Re-assessing the Value of the Snake Artefacts under the lens of Communities of Practice: The Role of Communities in Iron Age II south-eastern Arabia

<p>This PhD dissertation analyses the role of snake artefacts within the Iron Age communities of south-eastern Arabia and the wider region of western Asia. Numerous debates regarding the origin and significance of these artefacts – found in the archaeological record either as ceramic appliqués or as self-standing metal figurines – have ensued during the last two decades. Scholarship has associated these objects, as well as certain regional features, to a shared south-eastern Arabian ritual/religious framework, placing them within the socio-historical events of Iron Age II. Through morphological analyses of a sample of ceramic appliqués and metal >igurines from two south-eastern Arabian case studies, as well as legacy data analyses, this dissertation suggests new ways of thinking about the objects in south-eastern Arabia and their relationship with local communities of practice during the events of Iron Age II. Rather than representing a standardised set of ritual practices or a single common belief system, this thesis suggests that significant variations can be seen in the frequencies, depositional context and materiality of snake artefacts across the region, pointing towards their use in a range of behaviours that were adapted to local circumstances by the different communities living at the sites. The individualisation or localisation of practices also recognises that there are different evolutionary trajectories in the use of either type of snake artefact (ceramic vs. metal), an aspect which has not previously been discussed in the scholarship and requires further attention.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Cian, Tracey

Repository record dc:identifier

https://repository.brynmawr.edu/dissertations/277

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.brynmawr.edu:dissertations-1275