Making Faces
Facial Imagery and the Non-Representational in Later Prehistoric Europe
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37718/CSA.2024.09Keywords:
Neolithic, Iron Age, Britain and Ireland, Europe, Emergence, Affect, Art, FacialityAbstract
This paper examines the interplay between representational and non-representational art in later prehistoric Europe, aiming to form a starting point for more detailed and expansive study on this topic. We will approach later prehistoric imagery from an angle that has not been extensively explored, focusing on the deliberate use of ambiguity and the occasional appearance of representational images – particularly human bodies and faces – against a background of predominantly abstract and geometric imagery. We will hone in particularly on the imagery of Neolithic Britain and Ireland and the imagery of the European Iron Age, drawing on examples from existing research to establish new questions, and focusing especially on the affective potentials of faces and other bodily elements in later prehistoric imagery. We argue that images should always be viewed as being ‘in the making’ and we consider how Neolithic and Iron Age images became representational, emphasizing their emergent and ambiguous characteristics.
Downloads
References
Aldhouse-Green, M. 2004. An Archaeology of Images: Iconology and Cosmology in Iron Age and Roman Europe. London: Routledge.
Armit, I. 2012. Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Back Danielsson, I.-M. & Jones, A.M. 2020. Images in the Making. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Bagley, J. & Schumann, R. 2013. Materialized Prestige. Remarks on the Archaeological Research of Social Distinction Based on Case Studies of the Late Hallstatt Golden Necklaces and Early La Tène Maskenfibeln. In: Karl, R. & Leskovar, J. (eds), Interpretierte Eisenzeiten: Fallstudien, Methoden, Theorie. Tagungsbeiträge der 5. Linzer Gespräche zur interpretativen Eisenzeitarchäologie, pp. 123–136. Linz: Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum.
Bradley, R. 1997. Rock Art and the Prehistory of Atlantic Europe: Signing the Land. London: Routledge.
Carlson, J. 2011. A Symbol – But of What? Iron Age Daggers, Alessi Corkscrews and Anthropoid Embellishment Reconsidered. Antiquity. Vol. 85(330), pp. 1312–1324.
Celis, C.B. 2020. The Face Revisited: Using Deleuze and Guattari to Explore the Politics of Algorithmic Face Recognition. Theory, Culture and Society. Vol. 37(1), pp. 73–91.
Chittock, H. 2014. Arts and Crafts in Iron Age Britain: Reconsidering the Aesthetic Effects of Weaving Combs. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. Vol 33(3), pp. 313–326.
Chittock, H. 2020. Bodies and Objects in Iron Age Europe and Beyond: An Integrated Approach to Anthropomorphic Imagery. In: Nimura, C., Chittock, H., Hommel, P. & Gosden, C. (eds), Art in the Eurasian Iron Age: Context, Connections and Scale, pp. 71–94. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Chittock, H. 2021. Arts and Crafts in Iron Age East Yorkshire: A Holistic Approach to Pattern and Purpose c. 400 BC–AD 100. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
Cochrane, A. & Jones, A.M. 2018. Materials, Process, Image. The Art of Neolithic Britain and Ireland. In: Jones, A.M. & Cochrane, A. (eds), The Archaeology of Art. Materials, Practices, Affects, pp. 137–172. London: Routledge.
Coles, B. 1990. Anthropomorphic Wooden Figures from Britain and Ireland. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 56, 315–333.
Collis, J. 2003. The Celts: Origins, Myths, Interventions. Stroud: Tempus.
Crawford, O.G.S. 1957. The Eye Goddess. London: Phoenix House.
Darvill, T., O'Connor, B., [...] Nunn, R. & Welham, K. 2005. The Cronk yn How Stone and the Rock Art of the Isle of Man. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 71, pp. 283–331.
Deleuze, G. 1986. Cinema I: The Movement-image. Translated by H. Tomlinson and B. Habberjam. London: Bloomsbury.
Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Continuum Books.
Diodorus Siculus. Library of History, Volume XI: Fragments of Books 21–32. Translated by Walton, F.R. Loeb Classical Library 409. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957.
Eco, U. 1959. Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Eogan, G. 1986. Knowth and the Passage-tombs of Ireland. London: Thames and Hudson.
Eogan, G. & Cleary, K. 2017. The Passage Tomb Archaeology of the Great Mound at Knowth. Excavations at Knowth 6. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
Fitzpatrick, A.P. 1996. Night and Day: The Symbolism of Astral Signs on Later Iron Age Anthropomorphic Short Swords. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 62, pp. 373–398.
Fitzpatrick, A.P. 2020. A face from the British Iron Age: A Decorated Iron Age Weaving Comb from Harwell, Oxfordshire. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 39, pp. 177–188.
Foster, J. 2014. Hidden Faces and Animal Images on Late Iron Age and Early Roman Horse Harnesses. In: Gosden, C., Crawford, S. & Ulmschneider, K. (eds), Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections, pp. 56–67. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Foster, J. & Batten, M. 2022. The Face on the Turoe Stone. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 88, pp. 221–225.
