Books by Christine Morris
Archaeology of Spiritualties provides a fresh exploration of the interface between archaeology an... more Archaeology of Spiritualties provides a fresh exploration of the interface between archaeology and religion/spirituality. Archaeological approaches to the study of religion have typically, and often unconsciously, drawn on western paradigms, especially Judaeo-Christian (mono)theistic frameworks and academic rationalisations. Archaeologists have rarely reflected on how these approaches have framed and constrained their choices of methodologies, research questions, hypotheses, definitions, interpretations and analyses, and have neglected an important dimension of religion: the human experience of the numinous - the power, presence or experience of the supernatural.
Within the religions of many of the world’s peoples, sacred experiences – particularly in relation to sacred landscapes and beings connected with those landscapes – are often given greater emphasis, while doctrine and beliefs are relatively less important. Archaeology of Spiritualities asks how such experiences might be discerned in the archaeological record; how do we recognize and investigate ‘other’ forms of religious or spiritual experience in the remains of the past?
The volume opens up a space to explore critically and reflexively the encounter between archaeology and diverse cultural expressions of spirituality. It showcases experiential and experimental methodologies in this area of the discipline, an unconventional approach within the archaeology of religion. Thus Archaeology of Spiritualities offers a unique, timely and innovative contribution, one that is also challenging and stimulating. It is a great resource for archaeologists, historians, religious scholars, and others interested in cultural and religious heritage.
"Philhellenism in Ireland had political and military, as well as academic, archaeological and eve... more "Philhellenism in Ireland had political and military, as well as academic, archaeological and even dilettante characteristics from the eighteenth century onwards. For example, Sir Richard Church, from Cork, argued for the independence of Greece at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-5, and was later Commander-in-Chief of the Greek army in the War of Independence in 1827 against the Turks.
Like Irish Philhellenism, the papers in this volume are very wide-ranging, extending from museums to Marxism, and containing well-documented accounts of personalities as diverse as Sir Richard Church, Henry Browne, William Bedell Stanford and Oscar Wilde. The extensive bibliographies appended to each chapter constitute a valuable, and indeed essential, resource for further research into the many and varied facets of Irish Philhellenism.
This book is the first to examine this multifaceted yet intimate and interesting relationship between Greece and Ireland as well as being the first major publication of the Irish Institute for Hellenic Studies at Athens. Its twelve chapters derive from papers delivered by participants in a Conference organised by the Institute, and held in the National University of Ireland, Galway, in September 2003."
Papers by Christine Morris
in The Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World, London, Diane Stein, Sarah Kielt Costello, Karen Polinger Foster, eds, Routledge, 264-83., 2022
Tracing Gestures: The Art and Archaeology of Bodily Communication, Amy Gardner, Carl Walsh eds, pp. 13-30, London: Bloomsbury, 2022
Religions 13, 903, 2022
The introductory article offers a general overview of the highly complicated concept of insularit... more The introductory article offers a general overview of the highly complicated concept of insularity as discussed variously in historical and archaeological discourse. It also provides a context of sacred landscapes and religious identities, when discussed in relation to insularity. Finally, it outlines the general themes discussed in this Special Issue and situates the Unlocking Sacred Landscapes (UnSaLa) research network and the current volume in the context of the current state-of-art.
The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2021
This paper offers a new comprehensive catalogue and discussion of Late Helladic III chariot krate... more This paper offers a new comprehensive catalogue and discussion of Late Helladic III chariot kraters, and explores what they reveal about horse-human relations in Greece and Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age. The nearly known examples of chariot kraters were produced in mainland Greece and exported to Cyprus and the Levant. Although the vessels were surely adapted to local contexts, the motif of horses and chariot was part of the 'international' spirit of the Late Bronze Age and was meaningful throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Following a discussion of the chronological and geographical distribution of the kraters, alongside notes regarding changes in shape, we examine each of the elements of the characteristic horses-and-chariot motif in depth. This close analysis, supplemented by evidence from faunal remains, Linear B and other visual media, and combined with modern equine knowledge, allows us to understand some of the complexities of horsehuman relations in ancient Greece and Cyprus. Through this, we see a co-becoming and mutual training of horse and human in the endeavour to become a successful chariot team; we can also recognise elements of ancient acknowledgement of equine agency and personhood. Horses and humans acted and reacted to each other, thereby living and learning together. The images on the chariot kraters reflect both ancient observation and knowledge of horses and caballine behaviour and artistic conventions and developments. Finally, horses were expensive animals to breed, keep and train (with accompanying expensive gear), and direct physical contact would have been for the fortunate few. The chariot kraters allowed a broader segment of the population to engage with horses and chariots, albeit indirectly.
