Weaving and Wearing Identity: Personal Adornment in Past Societies

This book examines questions surrounding body adornments and its link to identity in archaeology, looking at theoretical and interpretive frameworks that are relevant to the study of different categories of personal ornaments. Identity is a crucial topic in archaeology where its concept is investigated through the study of many categories of material culture. As self-representation, identity constitutes a choice through which an individual or a group want to be seen by others. The volume covers a wide geographical and chronological frame from the Upper Paleolithic era to Medieval times, examining North, Central, and Southern Europe as well as regions in Southwest Asia and North Africa.

This book is based on a session organised at the European Archaeological Association (EAA) in 2023, with a commonality, namely, body adornments. Participants explored the ways in which possessing, wearing and/or trading personal ornaments was a means through which individual and social identity could be expressed in antiquity. This volume is of relevance to archaeological researchers, practitioners, and students.