Humphrey, Thomas John William (2024) Exploring the Social Lives of Cylinder Seals in Late Cypriot Society. Doctoral thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
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Humphrey, Thomas (2023) PhD Examining The Social Lives of Cylinder Seals in LC Society thesis.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (23MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This thesis examines how cylinder seals became socially embedded in Late Bronze Age Cyprus. Although these objects appear throughout the Near East and Mesopotamia at the time, their use in Cyprus appears unique. To explore this, cylinder seals are studied according to funerary, sanctuary and settlement types of findspot. Different patterns of social engagement are then examined according to the context of their use and deposition. They are analysed through a theoretical lens, specifically focusing on the concepts of object biography, the ideological potency of geographic distance, and object inalienability, to examine how these objects were recontextualised and reinterpreted within their new Cypriot cultural context. The diachronic analysis of the cylinder seals found in different types of sites across the island highlights distinctive patterns of appropriation as well as cultural and material entanglement. It further allows us to explore how these objects were used to actively construct and maintain the identity and authority of local political-ideological elites. As a result, this study argues that cylinder seals were reconfigured to fit a distinctly Cypriot cultural need.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Archaeology, Cyprus, Late Bronze Age, Cylinder Seals, Glyptic, Materiality, Object Biography |
| Subjects: | C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CD Diplomatics. Archives. Seals D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology |
| Divisions: | Theses and Dissertations > Doctoral Theses |
| Depositing User: | Dr Thomas Humphrey |
| Date Deposited: | 20 May 2024 10:56 |
| Last Modified: | 20 May 2024 10:56 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2963 |
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