in B. Davis B. and R. Laffineur (eds), Neôteros. Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of his Retirement. Leuven/Liège, Peeters, pp. 313-324, 2020
Archaeological pasts are everywhere “usable” and have cultural and economic capital. In the case ... more Archaeological pasts are everywhere “usable” and have cultural and economic capital. In the case of the Cretan, or Minoan, Bronze Age past, archaeological rediscovery coincided both with the development of modern European identities and with the emergence of new artistic movements. Aegean Bronze Age art and imagery was hailed as fresh and modern, provoking a fascination with all things Minoan as explored in an emerging scholarship of “Cretomania”. The Minoan past continues to be recreated, re-imagined and consumed up to the present day, each “reuse” having a specific context, a unique story or biography. This chapter explores selected case studies of Minoans “made modern”, drawing on examples which range from commodification to reflective engagements with gendered and environmental issues.
Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016, eds Isabelle Torrance & Donncha O'Rourke, 2020
Sacred Landscapes in Antiquity: Creation, Manipulation, Transformation, G.F. Chiai & R. Häussler eds, Oxford, Oxbow , 2020
in Jan Driessen, Maria Relaki (eds), Aegis, Oikos: Archaeological approaches to House Societies in the ancient Aegean, Louvain-la-Neuve, Presses universitaires de Louvain, pp. 173-183 , 2022
Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Spatial Analysis of Ritual and Cult in the Mediterranean, edited by G. Papantoniou, Ch. Morris and A.K. Vionis, 2019
in Giorgos Papantoniou, Christine Morris, Athanasios Vionis (eds), Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Spatial Analysis of Ritual and Cult, Nicosia, Åströms Förlag, pp. 189-200 , 2019
Ideas of space, place and performance on Cretan peak sanctuaries are explored, taking the site of... more Ideas of space, place and performance on Cretan peak sanctuaries are explored, taking the site of Atsipadhes Korakias as the key case study. A small, rural peak sanctuary in western Crete (in the Ayios Vasilios Valley, south of Rethymnon), Atsipadhes was fully excavated in 1989. The location of the artefacts, which included over 5000 anthropomorphic and animal figurine fragments, as well as pottery and water-worn pebbles, was recorded in detail within their setting of two terraces separated by a drop with many natural rocky clefts. This unusually rich dataset provides the basis for an intra-site analysis, or, in other words, an opportunity to think about the spatial organisation on the site and its implications for creating a place for participation and performance. In addition, we investigate Atsipadhes as a space within its wider landscape, paying attention to varying levels of perspective and experience. These include lines or zones of visibility with the secular landscape of the local settlements, the intervisibility with other sacred sites and peak sanctuaries, and the extended cosmology of landscape and celestial phenomena.
Open Archaeology 5.1, 2019
In this editorial article for the Special Issue on "Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Digital Humaniti... more In this editorial article for the Special Issue on "Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Digital Humanities and Ritual Space" (Open Archaeology Journal: De Gruyter), we introduce the applicability of digital humanities to the study of ritual space. The Issue focuses on digital approaches both to ritual space and to artefacts relating to ritual practice and cult. The terms ritual and cult are used broadly to include sanctuaries, temples and churches, as well as the domestic and funerary spheres of life. We include contributions with a strong methodological focus on computational developments, digitisation processes and spatial analyses. Although the main focus of the Unlocking Sacred Landscapes (UnSaLa) Research Network is the Mediterranean region, we have also encouraged colleagues working in other areas of the world to contribute to this volume, with a view to stimulating wider methodological dialogues and comparative approaches. The chronological span ranges from prehistory to the recent past, and includes cultural heritage management.
