Significant Objects and the Biographical Approach: An Inscribed Handle from Misis in Cilicia

Anna Lucia D’Agata, Valentina Cannavò, Massimo Perna, Daniele Putortì

In 2016 the fragmentary handle of a plain container in coarse ware bearing incised Cypriot Syllabic signs was collected within the Iron Age II monumental fortress at Misis in Cilicia. A particular segment in the life history of our vessel is reconstructed here through the study of aspects relating to manufacture, consumption, exchange and symbolic value, as well as deposition and discarding. The results of this research shed light on the social mechanisms by which a community of the Eastern Mediterranean forged its social identity in a period of revolutionary social changes. They also help to understand the complex nature, and entangled and transcultural character of Cilician society at the beginning of the first millennium BC.

Anna Lucia D’Agata is Research Director at National Research Council, Rome.

Valentinà Cannavò is instructor at Università degli Studi di Ferrara.

Massimo Perna is Director of Centro Internazionale per la Ricerca sulle Civiltà Egee “Pierre Carlier” (CIRCE), Oristano.

Daniele Putortì is a professional archaeologist.

Full Bibliographic Reference

D’Agata A.L., Cannavò V., Perna M., Putortì D. 2020, Significant Objects and the Biographical Approach: An Inscribed Handle from Misis in Cilicia, SMEA NS 6, 7-27.

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KEYWORDS

Misis, Cilicia, Middle Iron Age, Plain Ware Amphora, Cypriot Syllabic Script

Figures

Soldi Figura 102 the_swastika