4-6/02/2025 International Conference: “Embedded in Clay”
We are pleased to announce the programme for the international conference “Embedded in Clay”, organised by Gianluca Miniaci, Massimo Vidale, Vanessa Forte, Georgia Long, Beatriz Noria-Serrano and Hannah Page, that will be held at the University of Pisa from 4 to 6 February 2025.
This conference is organised in the framework of the PRIN 2022 PNRR Project P.I.P.E. — Profiling the Identity of the Producers of Ancient Egypt and Nubia through the Aura of Clay Figurines, Funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU, and the Progetto di Eccellenza 2023-2027: Un senso nel disordine. Praticare la complessità of the Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, University of Pisa.
For the abstracts and more info: https://prinproject.wixsite.com/pipe-project/events/international-conference-pisa
Historically neglected, the study of ancient clay figurines has developed considerably in recent years, in part through the application of methodologies used in ceramic studies. Researchers have employed a wide variety of approaches to tackle questions regarding the production methods, use, and social and economic systems connected to clay objects. While analysis on figurines has most often focused on their iconography and basic use, there is a growing acknowledgement that they had complex meanings with their own agency that require diverse interpretations.
From their creation to their final deposition, clay objects encapsulate various levels of identity (e.g. the identity of artefact itself, the identity of the maker, socio-cultural identity) and performance (e.g. the process of creation/production, their employment in daily life activities, in rituals, in social events or human interactions). On a surface level, we can examine what clay objects represent and provide a determination of their use. Their plastic nature, typological variety, and the diversity of their find contexts, however, allow us to also explore the hidden identities and traces of action that are embedded within the clay. Analysis of fingerprints and technological traces, for example, have made significant steps towards profiling the producers of clay figurines, their craft knowledge and skill, and the cognitive processes behind their creations. By examining manufacturing techniques we can explore the performative aspects of production, such as the gestures used in the forming and decoration of clay artefacts, which are associated with distinct groups and knowledge transmission. Ceramic petrography and geochemical analyses inform us about the selection and manipulation of raw materials, and, in turn, how the material properties may have influenced the choices of the producers, and therefore the final outcome of the object. Typological differences and diversity of archaeological contexts further invite us to reflect on the evolving nature of the processes of identification and to (re)consider the degree of interaction between the worlds of the ‘producer’, ‘user’ and ‘owner’.
The conference will be split into two sessions, each with a round of discussion afterwards to facilitate collaboration and the generation of ideas in that field of study. A final round-table will take place at the end of the conference to help build and develop strategies that all the participants will be able to use in their ongoing and future research.
Session 1. Identity and performance in clay artefacts through the lens of archaeometry
Note: This session includes studies on clay objects (not only figurines) from various ancient societies (Ancient Nile Valley, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia
- Study of raw materials (ceramic petrography and geochemical analyses: pXRF, SEM-EDS, NAA…), residue analysis
- Analysis of manufacturing techniques and operational chains (chaînes opératoires)
- Use-wear and break patterns
Session 2. Identity and performance in clay artefacts through the lens of archaeology
Note: this session focuses more specifically on clay figurines from the Nile Valley
- Analysis of archaeological contexts (funerary, cultic, domestic, production) and their implications for exploring identity and performance (e.g. identifying the owners, users and social contexts of clay figurines; examining the acts of burial, deposition or discard)
- Typological classification of clay figurines (anthropomorphic and zoomorphic), studies of human/animal embodiment and abstraction processes (e.g. how a being materialises into a recognisable figure to its audience)
- Analysis of the symbolism of the different forms of figurines and the rituality of its performance at different stages of its life (creation, (re)use, and disposal).
