Material Culture Research Articles

Exploring the Humanistic Philosophy of Srimanta Sankardeva in the Material Culture of the Neo-Vaisnavite Traditions of Assam

Exploring the Humanistic Philosophy of Srimanta Sankardeva in the Material Culture of the Neo-Vaisnavite Traditions of Assam

Roman Rural Settlement in Wales and the Marches: Approaches to Settlement and Material Culture Through Big Data. By L. Reynolds. BAR British series B670: Archaeology of Roman Britain Vol. 6. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2022. Pp. xix + 177, illus. Price £46 (pbk). isbn 9781407358963.

Roman Rural Settlement in Wales and the Marches: Approaches to Settlement and Material Culture Through Big Data. By L. Reynolds. BAR British series B670: Archaeology of Roman Britain Vol. 6. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2022. Pp. xix + 177, illus. Price £46 (pbk). <scp>isbn</scp> 9781407358963.

Seventeenth-century Seville houses: a survey by the Alarife Juan De Legarra (1637)

Despite the wealth of preserved information, research on the domestic architecture of Seville has been limited. Much of this historical data is available in survey books that were formally compiled in Seville from the Modern Age onwards. These books had detailed descriptions and sometimes illustrations provided by surveyors who were commissioned by owners or tenants.The intention of this study is to illustrate that the information contained in building surveys goes beyond simple descriptions or measurements often accompanied by drawings. They are a comprehensive account that, even centuries later, help reconstruct the architecture, material culture and everyday life that no longer exist. Our research contributes to the understanding of the domestic architectural history of Seville by focusing on one specific survey (a collection of drawings and a written description) extracted from the Hospital de las Cinco Llagas Collection, which is found in the Seville Provincial Council Archive. At least one of the drawings and the written survey can be attributed to the Alarife (architect or master builder) Juan de Legarra, who signed them in 1637.This research explores the architectural development of the city, offering fresh insights into its architecture, heritage, and history. It supplements existing historical, visual, and written records derived from prior studies with a meticulously curated bibliography. Additionally, it uses visualisation techniques to reconstruct buildings, augmenting the research.This endeavour has yielded anticipated benefits, particularly in facilitating visual analysis. The surveys have proven to be invaluable for historical inquiry, yielding unexpected insights through the thorough analysis of both written and graphic sources which serve as a basis for hypothetical construction plans due to their detailed descriptions. Furthermore, this study has contributed to enriching both historical and architectural terminology.The incorporation of digital technologies into this architectural context allows us to expand our knowledge through the exhaustive compilation of building records. It also facilitates in-depth analysis of architecture, which could result in an up-to-date architectural catalogue that would stimulate interest in preserving a legacy that, until recently, was at risk of being lost.

As Teachers Not Tourists: Creating Knowledge During a Short-Term Study Abroad Program

Here, I address the call for teacher education programs to feature international elements to help pre-service teachers craft powerful classroom instruction and successfully work with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. I share a qualitative investigation of participants’ experiences during a short-term study abroad program in Japan that explored contemporary disaster preparedness as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The program sponsors, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hoped participants would develop an appreciation for the people and culture of Japan while they learned about disaster preparedness. I wondered if collecting curriculum items during a short-term study abroad program could help social studies pre-service teachers create—not just receive—historical domain knowledge? In Japan, participants collected items to use as featured resources around which they designed classroom activities for secondary students. Their activities demonstrated three levels of second-order historical domain knowledge and two elements of civic competence. This study suggests that pre-service teachers with no previous international experience may require explicit modeling and scaffolding to translate their short-term study abroad participation into dynamic learning. Another implication is that participants need strong support to consider the photographs they capture as artifacts of contemporary material culture.

‘A Return, a Mirror, a Photograph’: Return Journeys, Material Culture and Intergenerational Transmission in a Greek Cypriot Refugee Family

During times of war, displaced families carry various material items that later serve as means for preserving the memories of lost homes and maintaining a sense of identity. In divided Cyprus, the use of material objects by people displaced before and during the 1974 Turkish invasion has been influenced by the opening of checkpoints between the two sides in 2003. This paper explores how different generations in my family reacted to and interpreted the rediscovery of a lost material item—a handmade mirror piece—during the return journey. It discusses how my mother located the item, photographed it, and placed its photograph in the family’s photographic archive. During the research project upon which this paper follows from, both items re-emerged through my mother’s storytelling about her experience of return, transforming the project into a form of intergenerational transmission. The paper portrays how the storytelling about the mirror piece and its photograph was interpreted differently by me and my mother, influenced by the different politics of memory. The paper also showcases the resourcefulness of refugee families in maintaining the memory of their lost homes, which simultaneously reveals their views and hopes regarding the political future of the island.

