have some resemblances and differences with Laurentian sites in the Ottawa Valley and some Post-laurentian sites in southern Quebec and Ontario. The ground stone material from these sites shows several links towards the west while participating in the Post-Laurentian Archaic interaction sphere. The Ottawa valley seems therefore to take an independent place in the Late Archaic, as technologic continuities are seen between Laurentian and Post-Laurentian assemblages.

This dissertation describes the results of archaeological survey and excavationsundertaken on the Mesa el Chaparral in the county of Mina in Nuevo Leon, Mexicoduring 2001. Sixty-six previously undocumented archaeological sites were discovered onthe arid surface. Excavations found no intact subsurface deposits, but a wealth of surfacedata was collected. Subsequent analyses demonstrated a forager lifeway for the majorityof the Holocene human occupation of the region in a remarkably stable pattern.To understand sites found on the deflated modern surface necessitatedcontemplation of the basic theories and models used in hunter-gatherer research. Thisallowed for the construction of new diagrams designed to hypothesize fundamentalrelationships between general aspects of the lifeway including environmental factors, sitesize and visibility issues, and human mobility patterns. From some basic continuums,more detailed diagrams were created that allow understanding and prediction of humanbehavior based upon data found from artifacts and features. After testing their salience,the models were dynamically combined with the site data and ethnographic analogies toarrive at an understanding of the human lifeways represented by the recoveredarchaeological data. This provided a fascinating look into the day-to-day lives of thegeneralized mobile foragers of prehistoric northeastern Mexico.Included in the recovered data are hearth features, lithic debitage and artifacts,and basic site descriptions. Archaeological locations ranged from small with a singlefeature to over a square kilometer with over 100 features, all located on the surface wherethey are subject to wind deflation and water erosion. Most of the sites containeddiagnostic artifacts from the entire Holocene, further compounding the analyticcomplexity of the project. Understanding the context of the data and making use of themodels and ethnographic analogies, it was estimated that every site represented anoccupation by a small band of mobile forgers making generalized use of the resourcesavailable in the region. Making residential moves often allowed people to survive in theharsh environment. Few lifeway changes were noted prior to Spanish influence in theregion from the time the environment became arid at the end of the Pleistocene.

This study examines bifacial technology change at the Knob Creek site (12HR484) in Harrison County, Indiana, from the Late Archaic to Early Woodland periods. Through a statistical and attribute analysis of 2,620 lithic flakes it was possible to detect changes in the lithic reduction process over time. The analysis demonstrates that soft-hammer percussion becomes more prevalent during the Early Woodland component of the site. This is a significant change from the hard-hammer percussion industry of the Lower Late Archaic. The Terminal Archaic Riverton component in this study offers one of the few detailed flake-by-flake analyses for this poorly understood lithic tradition originally identified by Winters (1969) in the Wabash River Valley.

Teorinėje darbo dalyje aptariama XX a. pabaigoje atsiradusi fraktalaus meno šaka, pagrindiniai virtualios kompozicijos principai. Abstrakcijos – tarsi sapno detalė, gyvenimo motyvai, troškimai, tragedijos. Minima hermeneutinė filosofijos kyptis, kuri siejasi su kūrybinės kolekcijos estetikos koncepsija. Nagrinėjama ženklo ir simbolio samprata. Simbolikos naudojimas meninėje raiškoje – vienas metodų patraukti stebėtojo pasąmonės galias reikiama kryptimi. Kitoje darbo skiltyje analizuojami kompiuterine grafika užsiimančių menininkų vizualūs projektai. Atveriama vizualioji kūryba interpretacijoje. Stebint ją galima identifikuoti save, užuominos ir jų tarpusavio priklausomybė padeda atrasti objekto tapatybę. Siekiniai, idėjos, autoriui tampa svarbūs, kai jie atitinka egzistencines nuostatas, tapatumo paieškas nefiguratyviuose vaizdiniuose. Apbendrinama su „Egle žalčių karaliene“ susijusi literatūra. Pasakoje apie žalčio žmoną pastebimas sakmiškas pradas, kuris siejasi su archaiškų padavimų vystimu. Atskleidžiamas šeimos, genties – svečio santykis, gyvybės paslaptis, jos galia, „kitataučio“ netolerancija, dorovinis pasaulėžiūrų konfliktas, ištikimybės ir aukos ryšys (dvasinis ir moralinis žmogaus išbandymas). Paskutinėje darbo dalyje aprašoma asmeninė kūrybinė kolekcija. Aiškinama darbų prasmė, pasitelkiant spalvas, geometrines ar nefiguratyvias formas, dėmes, ritmiką. / In the theoretical part of the work, the branch of fractal art, which emerged at the end of the 20th century, and the main principles of composition are discussed. Abstractions are like elements of dreams, motifs of life, desires, and tragedies. The philosophical trend of hermeneutics is mentioned, which is related to the esthetic concept of the creative collection. The concept of sign and symbol is examined. The use of symbolism in artistic expression is one method of pulling the unconscious powers of the observer in a desired direction. In the next section of the work, visual projects of artists who use computer graphics are analyzed. The visual creation is opened in the interpretation. When observing it, one can identify oneself; hints and their interdependence helps to find the identity of the object. Objectives and ideas become important to the author when they correspond to existential attitudes and the search for identity in abstract images. Literature related to “Egle - The Queen of Serpents Man” is summarized. In the tale about the wife of serpent, a rudiment of sagas is found, which is related to an archaic development of stories. The following concepts are revealed: the relation of family, tribe and guest, the secret of life and its power, intolerance of the “foreigner”, moral conflict of different worldviews, and the relation between loyalty and sacrifice (the spiritual and moral challenge). In the last part of this work, the creative collection is described... [to full text]

