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Evidence for Popular Art at Karkemish and in the Early Iron Age Levant

D'ORAZIO, Claudia

Recent finds from the Storm God temple area at Karkemish, consisting in a figured ostrakon and an incised small limestone block, provide an opportunity to reassess the evidence for popular art in the Northern Levant during the early Iron Age in connection with cultic contexts and other forms of non-elite display and consumption. These types of artifacts have been often overlooked by archaeological research in favor of more refined classes of artifacts that were produced by specialized workshops for the elites and intended to be displayed in temples, palaces and high-status households. Nonetheless, by taking a closer look at these minute finds within their contexts of retrieval, it is possible to provide some insightful information on the various forms of cognitive expressions of non-elite groups a time of intense, public visual production.

Session 4. Crafting Identity and Clusters through Material Culture, Iconography and Texts [info]