Folding chair “Iseri” of the mongols

One of the characteristic artefacts of the material culture of Medieval Mongols is a folding chair. The Mongols used chairs with legs that were easy to fold and carry. It was a product adapted to the nomadic lifestyle. It was used differently by the nobles and wealthy people. The chairs can be seen in Medieval Mongolian stone statues and Persian miniature paintings that depicted the Mongols. Also, a folding chair was found from the Tavan Tolgoi site of Ongon soum, Sukhbaatar province, Mongolia. During the Mongol Empire, this chair was specially made from wood called “huanghuali” (Dalbergia odorifera, fragrant rosewood or Chinese rosewood). Such a wooden chair, made during the Ming Dynasty of China, has been preserved until the present. It can be said that this chair bears an influence of the Mongol Empire. A record written by Zhao Hong, an ambassador from the Southern Song Dynasty who came to Mongolia in the 13th century, says that Genghis Khan sits in a folding armchair with golden dragon. It also states that his general Mukhali used an armchair with silver dragon. The archeological monument depicting a dragon in the Mongolian folding chair is housed in the museum of Dundgobi province, Mongolia. Around Shangdu, the upper capital of the Yuan Dynasty, there are stone statues from the Mongol Empire. These statues also appear to have armchairs with such dragons. Unfortunately, the part of the core with the dragon was deliberately broken and damaged. The dragon was not only a Chinese symbol but also of kings and nobles in the East, including the Mongols. The “iseri” armchairs of the Mongols were later adopted by Ming and Jin dynasties, as well as other states in Asia, some with editions and some directly.

Cultural conceptualisations in Nigerian Pidgin English proverbs

AbstractThis article explores Nigerian Pidgin English proverbs as a source of cultural conceptualisations that reflect traditional wisdom as well as the modern urban setting of West Africa. A total of 173 proverbs sourced from the BBC News Pidgin's Instagram service were analysed for recurrent lexical keywords and themes (e.g. those relating to food, eating and drinking, and animals) that can be interpreted as source domain lexical material that points to the knowledge of nature, common animals, objects and social situations. The findings suggest that Nigerian Pidgin English proverbs contain a rich inventory of variety‐ and culture‐specific lexis that encodes cultural knowledge and practice, for example knowledge of the local flora and fauna, food items, but also objects of material culture such as clothing, as well as references to social culture.

Factors Driving Exclusion and Discrimination of Elmolo in Kenya: A Case of El Molo in Turkana County

The indigenous peoples in Kenya face a huge hurdle in protecting their fundamental rights and freedoms due to lack recognition as distinct groups with specific needs, cultures, and ways of life. This study sought to address to identify and map the El-Molo community in Turkana County, documenting varying levels of marginalization among different demographics and understanding the structure through which the community coordinates and advocates for their rights and development. The study focused on 1,104 El Molo residents in Kalokol, Longech, and Kapua, and utilized a descriptive research design. The researcher employed key informant interviews as well as Focus Group Discussions to collect primary data. To ensure the reliability of the findings, a triangulation of methods was utilized, including interviews with local chiefs, ministry officials, and representatives of faith-based organizations in Central Turkana. During public Baraza and FGD, a checklist was used to guide the discussions. The El-Molo community, the smallest ethnic group in Kenya, is at risk of losing their distinct identity through intermarriage and the adoption of Western practices from neighbouring tribes. Without intervention, their traditional food, clothing, housing, and cultural practices will disappear. Therefore, it is crucial to expose the community to methods of preserving their heritage, including material culture, music, and dance

Fever, sun, and blood: sermons, amulets, and incantations as sources for magical practices in Medieval Europe

ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel method to access lived religion and magical practices of a Medieval congregation via sermons combined with material culture. Previously, scholars have dismissed sermons as having low ‘truth value’ due to the copying inherent in the genre. In this paper, I first examine how one Danish sermon was adapted from a German model to fit a local context. This adaptation reveals specific local practices that the preacher thought were relevant to his congregation. Secondly, I demonstrate how several practices described in the sermons are mirrored in surviving non-normative material evidence such as amulets and incantations in manuscripts. This interdisciplinary combination of sermon studies, magic studies, archaeology, and medieval studies yields an as-yet-untapped source group. The paper concludes that 1) sermons can indeed be used as sources for magical practices and lived religion, and 2) they can be used as sources for practices that did not leave material evidence. Finally, discussions of the importance of material evidence in sermon studies and how magical practices were both locally anchored and part of an international network are broached.

