A colorful death : A study of the social life of colors in Late Bronze Age grave goods
(2015) In Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen, 4° 56. p.515-529- Abstract
- The study of burials can include, among other things, examinations of grave goods, architecture, osteological and organic remains, context and location, socio-religious and ritual importance, sacred landscape, socio-economic relevance, and so on. One area that has not been investigated in depth regarding the objects placed in the graves is the aspect of color: does their color in general or specific colors have any importance, sym-bolically or in any other way? Are some of these objects and goods there because they have a specific color rather than for other reasons? What we call “color” today can be said to have three major components: hue, degree of shine or mattness, and depth or saturation of the hue. Looking at Late Bronze Age tombs in... (More)
- The study of burials can include, among other things, examinations of grave goods, architecture, osteological and organic remains, context and location, socio-religious and ritual importance, sacred landscape, socio-economic relevance, and so on. One area that has not been investigated in depth regarding the objects placed in the graves is the aspect of color: does their color in general or specific colors have any importance, sym-bolically or in any other way? Are some of these objects and goods there because they have a specific color rather than for other reasons? What we call “color” today can be said to have three major components: hue, degree of shine or mattness, and depth or saturation of the hue. Looking at Late Bronze Age tombs in the Argolid, I used these parameters initially in a pilot project to register and analyze all the non-skeletal and non-ceramic grave goods in five chamber tombs at Asine. e results indi-cated that color did seem to be important: the most essential component by far was that of shininess/brightness—almost every object placed in the grave was reflective, lustrous or shiny. Certain hues seemed far more common than others—yellow and dark/black followed by white/light. In this study, I have added the grave material from Berbati and Dendra to determine whether the first preliminary findings were still valid for a larger quantity of material and from different areas and contexts within them. e results indicate that shininess is still by far the most impor-tant component; however, the use of hues is less clear-cut than it seemed at first. Aspects of materiality, interaction, agency and the social life of colors are discussed as they provide ways to understand the findings (Less)
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- author
- Gillis, Carole LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Mycenaeans up to date : The archaeology of the northeastern Peloponnese―current concepts and new directions - The archaeology of the northeastern Peloponnese―current concepts and new directions
- series title
- Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen, 4°
- editor
- Schallin, Ann-Louise and Tournavitou, Iphiyenia
- volume
- 56
- pages
- 515 - 529
- ISSN
- 0586-0539
- ISBN
- 9789179160630
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b3e8ae46-18bb-4af9-90d3-aa64085159d3
- date added to LUP
- 2019-01-25 14:58:15
- date last changed
- 2019-01-29 10:03:59
@inproceedings{b3e8ae46-18bb-4af9-90d3-aa64085159d3,
abstract = {{The study of burials can include, among other things, examinations of grave goods, architecture, osteological and organic remains, context and location, socio-religious and ritual importance, sacred landscape, socio-economic relevance, and so on. One area that has not been investigated in depth regarding the objects placed in the graves is the aspect of color: does their color in general or specific colors have any importance, sym-bolically or in any other way? Are some of these objects and goods there because they have a specific color rather than for other reasons? What we call “color” today can be said to have three major components: hue, degree of shine or mattness, and depth or saturation of the hue. Looking at Late Bronze Age tombs in the Argolid, I used these parameters initially in a pilot project to register and analyze all the non-skeletal and non-ceramic grave goods in five chamber tombs at Asine. e results indi-cated that color did seem to be important: the most essential component by far was that of shininess/brightness—almost every object placed in the grave was reflective, lustrous or shiny. Certain hues seemed far more common than others—yellow and dark/black followed by white/light. In this study, I have added the grave material from Berbati and Dendra to determine whether the first preliminary findings were still valid for a larger quantity of material and from different areas and contexts within them. e results indicate that shininess is still by far the most impor-tant component; however, the use of hues is less clear-cut than it seemed at first. Aspects of materiality, interaction, agency and the social life of colors are discussed as they provide ways to understand the findings}},
author = {{Gillis, Carole}},
booktitle = {{Mycenaeans up to date : The archaeology of the northeastern Peloponnese―current concepts and new directions}},
editor = {{Schallin, Ann-Louise and Tournavitou, Iphiyenia}},
isbn = {{9789179160630}},
issn = {{0586-0539}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{515--529}},
series = {{Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen, 4°}},
title = {{A colorful death : A study of the social life of colors in Late Bronze Age grave goods}},
volume = {{56}},
year = {{2015}},
}