The Art of Assemblage: Styling Neolithic Art

Abstract

The art of Neolithic Britain and Ireland consists of a variety of curvilinear and geometric motifs pecked into stone (in open-air rock art or passage tombs) or carved into portable artefacts of chalk, stone or antler. Because of its abstract nature the art has proved problematic for archaeologists. Initially archaeologists assumed the art was representational; now most scholars have abandoned this view, and simply approach the art stylistically. Here I argue that stylistic analysis is insufficient to understand this art: instead the process of making provides a fuller understanding of this art. It is argued that the practice of assemblage is a key aspect of the process of making.

Art (Pre)History: Ritual, Narrative and Visual Culture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe

“…Indeed, our reflex to ask about the “meaning” of imagery inherently invokes a representational paradigm in which signification is distinct from the thing itself, which merely acts as a vehicle. But, as colleagues have pointed out (Jones 2017 ), representation may be the wrong way to understand Neolithic art. A representational paradigm implies that the material signifier is arbitrary or unimportant, but Neolithic art was demonstrably concerned with material, light and location (Cochrane et al 2014 ; Jones 2012a ; Jones et al 2011 ).…”

Transformations in Representations of Gender During the Emergence of the Teotihuacan State: A Regional Case Study of Ceramic Figurines from the Basin of Mexico

“…Yet the perceived similarity in objects that ‘belong’ to an assemblage, particularly in the typological sense, can have the effect of masking, or at least devaluing, important difference within those materials. By relying on typologies as part of our descriptive and analytical process, we necessarily privilege sameness over difference, which can hinder our understanding of the diversity of artefacts and how they relate to objects outside the typological assemblage (Crellin 2017; Jones 2017). An analysis of visual imagery in particular benefits from an approach that does not focus on similarities alone.…”

“…Crellin 2017; Hamilakis 2017; Hamilakis & Jones 2017; Jones 2017). For example, building on Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) work on the concepts of repetition and differentiation, that of Jones (2017) complicates the concepts of style and type in archaeological investigations. In his study of British Neolithic art motifs on small decorated objects, Jones (2017) finds that such motifs referenced motifs on other materials across regions, connecting local communities through shared regional practices.…”

“…For example, building on Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) work on the concepts of repetition and differentiation, that of Jones (2017) complicates the concepts of style and type in archaeological investigations. In his study of British Neolithic art motifs on small decorated objects, Jones (2017) finds that such motifs referenced motifs on other materials across regions, connecting local communities through shared regional practices. Inter- and intra-referential motifs created a multi-scalar assemblage within British Neolithic art, which would not have been noticed if the analysis was constricted by artefact types.…”

“…It stems from the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, revisited by Manuel DeLanda (2006) and others (e.g. Crellin 2017; Hamilakis 2017; Hamilakis & Jones 2017; Jones 2017). For example, building on Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) work on the concepts of repetition and differentiation, that of Jones (2017) complicates the concepts of style and type in archaeological investigations.…”