DEADLINE EXTENDED to August 15th!
"The Ties that Bind: Cordage, its Sources, and the Artifacts of its Creation and Use"
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CALL FOR PAPERS -- SAA Annual Meeting 2024 Symposium:
"The Ties that Bind: Cordage, its Sources, and the Artifacts of its Creation and Use"
Co-Organizers/Co-Chairs Billie Follensbee and Ann H. Peters
Cordage is typically the earliest fiber technology to develop in ancient societies, and it tends quickly to form the basis of most constructed interworked fibrous textiles and fabrics. Nevertheless, cordage has continued to exist and function independently of textiles in a wide variety of roles, as in the rope, yarn, and string used for wrapping, binding, and transporting, as well as for rigging, torques, quipus, nets, and other cordage-based tools and devices. In contexts where the cordage no longer survives, the presence of cordage technology is revealed by the presence of tools for making cordage, including spindles, whorls, and rope spinners, and by the presence of paraphernalia that relies on cordage, such as netting gauges, cleats, moorings, slings, harpoons, and suspended objects. This session explores the enduring production, function, and meaning of cordage in ancient through contemporary societies worldwide.
Possible topics of exploration in these discussions of cordage:
--How was cordage essential to the activities and rituals that give meaning to life's crucial moments, to life's relationships, and to the building of community?
--What are the physical structures of the cordage, and how can they be interpreted to get a glimpse into production processes?
--What are the component materials of the cordage, and how do they provide insights into the environments, plants, and/or animals of importance to cord makers and users?
--Where evidence of cordage is present but it is not preserved, what are the artifacts and ecofacts that tell us something about it?
--Where only depictions of cordage are present, how may we draw an understanding of the purpose and significance of the cordage in these depictions?
-What does the archaeological context tell us about the final deposition of this cordage? Does this context provide insights into its uses and social significance?
--Can AMS carbon dating, isotope analysis, genomics, or proteomics provide new data on time, place and material components of the cordage?
Please send proposed titles and abstracts (<200 words) by AUGUST 15TH to BOTH:
BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu; Ann.H.Peters@gmail.com
