Workshop "Meant to Move. Kinetic expression in figurines from ancient Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean"
Cypriot figurine of a rider, ca. 600-500 BCE. BM, 1894,1101.89. Photo: Trustees of the British Museum.
Interdisciplinary workshop conceptualized and organized by Elisa Roßberger and Marina Weiss (Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology, FU Berlin), in cooperation with Régine Hunziker-Rodewald (Univ. Straßburg/ FU Berlin), Stephanie Langin-Hooper (SMU Dallas), and Enrica Inversi (BM London). Supported by EXC 2020 “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective”, Einstein Center Chronoi, and hosted by BerGSAS.
Meant to Move. Kinetic expression in figurines from ancient Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean
Figurines — made of clay, stone, wood, or other materials throughout the ancient world — capture postures, gestures, and movements that serve as visualized expressions of action, practice, and cognitive frameworks within their respective cultural contexts. While static, they encapsulate sequences of motion with deliberately chosen gestures that reflect everyday and ritualistic practices. By focusing on bodily forms and attributes, this workshop examines how figurines function as markers of action and experience and, thus, as entry points for associative thinking within distinct cognitive realms or performative settings. Exploring figurines as representations and active participants in social life, we consider their cognitive function — mnemonic devices, behavior models, or gesture guides? — and their potential to stimulate embodied responses and performative engagement.
Inspired by insights from gesture studies, cognitive science, and performance studies, the workshop, hosted by the Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology at Freie Universität Berlin and supported by the Excellence Cluster 2020 “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective”, Einstein Center Chronoi, and hosted by BerGSAS, will open a dialogue on figurine agency through cognitive stimulation with specialists in different figurine traditions of Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean during the second and first millennium BCE. Combining scholarly papers and respondent-led discussions will stimulate active exchange between theoretical reasoning and artifact-oriented, comparative analyses.
Organizing committee:
Elisa Roßberger & Marina Weiss (Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin)
Stephanie Langin-Hooper (Southern Methodist University, Dallas)
Régine Hunziker-Rodewald (Université de Strasbourg & Freie Universität Berlin)
Enrica Inversi (The British Museum & Freie Universität Berlin)
Participants: Andrei Aioanei, Sarah Graff, Elisabeth Katzy, Maria Gabriella Micale, Goce Naumov, Alexander Pruß, Anastasia Tchaplyghine
Program: The workshop will last two days. The first session will start on Thursday afternoon (22nd May, 2025), followed by the workshop dinner, aiming to foster collegial exchange in a more relaxed environment. On Friday (23rd May, 2025), we resume sessions in the morning with a lunch break in the Dahlem Research School garden. We expect to end in the late afternoon on Friday.
Contact: Marina Weiss (marina.weiss@fu-berlin.de ) or Elisa Roßberger (elisa.rossberger@fu-berlin.de)
Program:
Thursday, 22 May 2025
14:00 Welcome and introduction
14:30 Sarah Graff (Met Museum, New York): Far Away, So Close: Connections in Clay between Old Babylonian Girsu and Ur
15:15 Enrica Inversi (British Museum, London): Embodied Practices: Stillness and Movement in Ur Figurines
16:15 Elisa Roßberger (FU Berlin)
17:00 Anastasia Tchaplyghine (British Museum, London): Enigmatic Movement: Terracotta Animal Figurines in Early First Millennium BCE Mesopotamia
18:00 Goce Naumov (Einstein Center - Chronoi): Figurine Fragmentation as the Embodiment of Motion
Friday, 23 May 2025
9:00 Régine Hunziker-Rodewald (Universität Straßburg)
9:45 Gabriella Micale (British Museum, London)
11:00 Elisabeth Katzy (Pilecki-Institut Berlin)
11:45 Stephanie Langin-Hooper (SMU Dallas): To Love and To Protect: Movement, Sound, and Smell as Forms of Divine Protection in the Eros Harpocrates Terracottas of Hellenistic Babylonia
14:00 Alexander Pruß (JGU Mainz)
14:45 Marina Weiss (FU Berlin): In Motion: Ring Dance Figurines from Iron Age Cyprus
15:20 Andrei Aioanei (Universität Straßburg): Embodied Semiotic Agents: Territorialization and Ideological Formation Through Female Figurines in Iron Age Tel Rehov
Zeit & Ort
22.05.2025 - 23.05.2025
Dahlem Research School, Hittorfstr. 16, 14195 Berlin
Weitere Informationen
For registration please contact: vorderasiatische-archaeologie@geschkult.fu-berlin.de