251–252), without any agreed conclusions. 250), and how they might have been worked (Evely 1993 Koehl 2006 Kandel 2004, p. There has also been discussion about whether the eggs were blown before shipping (Phillips 2000, p. As a result, this has led to differing interpretations about where the producers of such objects might have worked and who might have traded the eggs. This is tenuous at best, given how readily motifs can be copied or adapted (Conkey and Hastorf 1993), and it is especially challenging for periods in which artisans were reliant on royal/elite patronage and known to migrate between regions, as during these eras of Mediterranean history (Gunter 2009, pp. Therefore, assessment of where they came from and who decorated them has relied upon iconographic analysis and comparison with other worked media. Production sites are infrequently identified, however, and ostrich bones are rarely found in archaeological contexts. Since ostriches are not indigenous to Europe, decorated eggs from Bronze and Iron Age archaeological contexts in regions such as Greece, Italy and Spain must have been imported from the Middle East and/or North Africa, where ostriches were indigenous during these periods (Brysbaert 2013). As a result, we now have new evidence at hand to enable us to begin to consider the extent to which the decorated ostrich eggs acted upon members of society beyond their final elite consumers. A recently concluded study of ancient Mediterranean ostrich eggshell has taken a different approach to determine the eggs’ origins (Hodos et al. It is particularly challenging to use for periods in which artisans were known to be mobile, however, which is the case for the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean worlds. This approach by its nature uses style as proxy for cultural identity of the artisan. Until recently, their origin has been considered on the basis of their decorative styles. To address this, therefore, one must begin with the origin of the eggs. Yet without consideration of others who may have been involved in their biography prior to deposition, we are left with a limited understanding of the full extent to which the eggs may have served as social actors in antiquity. Despite the chrono-cultural differences, they are regarded primarily as evidence of connectivity between communities in the respective networks of the Bronze and Iron Ages their role as social actors is hardly considered beyond comparative elite display. Along with decorative objects of ivory, bronze, silver, and gold, they represent shared status indicators of elites across competing, connected cultures of their respective ages (Aruz et al. They have been found primarily in elite funerary contexts from Mesopotamia and the Levant to the wider Mediterranean throughout the region’s Bronze and Iron Ages (third-first millennia BCE). They were engraved, painted, and embellished with ivory, precious metals and faience fittings. This suggests that, as scholars, we must adopt different questions, methodologies, and thus perspectives, to recognise the wider social effects of luxury material culture and its impact upon diverse groups and individuals beyond wealthy consumers.ĭecorated ostrich eggs were luxury items in the ancient Mediterranean world. The results allow us to consider the role these objects played as social actors upon more than just their elite consumers. ![]() It does so by building upon a recently concluded study that has used isotopic analyses and scanning electron microscopy to assess where and how eggs were acquired in the ancient Mediterranean and the working techniques used to decorate them. ![]() It is this aspect that the present work addresses. Thus, the role these luxuries played as social actors across a spectrum of society has been overlooked. ![]() Furthermore, the full extent of the roles of non-elites in the production and distribution of these elite artefacts has never been considered directly. This is tenuous at best, given how readily motifs can be copied or adapted, and especially challenging for periods in which artisans were reliant on royal/elite patronage and known to migrate between regions, as during these eras. Most scholarship has assessed their iconography to determine craftsman origin, equating decorative style with cultural identity. Decorated ostrich eggs were luxury items in antiquity.
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