Experimental Archaeology: Making, Understanding, Story-telling, eds. Christina Souyoudzoglou-Haywood & Aidan O'Sullivan, 2019
This paper takes female anthopomorphic figurines from the Cretan Bronze Age peak sanc... more This paper takes female anthopomorphic figurines from the Cretan Bronze Age peak sanctuary of Prinias as a case study for exploring Minoan terracotta figurines from the perspective of their production. The specific focus is on the processes of ‘making’, that is modelling and construction within a handmade coroplastic tradition in which figurines are, for the most part, constructed from separate pieces and formed using a complex, additive process that may involve a variety of methods such as shaping, pinching, pegging and applied clay or painted details. The aim is the reconstruction of the process or sequence of modelling and construction of the clay figurine, paying close attention to decision-making, variant possibilities and which elements of the figurines are given the greatest care and elaboration. Such a study of the technologies of manufacture can help us to better evaluate and understand stylistic choices and variation within the context of practices of use, and thus the role of figurines in communicating social messages relating to individual and community identities
The largest corpus of clay figurines from the Cretan Bronze Age comes from ritual mountain sites ... more The largest corpus of clay figurines from the Cretan Bronze Age comes from ritual mountain sites known as peak sanctuaries. In this paper, we explore how the ‛Figures in 3D' project contributes to our understanding of these figurines, aiding in the study of the technologies of figurine construction and the typological analysis of distinctive styles. We discuss how the project has, more unexpectedly, begun to create new dialogues and opportunities for moving between the material and the digital by taking a multifaceted approach that combines the data from 3D models and 3D prints with experimental work in clay.
Uploads
Books by Christine Morris
Within the religions of many of the world’s peoples, sacred experiences – particularly in relation to sacred landscapes and beings connected with those landscapes – are often given greater emphasis, while doctrine and beliefs are relatively less important. Archaeology of Spiritualities asks how such experiences might be discerned in the archaeological record; how do we recognize and investigate ‘other’ forms of religious or spiritual experience in the remains of the past?
The volume opens up a space to explore critically and reflexively the encounter between archaeology and diverse cultural expressions of spirituality. It showcases experiential and experimental methodologies in this area of the discipline, an unconventional approach within the archaeology of religion. Thus Archaeology of Spiritualities offers a unique, timely and innovative contribution, one that is also challenging and stimulating. It is a great resource for archaeologists, historians, religious scholars, and others interested in cultural and religious heritage.
Like Irish Philhellenism, the papers in this volume are very wide-ranging, extending from museums to Marxism, and containing well-documented accounts of personalities as diverse as Sir Richard Church, Henry Browne, William Bedell Stanford and Oscar Wilde. The extensive bibliographies appended to each chapter constitute a valuable, and indeed essential, resource for further research into the many and varied facets of Irish Philhellenism.
This book is the first to examine this multifaceted yet intimate and interesting relationship between Greece and Ireland as well as being the first major publication of the Irish Institute for Hellenic Studies at Athens. Its twelve chapters derive from papers delivered by participants in a Conference organised by the Institute, and held in the National University of Ireland, Galway, in September 2003."
Papers by Christine Morris
Within the religions of many of the world’s peoples, sacred experiences – particularly in relation to sacred landscapes and beings connected with those landscapes – are often given greater emphasis, while doctrine and beliefs are relatively less important. Archaeology of Spiritualities asks how such experiences might be discerned in the archaeological record; how do we recognize and investigate ‘other’ forms of religious or spiritual experience in the remains of the past?
The volume opens up a space to explore critically and reflexively the encounter between archaeology and diverse cultural expressions of spirituality. It showcases experiential and experimental methodologies in this area of the discipline, an unconventional approach within the archaeology of religion. Thus Archaeology of Spiritualities offers a unique, timely and innovative contribution, one that is also challenging and stimulating. It is a great resource for archaeologists, historians, religious scholars, and others interested in cultural and religious heritage.
Like Irish Philhellenism, the papers in this volume are very wide-ranging, extending from museums to Marxism, and containing well-documented accounts of personalities as diverse as Sir Richard Church, Henry Browne, William Bedell Stanford and Oscar Wilde. The extensive bibliographies appended to each chapter constitute a valuable, and indeed essential, resource for further research into the many and varied facets of Irish Philhellenism.
