Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology

by Gansell, Amy; Shafer, Ann

• ISBN13: 9780190673161
• ISBN10: 0190673168
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-02-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology invites readers to reconsider the contents and agendas of the art historical and world-culture canons by looking at one of their most historically enduring components: the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. Ann Shafer, Amy Rebecca Gansell, and other top researchers in the field examine and critique the formation and historical transformation of the ancient Near Eastern canon of art, architecture, and material culture. Contributors flesh out the current boundaries of regional and typological sub-canons, analyze the technologies of canon production (such as museum practices and classroom pedagogies), and voice first-hand heritage perspectives. Each chapter, thereby, critically engages with the historiography behind our approach to the Near East and proposes alternative constructs. Collectively, the essays confront and critique the ancient Near Eastern canon's present configuration and re-imagine its future role in the canon of world art as a whole.

This expansive collection of essays covers the Near East's many regions, eras, and types of visual and archaeological materials, offering specific and actionable proposals for its study. Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology stands as a vital benchmark and offers a collective path forward for the study and appreciation of Near Eastern cultural heritage. This book acts as a model for similar inquiries across global art historical and archaeological fields and disciplines.

Author Biography

Amy Gansell is an Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Design at St. John's University (Queens, NY), where she teaches the first-year global art history survey, as well as courses on ancient and non-Western art, cultural heritage, and museum administration. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University, after which she served in a full-time capacity as the Associate Coordinator for Iraqi Cultural Heritage for the U.S. Department of State, and subsequently held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Emory University's Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry. Gansell has received grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARI), and her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Archaeology, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, and the Journal of Archaeological Science. She is co-editor of CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions (Brill, 2018) and presently writing a monograph (Oxford University Press) on the aesthetic presence of Neo-Assyrian queens at Nimrud. Her broad, interdisciplinary research interests include art, architecture, archaeology, ethnography, historiography, and the frontiers of the digital humanities.

Ann Shafer is an art historian and architect, and is a specialist in Late Assyrian landscape and palace culture. She received her M.A. in Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Chicago, her M.Arch. from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University. Shafer lived and worked for a number of years in the Middle East, and writes on architectural ornament and spatial experience throughout the region, linking the historic and the contemporary. Shafer is also a specialist in artisanal craft, and has worked alongside craftsmen in parts of the Middle East and North Africa on a number of projects. She has also written on various related topics, including traditional design training and the use of artisanal design in sacred space. A key element in her design work is social activism, including the development of design-training programs for women. She is currently teaching in New York and Providence, Rhode Island.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Contributors
List of figures
List of tables
List of maps
Shortened forms

Foreword Irene J. Winter

Chapter 1: Perspectives on the Ancient Near Eastern Canon: More than Mesopotamia's Greatest Hits Amy Rebecca Gansell and Ann Shafer

Boundaries
Chapter 2: The Southern Levant and the Ancient Near Eastern Canon Rachel Hallote
Chapter 3: Archaeological Research in Pre-Classical Syria and the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology Marina Pucci
Chapter 4: The Past, Present, and Future of the Canon of Ancient Anatolian Art Susan Helft
Chapter 5:The Canon of Ancient Iranian Art: From Grand Narratives to Local Perspectives Henry P. Colburn
Chapter 6: "Classical" vs. "Ancient" in the Near Eastern Canon: The Position of Graeco-Roman Art from the Levant, c. 330 BCE-636 CE Elise A. Friedland

Typologies
Chapter 7: Defining the Canon of Funerary Archaeology in the Ancient Near East Nicola Laneri
Chapter 8: The Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Glyptic on a Roll: Leaps, Hurdles, and Goals Diana L. Stein
Chapter 9: The Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Palaces David Kertai

Technologies
Chapter 10: How Ancient and Modern Memory Shapes the Past: A Canon of Assyrian Memory Davide Nadali
Chapter 11: Museums as Vehicles for Defining Artistic Canons: The Case of the Ancient Near East in the British Museum Paul Collins
Chapter 12: Beyond the Canon: The Future of the Past in Museum Exhibitions of Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Art Rachel P. Kreiter
Chapter 13: The Ancient Near Eastern Canon in the University Classroom, and Beyond: My Colleagues Speak Ann Shafer

Heritage Perspectives
Chapter 14: The Lucrative Business of the Cyrus Cylinder: Commodification of an Iranian Icon Kamyar Abdi
Chapter 15: Between Hazor and Masada-Iconic archaeological sites as symbols of collective memories in modern Israeli identities Gideon Avni
Chapter 16: Past Resurrections Tamara Chalabi
Chapter 17: Earth, Rocks, and Blood: A Wandering Home Sargon George Donabed
Chapter 18: 6,000 Years Maymanah Farhat
Chapter 19: Cultural Heritage Attrition in Egypt Monica Hanna
Chapter 20: Crafting the Ancient Near Eastern Canon: A Personal Reflection Zena Kamash
Chapter 21: The Consequences of the Destruction of Syrian Heritage on the Syrian Identity and Future Generations Youssef Kanjou, translated from Arabic by Nadia Barakat
Chapter 22: Contemporary Art and Archaeology in the Arab World Salwa Mikdadi
Chapter 23: The Assyrians-Then and Now Ramsen Shamon
Chapter 24: Bringing the Past to a Living Room Near You: The Archaeological Heritage of Anatolia on Glass Oya Topçuoglu

Bibliography