Exhibiting an Imaginative Materiality; Showing a Genealogical Nature: The Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East

Although the primary concern of this volume is to provide specific case studies in which theoretical assumptions and hypotheses can be applied to the ancient evidence, nevertheless most of the papers take not only the general perspective, such as the relationship between materials and humans, but also a defined body of evidence - material, textual, visual, through which to address the issue. This volume represents a first attempt to conceptualise the construction and use of composite artefacts: the richness of approaches, the development of new issues arising from specific case studies, and the overturning of widely accepted ideas demonstrate the growing interest towards this category of objects and the opportunity to enlarge this field of study for the future.