The Routledge Handbook of Sensory Archaeology

Edited by two pioneers in the field of sensory archaeology, this Handbook comprises a key point of reference for the ever-expanding field of sensory archaeology: one that surpasses previous books in this field, both in scope and critical intent. This Handbook provides an extensive set of specially commissioned chapters, each of which summarizes and critically reflects on progress made in this dynamic field during the early years of the twenty-first century. The authors identify and discuss the key current concepts and debates of sensory archaeology, providing overviews and commentaries on its methods and its place in interdisciplinary sensual culture studies. Through a set of thematic studies, they explore diverse sensorial practices, contexts and materials, and offer a selection of archaeological case-studies from different parts of the world. In the light of this, the research methods now being brought into the service of sensory archaeology are re-examined.Of interest to scholars, students and others with an interest in archaeology around the world, this book will be invaluable to archaeologists and is also of relevance to scholars working in disciplines contributing to sensory studies: aesthetics, anthropology, architecture, art history, communication studies, history (including history of science), geography, literary and cultural studies, material culture studies, museology, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.

List of figuresList of tablesList of platesPreface1 Sensory archaeology: key concepts and debatesRobin Skeates and Jo Day PART I: APPROACHES TO SENSORY ARCHAEOLOGY2 Digging up the sensorium: on the sensory revolution in archaeologyDavid Howes3 Early theories of sense perception: Greek originsHan Baltussen4 Doing sensory archaeology: the challengesRuth Tringham and Annie Danis5 How does it feel? Phenomenology, excavation and sensory experience: notes for a new ethnographic field practiceChristopher Tilley6 The senses in museums: knowledge production, democratization and indigenizationCara Krmpotich PART II: SENSORIAL PRACTICES, contexts and materials7 Emotion and the senses in archaeologyRuth Nugent8 Movement, materials and intersubjectivity: insights from western IrelandRyan Lash9 Sensing death and experiencing mortuary ritualLiv Nilsson Stutz10 Environment and the sensesAndrew Hoaen11 Waterfalls and moving waters: the unnatural natural and flows of cosmic forcesTerje Oestigaard12 Darkness and light in the archaeological past: sensory perspectivesMarion Dowd13 The sensory archaeology of textilesSusanna Harris14 Sensory perception and experience of glassChloë N. Duckworth15 Ceremonial architecture and public eventsTakeshi Inomata16 Cities and urbanismJeff Veitch17 Warfare and the senses: archaeologies of the senses and sensorial archaeologies of recent conflictMatthew Leonard and Esther Breithoff18 The sensory experiences of food consumptionErica Rowan PART III: Archaeological Case-studies by period and region19 Stealing through the back door: sensory archaeology in the European MesolithicBen Elliott20 Sensory archaeology in Scandinavia and FinlandAstrid J. Nyland21 Sensory Mediterranean prehistoryRobin Skeates22 Sensory approaches to the Aegean Bronze AgeJo Day23 The sensory world of MesopotamiaAugusta McMahon24 The sensory worlds of ancient EgyptRichard Parkinson25 Classical archaeology and the senses: a paradigmatic shift?Heather Hunter-Crawley26 Experimental archaeology and (re)-experiencing the senses of the medievalworldBrendan O’Neill and Aidan O’Sullivan27 Haptic vision: making surface sense of Islamic material cultureSimon O’Meara28 Sensorial experiences in Mesoamerica: existing scholarship and possibilitiesSarah Newman29 Sensory archaeology in the Pueblo SouthwestRuth M. Van Dyke30 Sensory approaches to the woodland and Mississippian cultures of the Eastern Woodlands of North AmericaCorin C.O. Pursell31 Sensory archaeology in the PacificTim Thomas32 Afterword: sensory archaeology¿a work in progressRobin Skeates and Jo DayIndex

Robin Skeates is a Professor at Durham University, UK. His research and publications explore a wide variety of themes within the overlapping fields of material, visual and sensual culture studies and museum and heritage studies. He is author of An Archaeology of the Senses: Prehistoric Malta, which combines his specialist interests in sensory archaeology and Central Mediterranean prehistory.Jo Day is Assistant Professor in Greek Archaeology and Curator of the Classical Museum at University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland. She edited Making Senses of the Past: Toward a Sensory Archaeology and continues to research archaeology and the senses, especially relating to the Aegean Bronze Age. She also works on early ceramic technology and ancient foodways.