Fox, C. 1958. Pattern and Purpose: A survey of Early Celtic Art in Britain. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.
Gosden, C. & Hill, J.D. 2008. Introduction: reintegrating ‘Celtic’ Art. In: D. Garrow, C. Gosden & J.D. Hill (eds), Rethinking Celtic Art, pp. 1–15. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Garrow, D., Gosden, C. & Hill, J.D. 2008. Rethinking Celtic Art. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Garrow, D. & Gosden, C. 2012 Technologies of Enchantment?: Exploring Celtic Art: 400 BC to AD 100. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gell, A. 1992 The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology. In: Coote, J. & Shelton, A. (eds), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics, pp. 40–63. Oxford: Clarendon.
Gell, A. 1998. Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ginoux, N. 2020. Visual Memory and Perceptions in Ancient Celtic Art. In: Nimura, C., Chittock, H., Hommel, P. & Gosden, C. (eds), Art in the Eurasian Iron Age: Context, Connections and Scale, pp. 127–151. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Gosden, C. 2013. Technologies of Routine and of Enchantment. In: Chua, L. & Elliott, M. (eds), Distributed Objects: Meaning and Mattering after Alfred Gell, pp. 39-57. London: Berghahn.
Green, M.J. 1995. The Gods and the Supernatural. In: Green, M.J. (ed.), The Celtic World, pp. 465–488. London: Routledge.
Hartnett, B. 1957. Excavation of a Passage Grave at Fourknocks, Co. Meath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Vol. 58C, pp. 197–277.
Hensey, R. 2015. First Light: The Origins of Newgrange. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Hitchcock, M. 2022. Shields in the British Iron Age: A Critical Archaeological Approach, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Manchester.
Jacobsthal, P. 1941. Imagery in Early Celtic Art. Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 37, pp. 301–320.
Jacobsthal, P. 1944. Early Celtic Art (2 vols). Oxford: Clarendon.
Jones, A.M. & Cochrane, A. 2018. The Archaeology of Art. Materials, Practices, Affects. London: Routledge.
Jones, A.M. 2019. Remarkable Objects, Multiple Objects: The Ontology of Decorated Objects in Neolithic Britain and Ireland. In: Jones, A.M. & Díaz-Guardamino, M. (eds), Making a Mark: Image and Process in Neolithic Britain and Ireland, pp. 183–194. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Jones, A.M. & Díaz-Guardamino, M. 2019. Making a Mark: Image and Process in Neolithic Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Joy, J. 2011. ‘Fancy Objects’ in the British Iron Age: Why Decorate? Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 77, pp. 205–229.
Joy, J. 2019. A Power to Intrigue? Exploring the ‘Timeless’ Qualities of the so-called ‘Grotesque’ Iron Age Torc from Snettisham, Norfolk. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. Vol. 38(4), pp. 464–475.
Joy, J. 2020, How Can Celtic Art Styles and Motifs Act? A Case Study from Later Iron Age Norfolk. In: C. Nimura, H. Chittock, P. Hommel & C. Gosden (eds), Art in the Eurasian Iron Age. Context, Connections and Scale, pp. 111–126. Oxford: Oxbow Books..
Ling, J., Díaz-Guardamino, M., Koch, J., Horn, C., Stos-Gale, Z & Grahn, H. 2024. Bronze Age rock art in Iberia and Scandinavia. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Megaw, J.V.S. 1970. Cheshire Cat and Mickey Mouse: Analysis, interpretation and the art of the La Tene Iron Age. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 36, pp. 261–279.
Megaw, R. & Megaw, V. 1989. Celtic Art; From its Beginnings to the Book of Kells. London: Thames and Hudson.
Nimura, C., Chittock, H., Hommel, P. & Gosden, C. 2020. Art in the Eurasian Iron Age: Context, Connections and Scale. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Nyord, R. 2021. Seeing Perfection: Ancient Egyptian Images Beyond Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, C. & Jones, R. 2016. The Development of Neolithic House Societies in Orkney. Oxford: Windgather Press.
Ritchie, A. 2009. On the Fringe of Neolithic Europe: Excavation of a Chambered Cairn on Holm of Papa Westray, Orkney. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Valdez-Tullett, J., Barnett, T., Robin, G. & Jeffrey, S. 2022. Revealing the Earliest Animal Engravings in Scotland: The Dunchraigaig Deer, Kilmartin. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. Vol. 33(2), pp. 281–307.
Wilkinson, D. 2022. On the Ontological Significance of Naturalistic Art. In: Watts, C. &
Knappett, C. (eds), Ancient Art Revisited. Global Perspectives from Archaeology and Art History, pp. 47–66. London: Routledge.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Helen Chittock, Andrew Jones
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to Current Swedish Archaeology retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to the Swedish Archaeological Society. Read the journal's full Copyright- and Licensing Policy.
