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Accepted Paper:
On the trail of blue-haired gods: cultural mixing and borrowing in the 'cradle of civilisation'
David Wengrow
(UCL)
Paper short abstract:
It was through their gods that the societies of Egypt and Mesopotamia expressed their attachment to land, locality, and place. Yet the earthly bodies of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods were made of similar materials--exotic to both regions--and were nourished in common ways. This paper explores these mixtures of culture through the lens of a single substance--the irridescent blue stone, lapis lazuli--which formed a common medium in constructing the very different cosmologies of these two regions.
Paper long abstract:
It was through their gods that the societies of Egypt and Mesopotamia expressed their attachment to land, locality, and place. Yet the earthly bodies of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods were made of similar materials--exotic to both regions--and were nourished in common ways. This paper explores the significance of such mixtures and borrowings in what was once referred to as "the birthplace of civilisation". It does so through the lens of a single substance--the irridescent blue stone, lapis lazuli--which formed a common medium in constructing the very different cosmologies of these two regions.
Panel
P08
Civilisation: a reintroduction
Session 1