Cross-Cultural Exchange of Visual and Material Cultures: Case Studies from the North Indian Terracotta Figures

This article offers an investigation into sculptural artefacts from the early historic period. Most of the objects under study are small in size and are often found dismembered or in pieces. This is partly because of the fragility of the material—baked clay—but more often, because of the techniques of manufacture—whether owing to a weak armature (where used), incomplete baking or/and the pressing together of elements in the mould that has yielded to the passage of time and rough handling. The following analysis seeks to locate these fragments by contextualising them in the spaces/regions they were found in, as well as in the estimated time periods. This contextualisation is specifically attempted through some typologically categorised case studies pursued through the lens of ‘transculturality’ and ‘materiality’.

A Chalcolithic presence east of the Sea of Galilee: The earliest finds on Mt. Sussita

ABSTRACT The characteristics and settlement patterns of the Early–Middle Chalcolithic period (ca. 5,800– 4,700 cal bc) around the Sea of Galilee have hardly been studied so far. The regional diversity of Chalcolithic material culture and the fragmentary nature of the archaeological record hinder a broader understanding of socio-cultural processes in this area. Chalcolithic architecture and finds, excavated for the last 23 years under the Graeco-Roman city of Hippos on Mt. Sussita, provide a rare opportunity to delve into the characteristics of the Chalcolithic period east of the Sea of Galilee. The current paper presents these remains and discusses their typological traits, spatial distribution, and possible cultural attribution. The site represents one of the few non-Golan Chalcolithic occurrences in the region, and its finds suggest an Early–Middle Chalcolithic period dating.

ToF-SIMS spectra of historical inorganic pigments: Lead-based pigments in positive polarity

ToF-SIMS is increasingly used to analyze cultural heritage materials because it can simultaneously detect organic and inorganic materials while mapping them on a surface. The precise identification of a pigment in a specific layer of a painting or of remaining color on a statue can inform about the technique used or the time of manufacture as well as expose possible forgeries when anachronistic ingredients are identified. Reference spectra are required to confidently identify a given pigment using ToF-SIMS. This database focuses on eight lead-based historical inorganic pigments, manufactured following traditional recipes. Lead pigments have been widely used in painting until the late 19th century. Here, the positive polarity ToF-SIMS reference spectra using a Bi3+ primary ion species are presented.

Bandolier Bags and Indigenous Modernism

This is a material culture-based case study of two bandolier bags dated to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century in the Agnes Etherington Art Center collection in Kingston, Canada. The floral motifs that decorate these two bags are not made from porcupine quills, nor are all of them bilaterally symmetrical as in “traditional” Indigenous art. Instead, they are made from glass beads, and most of the floral designs are asymmetrical. The bags’ surface patterns and materials were made possible through international trade, which facilitated the merging of European and other global designs, materials, and forms with Indigenous visual and material culture. Contemporary Western anthropological discourse framed these Indigenous objects as “hybrids” and alleged that they distorted the original meaning of such styles in a European context while simultaneously “corrupting” traditional Indigenous art and culture. Such art forms were denied a place in modernity due to their supposed inauthenticity. Ironically, “authentic” Indigenous art and material culture was likewise barred from being considered “modern” due to its hand-made, “preindustrial” nature. Connecting North American historical developments with discourse on Indigenous modernisms, I argue that on the contrary, these bags evince their makers’ conscientious engagement with modernity and can be considered modern Indigenous art.

Data Back

Grounded within the field and practice of philanthropy, the authors discuss the relationship between Indigenous material culture and philanthropy. This tangled relationship between philanthropy, colonial institutions, and Indigenous material culture continues to cause harm for Indigenous Peoples. We illustrate the problematizing nature of museums viewing material culture detached from current Indigenous Peoples with the case of the Nez Perce Wetxuuwíitin Collection. The Nez Perce Wetxuuwíitin Collection case shows how elite philanthropy and museum practices can negatively harm Native nations. Native collections are living Indigenous data and connected to Indigenous Peoples today. Material culture is not relegated to the past; it is Indigenous data and should be governed by Native nations. Without a change in practice, Indigenous Peoples will continue to be negatively impacted. To educate elite philanthropic partners and improve museum practices, we introduce principles from Indigenous Data Sovereignty that can help guide the partnerships and collaborations with Native nations. Indigenous Data Sovereignty can not only reduce harm and maximize benefits for Indigenous Peoples but also bring Indigenous data back home.

