[Bonetools] Call for Papers: Deer as Material Culture

[Steven Ashby]

Dear all,

Some of you will be aware of the forthcoming ‘Deer and People: Past,
Present and Future’ conference, to be held at the University of
Lincoln 8 – 11 September 2011 (immediately after Salzburg!) .  I will
be running a session at this
conference, entitled 'Deer as Material Culture', and would be pleased
to hear from anyone interested in presenting a paper or poster for
this session. Please do forward this email to anyone you think might
be interested. Details follow:

'Deer as Material Culture'
Steve Ashby, Dept of Archaeology, University of York, Kings Manor,
York YO1 7EP.  email: steve.ashby at york.ac.uk

Throughout our (pre)history, deer have represented an important human
quarry. While the animals themselves have acted as inspiration for
art, literature, and cosmology, one may also discern a persistent
interest in what may be termed ‘deer products’. Bone, antler, and (no
doubt) skins have constituted important materials for the manufacture
of portable material culture in diverse contexts over at least the
last 10 millennia, and in many such items the object’s cervid origin
would have been clearly discernible. Moreover, by taking a lead from
anthropology, and from documentary, literary, and iconographic
sources, one may argue that the deer was somehow presenced in a wide
range of other items.

This session will explore material culture in past and present, and
will consider the ‘deerness’ of diverse objects, with a view to ways
in which this might elucidate their social content and agency.
Examples might include: the frontlet headdresses or barbed points of
the Mesolithic; Roman and early-medieval amulets, pins, and combs; the
handles of postmedieval tools and cutlery, or the trophies of country
estates. No restrictions are placed upon deer species, and papers may
engage with questions related to any aspect of the biography of such
items:


• Understanding deer behaviour and landscapes, in order to acquire
resources for craft and industry, whether through control and
domestication, hunting, or tracking. The implications of such
relations for the investment of resultant items with meaning;
• The ‘animal’ content of antler and other deer products as a
consideration in the exchange of such materials, either as a prestige
good or a commodity;
• The ‘animal’ content of antler and other deer products as a
consideration in the production of objects;
• The ‘animal’ content of antler and other deer products as a
consideration in the use, re-use, and meaningful deposition of objects


Please feel free to contact me to discuss ideas, but to formally
submit a paper/poster proposal please visit the conference website:
 http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/archaeology/research/conferences/deer-people.aspx.

 I'd be grateful if you could copy your proposal to me at
steve.ashby at york.ac.uk.


Sincerely

Steve Ashby



--
Dr Steven P Ashby
Dept of Archaeology
University of York
www.york.ac.uk/archaeology

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