Reconciling Materials, Artefacts and Images : An Examination of the Material Transformations Undergone by the Philioremos Anthropomorphic Figurines

Visually-compelling small finds have traditionally been examined for their appearances. These artefacts, consisting of figurines, ornaments and body adornments, for example, have been primarily studied for the meanings that the images they project might have held. Strikingly fewer are analyses of these objects' material qualities. Frequently ignored are their composition, the sourcing and working of their materials, or their materiality.

The aim of this thesis is to reconcile considerations of the visual and material aspects of visually compelling small finds. It is here argued that examinations of the material aspects of artefacts can reveal important information about the course of their production and consumption, and about the nature of the relationships involved therein. The volume's reconciliatory endeavour is thus undertaken with the creation of a new materially-inclusive, biographically-orientated, methodologically-holistic and multi-scalar framework. Bolstered by theories drawn from philosophy and the social sciences, this methodology allows for closer investigations into the web of closely-knit inter-nodal relationships maintained between humans, materials and the environment during the making and the use of material culture.

The following chapters present the results of the framework's application to the clay anthropomorphic figurines from the Minoan peak sanctuary of Philioremos. The various ways in which clay was engaged with during the different stages of the figurines' becoming and unbecoming are explored. The types of relationships that the artefacts' production and consumption

depended upon and engendered, alongside the types of knowledge these dynamics were rooted in, are then discussed. Subsequently, broader considerations of the use of the human body as a representational theme are undertaken.

In reconciling examinations of the visual and material qualities of the Philioremos figurines, this thesis demonstrates the utility of a materially-integrative approach. Ultimately, this study contributes to two main areas of current archaeological interest simultaneously: the analysis of prehistoric material culture and the examination of Minoan peak sanctuary anthropomorphic figurines more specifically.