The Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean - The Case of the Painted Plaster (Volume 12) - Ann Brysbaert

The Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean - The Case of the Painted Plaster (Volume 12) - Ann Brysbaert

Analyzed to Bits: Technological and Iconographic Transfer

The Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean - The Case of the Painted Plaster (Volume 12) - Ann Brysbaert

Ann Brysbaert [+-]
University of Leiden
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Ann Brysbaert is Professor of Ancient Technologies, Materials and Crafts and Principle Investigator of the ERC SETinSTONE project (Leiden University, 2015-2020). Previously, she has been PI of one of the sub-projects of “Tracing Networks” (Leicester University, 2008-2013). Her main research interests are linked to pre-industrial technologies, materials and social practices, painted plaster, pyrotechnological and relating crafts, and combining material culture with landscape approaches in economies of building. Apart from her monograph (2008: Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. The Case of Painted Plaster. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology 12.London: Equinox Press), her recent publications include five edited volumes on these themes. The most recent two are: Constructing Monuments, Perceiving Monumentality and the Economics of Building. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Built Environment. Leiden: Sidestone Press (2018: edited with V. Klinkenberg, A. Gutièrrez Garcia-M. and I. Vikatou); and Building BIG – Constructing Economies: from Design to Long-Term Impact of Large-Scale Building Projects. Heidelberg: Propylaeum (in press: edited with J. Pakkanen).

Description

In combining data from scientific analysis and experimental replication, this chapter presents and discusses the material culture remains of painted plaster at three levels: production, distribution and consumption. Moreover, it indicates the degree of interrelation of these painted plaster remains both technologically and, to a lesser extent, iconographically, and how other material remains and technologies may influence the former. Consequently, patterns of material transfer, mobility and cross-craft interaction are demonstrated. It further shows that the triptych of technology, iconography and style is clearly interwoven, forming an Aegean painting craft as a ‘technological style’ in its own right. This chapter is subdivided into six sections which resemble an onion structure where each section forms a layer moving deeper into the matter. First, all macroscopic observations are presented according to a method outlined previously (Brysbaert 2002b). This is followed by a discussion of the features observed microscopically by means of a range of different microscopes. The mineralogical identification of plaster and pigments by means of XRD analysis is the next layer revealing the multiple scope of this material, and this is followed by the dissection of the blue pigments. After a discussion of chronological issues relating to blue pigments, the theoretical and hypothetical discussions of technological transfer are illustrated with supportive material evidence. Finally, two non-destructive approaches are discussed: the testing of non-destructive instrumental analyses and the usage of experimental replication studies as a nondestructive technique in the study of painted plaster.

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Citation

Brysbaert, Ann . Analyzed to Bits: Technological and Iconographic Transfer. The Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean - The Case of the Painted Plaster (Volume 12). Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 111-146 Jan 2009. ISBN 9781781792537. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=22607. Date accessed: 29 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.22607. Jan 2009

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