Although the earliest known literary evidence for a dual-sexed divinity on Cyprus dates to the fifth century BCE, archaeological evidence indicates there was a tradition on the island of sexually ambiguous imagery which predates the literary sources. This information prompted the present research, which traces the tradition back to the earliest known examples on Late Neolithic Cyprus, and tracks its evolution through to the Cypro-Archaic period. Rather than rely upon descriptions, photographs and drawings presented in consulted publications, the various international museums that house the figures were visited by the writer in order to physically examine the images. Controversial aspects of these figures were discussed with senior museum staff and/or curators. If figurines were unavailable for viewing, where possible, photographs were acquired from the relevant museums, and controversial aspects of the figures discussed by email. As a result, the majority of the images discussed in this thesis have been examined and photographed by the author. A catalogue of the sexually ambiguous imagery for Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period has been compiled and is included in this work. It is proposed that the imagery is of Cypriot innovation, and consists of proto-anthropomorphic, anthropomorphic and half-animal, half-human representations. The genre is influenced from its earliest period by the figurative art of the Syro-Anatolian mainland, but from the Late Bronze Age onwards, influences from the western Mediterranean and Aegean are also evident. Despite the periods in which there is little evidence for figurine production, sexually ambivalent imagery re-emerges when figurative evidence is once more apparent in the archaeological records. Furthermore, stylistic continuity of the genre from one period to the next is also apparent. This continuity is regardless of the cultural changes which occur intermittently during the seven millennia period relevant to this study. Although it is not until the Cypro-Geometric period that there is firm evidence to support a religious interpretation of sexually equivocal imagery, it is suggested that the genre from the earliest period was at least associated with fertility, and perhaps religious cult.

Although the earliest known literary evidence for a dual-sexed divinity on Cyprus dates to the fifth century BCE, archaeological evidence indicates there was a tradition on the island of sexually ambiguous imagery which predates the literary sources. This information prompted the present research, which traces the tradition back to the earliest known examples on Late Neolithic Cyprus, and tracks its evolution through to the Cypro-Archaic period. Rather than rely upon descriptions, photographs and drawings presented in consulted publications, the various international museums that house the figures were visited by the writer in order to physically examine the images. Controversial aspects of these figures were discussed with senior museum staff and/or curators. If figurines were unavailable for viewing, where possible, photographs were acquired from the relevant museums, and controversial aspects of the figures discussed by email. As a result, the majority of the images discussed in this thesis have been examined and photographed by the author. A catalogue of the sexually ambiguous imagery for Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period has been compiled and is included in this work. It is proposed that the imagery is of Cypriot innovation, and consists of proto-anthropomorphic, anthropomorphic and half-animal, half-human representations. The genre is influenced from its earliest period by the figurative art of the Syro-Anatolian mainland, but from the Late Bronze Age onwards, influences from the western Mediterranean and Aegean are also evident. Despite the periods in which there is little evidence for figurine production, sexually ambivalent imagery re-emerges when figurative evidence is once more apparent in the archaeological records. Furthermore, stylistic continuity of the genre from one period to the next is also apparent. This continuity is regardless of the cultural changes which occur intermittently during the seven millennia period relevant to this study. Although it is not until the Cypro-Geometric period that there is firm evidence to support a religious interpretation of sexually equivocal imagery, it is suggested that the genre from the earliest period was at least associated with fertility, and perhaps religious cult.

The depiction of violence has always been and will always be a fascinating but horrifying subject. Violence shown on ancient vase paintings has been the subject of multiple authors’ works. This study analyzes the depiction of violence against children in mythological scenes on vases from the ancient world by analyzing and comparing 39 scenes where the subject is rendered and explores the question of what happens if the interpretation of the vase painting lays the focus on the child. This is done by examining how the children die, the iconography of their deaths and the traces of violence left on their bodies, their relationship to the perpetrators, the importance of the perpetrator and the spectators in the scenes, how the iconography relates to the myth as known from literary sources, as well as the chronological and geographical evolution of the motifs. The essay focuses on five mythological children, Troilos, Astyanax, the children of Medea and Opheltes, who all are the object of violence and early death in their respective myths and on vase paintings. The comparison between the vase paintings is divided into the scenes that depicts the children about to be killed and scenes showing the children as already dead. An account of the relationship between the children and the perpetrator as well as the perpetrators motive for killing the child and how their appearance in the scenes compare to each other is presented. The results of the comparisons are used in a discussion also including the ancient attitudes towards children and violence and if the children's deaths could be interpreted as human sacrifice. The study concludes that the interpretation of the role of the children in representations of violence is complex and that there are many aspects that affect the understanding of the vase paintings as a whole. Changing the focus to the child will not change the overall interpretation of the mythological motif, however, the innocence of the child will add more horror and gruesomeness to the overall impression of the vase painting. / <p>Uppsatsens illustrationer har inte tagits med i den digitala versionen.</p>