Sensorial Materiality: A Sensorial and Material Reanalysis of Elite Pazyryk (600200 BCE) Textiles from Pazyryk Barrow Number Five.

The Pazyryk (600-200 BCE) represents a uniquely preserved and mysterious Scythian group culture, that has been subject to academic debate since its discovery. The exquisite material culture has enamoured scholars from around the world, and display some of the most dynamic, animated, and symbolic textiles of their time discovered globally. However, there is a stagnation that looms over the study of Pazyryk materials, with an academic prominence on textual evidence and a dissociation from the vibrant matter that enraptures them. Pazyryk barrow five held captivating textiles that have been subject to limited empirical analysis since their uncovering by S.I Rudenko in the 1940’s. This study aims to reanalyse the elite textiles of Pazyryk five with a hybridized approach rooted in sensorial and material scholarship offering an alternative method of engagement. The application of a sensorial-material framework examines the multifaceted ability of Pazyryk textiles extending agency, control space, mediate socio-mythological worlds, aid in memorial function and instigate the metamorphosis of borders. The Pazyryk creation of hybrid beings and adaptation of foreign motifs, was to challenge temporal identities in an epoch of heightened mobility, which the entanglement of socio-political networks followed. To examine the textiles, a dataset of four textiles was assembled from Pazyryk barrow five to offer an in-depth assessment of their material properties and the sensorial experiences they project. The discussion while a theoretical engagement, reveals the negotiated identity, personhood, and relationships of the Pazyryk elite through material and sensorial arbitration of both material and immaterial realms. Pazyryk textiles were created to evoke the senses, and such engagements should not be denied to them.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Morris, Matthew

• DS Asia
• HM Cymdeithaseg
• NK Celfyddydau addurnol Celfyddydau cymhwysol Addurno ac addurn

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:3325