Description
- Abstract:
- In this dissertation, I examine the local outcomes of increased economic interaction and culture contact in central Italy during the first millennium BCE, a period that has been described traditionally as the “Orientalizing” period. Study of this period of exchange between central Italy and the eastern Mediterranean has focused on elite emulation of eastern ways of life, their accumulation of imported goods, and their accumulation of power as part of the process of urbanization. I argue through a critical historiography of the term “orientalizing” that such an approach originated in 19th and early 20th century Italian nationalism, colonialism and Orientalism. In light of this scholarly history, I reorient the study of this period toward a fuller view of society, combining quantitative methods of archaeological analysis with anthropological theories of value, post-colonialism, and art historical approaches. I work from a diachronic perspective, analyzing the funerary ritual at two sites in central Abruzzo (Fossa) and the coastal Adriatic (Campovalano). I employ multivariate statistics (hierarchical clustering, multiscale bootstrap resampling, and two-step clustering) and network science (core-periphery and centrality measures) in order to understand changes in funerary ritual from a bottom-up perspective. At Campovalano, the integration of a communal funerary feast is part of the invention of tradition, which was instituted by enmeshing this new practice among a series of both older traditions and markers of status and authority designed to legitimize the new practice. Fossa manages increased outside contact by folding imported objects into already existing practices, maintaining the prevailing funerary tradition with some modest expansion. Network analysis of decorative styles indicated that at Campovalano, imported imagery on feasting objects was physically transformed into a local style and deposited in centrally-positioned tombs, while new decorative motifs at Fossa were positioned on the exterior of tomb networks, which reflects their lack of general acceptance within the community. These methods have shown that although certain communities adopted new practices while incorporating local elements and traditions, other communities maintained substantial continuity even when encountering new ideas and practices.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2016)
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Citation
Nowlin, Jessica Catherine,
"Reorienting Orientalization: Intrasite Networks of Value and Consumption in Central Italy"
(2016).
Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z04Q7SD3
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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department....