Programme
Tuesday 4 February
15.00-15.15 Welcome by Sonia Maffei (Director of the Department of Forms and Knowledge, University of Pisa)
15.15-15.30 Gianluca Miniaci, Massimo Vidale, Vanessa Forte (Università di Pisa, Università di Padova, Sapienza Università di Roma) — The P.I.P.E. Project
15:30-15:50 Georgia Long (Università di Pisa) — All Made of the Same Clay: Profiling Identities through the Archaeological Contexts of Clay Figurines
15.50-16.10 Beatriz Noria-Serrano (Università di Pisa) — Negotiating Identity: Female (?) Embodiment and Abstraction in Egyptian Plaque Figurines
16.10-16.30 Hannah Page (Università di Padova) — Symbolic Materials: Exploring Identity and Performance through Raw Material Choice for Egyptian Middle Bronze Age Clay Figurines
16:30-17:00 Break
17:00-18:00 KEYNOTE: Richard Lesure (University of California, Los Angeles) — Confronting Theory with Evidence in the Interpretation of Ancient Figurines
Wednesday 5 February
9.00 Start of session 1, morning
9.10-9.30 Giulia D’Ercole & Julia Budka (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) — Archaeometry as a Means for Multiplying Material Identities. Case Studies Based on Ceramic Vessels and Clay Figurines from the Middle Nile Valley during the Bronze Age Period
9.30-9.50 Athena Van Der Perre & Dennis Braekmans (KU Leuven & Universiteit Leiden) — Figurines as Proxies for Craft and Ritual Activities? A Review of the Saqqara Execration Figurines
9.50-10.10 Gabriele Gattiglia & Claudia Sciuto (Università di Pisa) — Materiality in Motion: AUTOMATA’s Algorithmic Turn in Archaeometric Research
10.15-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-11.20 Lara Maritan (Università di Padova) — A Matter of Choices: Disclosing the Production Technology of Terracotta Figurines at Barikot (northern Pakistan)
11.20-11.40 Vanessa Forte (Sapienza Università di Roma) — Identity and Materiality: Bronze Age Egyptian Clay Figurines in a Multiscale and Interdisciplinary Perspective
11.40-12.00 Aysel Arslan (Netherlands Institute in Turkey) — Unveiling the Makers: A Dermatoglyphic Study of Clay Objects from Neolithic Anatolia
12.00-12.20 Leonie Hoff (University of Oxford) — Touching the Past: Greek and Egyptian Figurine Makers from Ptolemaic Thonis-Heracleion
12:30-14.00 Lunch
14.00 Session 1, afternoon
14.10-14.30 Anna Rauba-Bukowska & Maciej Dębiec (Polish Academy of Sciences & University of Rzeszów) — Universal Patterns, Individually Made: Workshop Practices in Light of Archaeometric Research
14.30-14.50 Filippo Mi & Jessica Izak (Université de Strasbourg & DAI Berlin) — Fragile Clay, Sturdy Grains: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Gebelein granary Model S. 15802
14.50-15.00 Break
15.00-16.30 Questions and Round Table #1
Thursday 6 February
9.00 Start of session 2, morning
9.10-9.30 Argyris Fassoulas (Université Paris Nanterre) — Making Clay Figurines in the Neolithic Aegean: The Example of Thessalian Plain (central Greece)
9.30-9.50 Christine Morris & Alan Peatfield (Trinity College Dublin & University College Dublin) — Life Histories of Clay Figurines from Minoan Peak Sanctuaries
9.50-10.10 Isabelle Vella Gregory (University College London) — The Role of Figurines in Place-Making: A Case Study from Jebel Moya, Sudan
10.15-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-11.20 Gianluca Miniaci (Università di Pisa) — Performing Healing Rituals with Clay Figurines from Middle Bronze Age Egypt (c. 2000-1550 BC)
11.20-11.40 Marwa Soliman (Mansoura University) — From Play to Ritual: Investigating Mud Toys Made by Children in Ancient Egyptian Contexts
11.40-12.00 Victoria Jensen (University of California, Berkeley) — Investigating the Development of Attenuated, Abstract Female Figurines in IInd Millennium BC Egypt and their Relation to Figurines from Surrounding Cultures
12.00-12.20 Hossam Hegazy (The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities) — Religious Identity in Ancient Egyptian Ushabti Figurines
12:30-14.00 Lunch
14.00 Session 2, afternoon
14.10-14.30 Massimo Vidale (Università di Padova) — Unbaked Clay Images of Early Bronze Age Iran: from Conjectures to Contexts
This conference is organised in the framework of the PRIN 2022 PNRR Project P.I.P.E — Profiling the Identity of the Producers of Ancient Egypt and Nubia through the Aura of Clay Figurines, Funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU, and the Progetto di Eccellenza 2023-2027: Un senso nel disordine. Praticare la complessità of the Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, University of Pisa.
14.30-14.50 Enrica Inversi (Freie Universität Berlin & British Museum London) — Broken, Repaired, Disposed of and Neglected. Taking a Closer Look at the Social Lives of Old Babylonian Figurines
14.50-15.00 Break
15.00-16.30 Questions and Round Table #2
16:30-17 Closing remarks
