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Iconical signs, indexical relations: bronze age stelae and statue-menhirs in the Iberian peninsula

Iconical signs, indexical relations: bronze age stelae and statue-menhirs in the Iberian peninsula
Iconical signs, indexical relations: bronze age stelae and statue-menhirs in the Iberian peninsula
The adoption of theories of social action in Archaeology has opened up the way to consider the mutually constitutive relationship between the social and the material. In this context, Peircean semiotics – a theory of meaning embedded in experience – helps understanding the unfolding of this meaningful relationship in the past and the present. The case of Bronze Age (ca. 2200-825 BC) decorated stelae and statue-menhirs in the Iberian Peninsula is illustrative. They have been generally conceptualized as static containers of symbolic meanings. But understanding stelae and statue-menhirs as an integral and active part of social relations entails addressing them as signs of practices historically situated within a wider complex network of practices structuring social relations in a meaningful way. Stelae and statue-menhirs suggest multiple indexical relations that can be taken as evidence for social practices related to the structuration of collective identities, memories and places. This approach contributes to a renovated understanding of the historicized relationships between people and this type of remains.
materiality, iconography, bronze age
0874-2677
31-45
Diaz-Guardamino, Marta
3f2d3c02-8eee-46aa-a471-3150fa962b8b
Diaz-Guardamino, Marta
3f2d3c02-8eee-46aa-a471-3150fa962b8b

Diaz-Guardamino, Marta (2008) Iconical signs, indexical relations: bronze age stelae and statue-menhirs in the Iberian peninsula. Journal of Iberian Archaeology, 11, 31-45.

Record type: Article

Abstract

The adoption of theories of social action in Archaeology has opened up the way to consider the mutually constitutive relationship between the social and the material. In this context, Peircean semiotics – a theory of meaning embedded in experience – helps understanding the unfolding of this meaningful relationship in the past and the present. The case of Bronze Age (ca. 2200-825 BC) decorated stelae and statue-menhirs in the Iberian Peninsula is illustrative. They have been generally conceptualized as static containers of symbolic meanings. But understanding stelae and statue-menhirs as an integral and active part of social relations entails addressing them as signs of practices historically situated within a wider complex network of practices structuring social relations in a meaningful way. Stelae and statue-menhirs suggest multiple indexical relations that can be taken as evidence for social practices related to the structuration of collective identities, memories and places. This approach contributes to a renovated understanding of the historicized relationships between people and this type of remains.

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Díaz-Guardamino_2008_Journal_of_Iberian_Archaeology.pdf - Author's Original
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Published date: 2008
Keywords: materiality, iconography, bronze age
Organisations: Archaeology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 204127
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/204127
ISSN: 0874-2677
PURE UUID: b5cae59c-899e-45f4-8d53-2e2585540a06

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Date deposited: 09 Dec 2011 14:58
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 04:30

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Contributors

Author: Marta Diaz-Guardamino

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