Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Masking Moments: The Transitions of Bodies and Beings in Late Iron Age Scandinavia
Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1549-582X
2007 (English)Doctoral thesis, monograph (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This thesis explores bodily representations in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (400–1050 AD). Non-human bodies, such as gold foil figures, and human bodies are analysed. The work starts with an examination and deconstruction of the sex/gender categories to the effect that they are considered to be of minor value for the purposes of the thesis. Three analytical concepts – masks, miniature, and metaphor – are deployed in order to interpret how and why the chosen bodies worked within their prehistoric contexts.

The manipulations the figures sometimes have undergone are referred to as masking practices, discussed in Part One. It is shown that masks work and are powerful by being paradoxical; that they are vehicles for communication; and that they are, in effect, transitional objects bridging gaps that arise in continuity as a result of events such as symbolic or actual deaths.

In Part Two miniaturization is discussed. Miniaturization contributes to making worlds intelligible, negotiable and communicative. Bodies in miniatures in comparison to other miniature objects are particularly potent. Taking gold foil figures under special scrutiny, it is claimed that gold, its allusions as well as its inherent properties conveyed numinosity. Consequently gold foil figures, regardless of the context, must be understood as extremely forceful agents.

Part Three examines metaphorical thinking and how human and animal body parts were used in pro-creational acts, resulting in the birth of persons. However, these need not have been human, but could have been the outcomes of turning a deceased into an ancestor, iron into a steel sword, or clay into a ceramic urn, hence expanding and transforming the members of the family/household. Thus, bone in certain contexts acted as a transitional object or as a generative substance.

It is concluded that the bodies of research are connected to transitions, and that the theme of transformation was one fundamental characteristic of the societies of study.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur , 2007. , p. 352
Series
Stockholm Studies in Archaeology, ISSN 0349-4128 ; 40
Keywords [en]
Masking practices, masks, transitions, Iron Age, Scandinavia, kuml, body, metaphorical thinking, miniaturization, queer theory, feminism, sex, gender, personhood, rune stones, gold foil figures, oral literacy, food preparation, burials
National Category
Archaeology
Research subject
Archaeology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-6737ISBN: 91-7155-330-4 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-6737DiVA, id: diva2:196957
Public defence
2007-04-20, De Geersalen, Geovetenskapens hus, Svante Arrhenius väg 8 A, Stockholm, 10:00
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2007-03-29 Created: 2007-03-23 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(6985 kB)14383 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 6985 kBChecksum MD5
3c705018a9cf5b1ffb35b3488c657f5e74b98a731fbd82054267241d1c6c0cd1284ef013
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Authority records

Back Danielsson, Ing-Marie

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Back Danielsson, Ing-Marie
By organisation
Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies
Archaeology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 14385 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

isbn
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

isbn
urn-nbn
Total: 6120 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf