The Museum of Archaeology at University of Stavanger houses a unique collection of modified and ornated bone and stone artefacts dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic period (c. 8000-2000 BC). The main objective of this PhD-project is to conduct a study of these portable art(efacts) and their surface modifications, with the intention of gaining more knowledge about their acquisition, curation, use, deposition and archaeological context. Through a systematic analysis of this assemblage, the ultimate goal of this project would be to reveal insights into important but hitherto understudied aspects of prehistoric lifeways in Norway, such as concepts of aesthetics, traditions of mark and art making, and/or iconography, identity, religion and abstract communication in general. Due to the development of analytical techniques within areas such as digital microscopy, archaeometry and 3D recording, even the faintest surface modification, mark or engraving can today be analysed in unprecedented detail. The successful candidate should therefore use one or several types of digital, microscopic and/or archaeometric methods, preferably within a combined archaeological, experimental and/or traceological research framework. Re-invigorating understudied assemblages from the archaeological collections is an important objective at the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger. The current collection encompasses various items, such as hatchets, pickaxes, axes, miniature hatchets, bone and slate arrows, sinkers, flutters, ornated with notches, lines, zig zags, nets and other abstract patterns. Occasionally figurative expressions also occur. Animal figurines and ornated Neolithic pottery make up other potential objects of study.
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