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A symbol — but of what? Iron Age daggers, Alessi corkscrews and anthropoid embellishment reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2011

Jack Carlson
Jack Carlson*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK (Email: john.carlson@arch.ox.ac.uk)
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Extract

An ingenious derivation for the La Tène dagger with anthropoid hilt shows how craftsmen gave an agreeable character to a working weapon. The dagger remained every bit as effective, but the splayed person on the hilt added a touch of playful luxury to the serious business of stabbing. By way of a modern anthropoid corkscrew, the author lures us away from an obsession with symbolism and encourages us to look for a more down-to-earth ‘psychological functionality’ in decorated objects.

Keywords

EuropeIron AgeLa Tènedaggeranthropoid ornament

Information

Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 330 , December 2011 , pp. 1312 - 1324
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

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