Spoils of War among the Art Treasures: Exhibiting Empire in Mid-Nineteenth Century Britain

ABSTRACT This essay investigates the assemblage, curation and reception of ‘oriental’ material culture at the Exhibition of Art Treasures of the United Kingdom held in Manchester in 1857. It does so to examine the relationship between exhibitions and empire in the mid-nineteenth century. Going ‘behind the scenes’ of the exhibition, interrogating the provenance of the objects and the actors involved in the assemblage, the essay reveals how some of the objects were infamous spoils of war, a detail omitted from the exhibition narrative as they were recast as ‘art treasures’, generously donated by their British owners for the benefit of the public. In analysing this dynamic, the essay builds on the current scholarship on imperial exhibitions by demonstrating an alternative, more subtle, way in which empire was ‘domesticated’ to British audiences. In addition, the essay challenges our current understanding of imperial exhibitions as masculine endeavours by revealing that Annette Royle played a key role in the curation of ‘oriental’ objects in Manchester, as well as at the other major exhibitions of Indian material culture in this period.

The art of earth-building: Placing relief models in the culture of modern geography in Britain

This article explores the overlooked history and significance of physical relief models in the development of geographical knowledge and education. By examining their use in academic, educational and public settings, it argues for a broader appreciation of these models as integral to the discipline's material culture. Historical debates around their function and purpose are highlighted amidst developments in modelling techniques, materials, and instructional guides. A deeper investigation into the models, their creators, and their influence on geographical learning and public engagement is advocated for and illustrated through the production and impact of the 1951 book The Earth's Crust.

Mining Charity

Scalding water, plummeting cage elevators, cave-ins, fiery explosions, toxic air. These were among the many hazards of silver ore mining on Nevada’s Comstock Lode in the late 1800s. This article explores the nature of silver mining society in the 1860s and 1870s, focusing on the dangerous conditions in which miners worked in the mineshafts that ran beneath the communities of Virginia City and Gold Hill, Nevada. The material culture and conditions of mining, the article argues, were central to determining the community’s needs and the charitable efforts mounted to address them. Philanthropic work and fundraising for a diverse set of causes—from attending to individuals’ needs to building a hospital to running an orphanage—shaped residents’ social and cultural lives, as well as the built environment in which they lived.

Teaching the History of Charity and Philanthropy through Objects

This article considers the material culture of charity and philanthropy, arguing that objects and artifacts related to charitable causes and campaigns are important sources for research and teaching. Recent scholarship explores the challenges faced in preserving and enabling access to records of charitable organizations but rarely examines material objects in this context. Yet charity objects can be engaging, stimulating, and insightful when used with both public audiences and students. This article offers an outline of object-based learning (OBL) in higher education. It then explores how teaching the history of charity and philanthropy through objects requires pedagogical innovations beyond the museum-based approaches which tend to dominate much OBL practice and suggests more portable, accessible, and affordable solutions. The paper ends by examining the pedagogical benefits of teaching the history of charity and philanthropy through material culture.

“Charity, Honor and Mercy”

This article uses two case studies, a charitable foundation that provided dowries to orphans as well as efforts to fundraise for a convent for Indigenous women, to explore how philanthropy functioned in late colonial Oaxaca, Mexico. I argue that in both cases, gendered rhetoric proved essential for constructing compelling reasons for wealthy individuals to donate money. Additionally, both projects were intrinsically connected with material culture—ranging from the physical accoutrements of the lottery drawing to choose a dowry winner, to the geographic location and building structure of the convent. These material properties are still visible in Oaxaca today.

Culturing the body in the context of the neolithisation of the southern Levant

The body is a site of lived experience as people engage their social, cultural, and physical worlds through their bodies. As a product of both nature and culture, it can be modified to fulfil, challenge, or rebel against ideals and expectations. While not all the ways in which humans modify their bodies leave traces in the archaeological record, the use of personal ornaments is well documented. In this paper, we focus on the practice of body modification through personal adornment in the context of the neolithisation of the southern Levant. We argue that shifting subsistence strategies, settlement patterns, and social relationships (including relationships with ancestors) necessitated new ways of being in the world that were manifested in and through material culture including personal ornaments. In the Neolithic, living bodies did not need to be present for an individual to have a social “life” and personal ornaments as heirlooms likely played a fundamental and complementary role in “presencing” a person who would otherwise be absent.