This book is the first to examine this multifaceted yet intimate and interesting relationship between Greece and Ireland as well as being the first major publication of the Irish Institute for Hellenic Studies at Athens. Its twelve chapters derive from papers delivered by participants in a Conference organised by the Institute, and held in the National University of Ireland, Galway, in September 2003."
Shawn kept Gnossienne, which requires a high level of physical bodily control, in his repertoire for over thirty years, and it was then passed down through Shawn’s main protégée, Barton Mumaw to his student Jack Clark. Martha Graham also created her own version of the dance in 1926.
In Shawn’s own words, ‘to music by Eric Satie, I represented a priest of ancient Crete going through a ritual at the altar of the snake goddess’. Gnossienne was one of a number of Shawn’s solo pieces that placed a male dancer centre stage, itself a comment on the dominance of females in modern dance at this time.
The paper explores the Minoan inspiration behind the dance, both in its imagery and its narrative, situating it within the context of popular knowledge and perceptions of Minoan culture at this time. It also looks at how and where Gnossienne was incorporated into Denishawn performances, placed against the wider backdrop of their range of ‘exotic’ dance themes.
Constructing and Re-Writing Sacred Landscapes in the Ancient Near East
A one-day conference session at the BANEA Conference, UWTSD Lampeter, Wales
PROGRAMME:
9.00-9.10 Introduction, Sacred Landscapes (Dr Ralph Haussler, UWTSD)
9.10-9.30 Cyrus the Great of Persia and Acculturation of Religion at Sardis (Dr Selga Medenieks, Classical Association of Ireland)
9.35-9.55 The Ever-Weeping Mountain: Characterising Baal and Zeus on Jebel Aqra (Eris Williams Reed, Durham)
10.05-10.25 Landscape, Literature and Symbolism in the Theban Necropolis: a Study of the Tomb-Chapel of Neferhotep
(Max Stocker, Edinburgh)
COFFEE BREAK
11.00-11.20 (Re)constructing the Sacred Landscape of Saqqara (Scott Williams, Cardiff)
11.30-12.00 (Re)Constructing the Sacred Landscape of Nubia in the Early Nineteenth Century (Dr Daniele Salvoldi, Berlin)
12.00-12.30 The Deconstruction of New Space Identities for Looted Archaeological Sites: the Case of Abusir el-Malek (Dr Monica Hanna, the Egypt Heritage Task Force / Cairo)
LUNCH
14.00-14.30 Desacralized Landscapes: Nilotic Views in the Ethiopian Stories by Heliodorus (Marco Palone, Freiburg)
14.30-15.00 Christianising the Sacred Landscape in Phrygia: the Case of Hierapolis (Dr Gian Franco Chiai, Berlin)
15.00-15.30 Sacred Landscapes and Achaemenid Imperial Strategies in Central Asia (Dr Wu Xin, Albright Institute Jerusalem)
TEA BREAK
16.00-16.20 Sacred Landscapes of Politics: Ghirza, Gurzil and the Romans ( Prof. Cordovana Orietta, Aarhus)
16.25-16.45 Minoan Peak Sanctuaries between Heaven and Earth (Dr Christine Morris, Trinity College Dublin & Dr Alan Peatfield, UCD)
16.50-17.10 Movement and the Religiosity of Routines in the Iron Age Negev: a Deleuzo-Guattarian Approach to the Archaeology of Religion (Neil Erskine, Glasgow)
17.15-17.30 Final Discussion
Discussant: Dr Katharina Zinn, UWTSD
Convenors: Dr Gian Franco Chiai (Berlin) & Dr Ralph Haeussler (Lampeter)
For more information on the BANEA conference and for abstracts, please see:
http://viasacra.org.uk/banea/
http://banea2016.org/
Archaeological Approaches to Dance Performance: Methods and Perspectives
https://www.ispc.cnr.it/it_it/2021/11/16/cnr-ispc-on-air-archaeological-approaches-to-dance-performance/?fbclid=IwAR13dM6flmS9MYJ8yPqhAoMoA-1RdSVsu1tArMRPdvAbVMmEnTapyVGPBRs