Art History and Archaeology electronic theses and dissertations (MU)
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The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Department of Art History and Archaeology. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Columbia. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item The effects of Roman expansion in the Middle Tiber Valley : Ameria and its environs(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2023) Harder, Matthew Callaway; Mogetta, Marcello[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2024] This dissertation constitutes a micro-history of the town of Ameria (modern Amelia) located in the Central Italian region of Umbria from 700 BCE to 300 CE. By reducing the scale of analysis to the local situation, we can 'people' our histories of social change over time with real people thanks to historical texts and inscriptions. The long-term view paired with a holistic framework that incorporates evidence from the urban and rural spheres underscores the persistence or upstart nature of local families and communities at Ameria. This study surveys the theoretical and historical contexts for understanding urban development and transformations in ancient Italy. Utilizing the array of published data, legacy data from archives, and GIS analysis, this project presents a ground-up historical narrative of how the community of ancient Ameria navigated a millennium of socio- political and cultural changes before and after the Roman conquest.Item 'High places' in the Aegean: the case for non-Cretan peak sanctuaries(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022) Mallinson, Kristine; Langdon, SusanMy dissertation, centers on the overseas religious and cultural influences of the so-called Minoan culture of Bronze Age Crete through a critical, comparative analysis of alleged peak sanctuaries in the Aegean islands, and Greek mainland. A detailed study of the material culture and topographical elements of the sites sheds light on cultural exchange of religious ideas and choice of these non-Cretan Bronze Age communities, ultimately focusing on how new means of creating, expressing, and maintaining social distinction were constructed through certain groups' participation in Minoan-influenced socio-religious practices. This project serves as the first detailed analysis of all possible non-Cretan peak sanctuaries and seeks to determine if the non-Cretan peak sanctuaries are a direct result of Minoanization (i.e., tied to the rise of Knossos on Crete), part of a larger Aegean cultural koine, and/or has roots in local behavior. This project, then, complicates the debates surrounding Minoanization by focusing on religion, an aspect previously neglected due to lack of evidence. The primary data offered by this research is the firsthand study of a large assemblage of 'conical cups' from the recently discovered peak sanctuary site at Stelida, Naxos. These small, handless drinking vessels have long been recognized as marker of Minoan influence, both in terms of the cups' form, and the associated rituals of consumption. Through my multifaceted study, I explore what the technological aspects tell us about the individuals making the Stelida cups (i.e., borrowing of Minoan practices, standardization, and instances of innovation); how the Stelida cups compare to both Minoan and other Minoanizing Cycladic cups; and how they compare to conical cups found at other Naxian sites of broadly contemporary date. This project illuminates processes that are typically not considered in the larger questions of cultural interaction during that era when Minoan overseas cultural influence is seen to be at its greatest, i.e., the Second Palace, or Neopalatial Period.Item A re-evaluation of the kernos, with special reference to the kernos in Demeter's rites(University of Missouri--Columbia, 1978) Ziek, Robin D.; Biers, William R.The focus of this paper has therefore become the objects excavated throughout the Mediterranean, which have been called "kernoi." An examination of these vessels of various shape and a survey of the finds from excavated Demeter and Kore sanctuaries will show that the Eleusinian vessels, which may be accepted as kernoi, were not common in antiquity outside Attica. Composite vessels are widely known throughout the ancient world, but vessels which may be related to those from Eleusis by virtue of their shape and provenience are rare. This study cannot be considered comprehensive because not all of the vases called "kernoi" by various modern scholars have been published, nor are they available for study at this time. However, proceeding on the assumption that the published examples are representative of the variety of shapes, the quantity of published vessels need not be central to this discussion when there is still confusion about the basic identification of the kernos. The different varieties of vases will be considered here while further study of the kernos must await comprehensive publication of those known, primarily from Eleusis and Athens.Item The material politics of ivory in early modern Europe(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021) Grimes, Kaitlin Rae; Yonan, MichaelThis dissertation sets out to challenge the material history and biography of ivory in early modern Europe (ca. 1600-1800) and explores the mutable materialities of ivory as both a sculptural material and a vehicle of cultural meaning. As an often-peripheral material, ivory's history needs to be reimagined as a central and integral material player on the early modern European artistic stage. Throughout my dissertation, I upend the normative paradigms surrounding ivory to re-contextualize and reconceptualize the material as a performative mechanism of meaning for an object rather than as material used to create an object. This dissertation focuses on four main geographic areas of early modern Europe -- the Austrian Habsburg Empire, the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, the Electorate of Saxony, and the British Empire -- as an illustration of ivory's material power and also as an elucidation of non-dominant topographical spaces as centers of material artistic prowess. I explore mythological and religious sculptures, political portraits, ivory frigates, and ivory furniture to answer the question of "why ivory?" What made this African material so desirable for European commissioners? What intrinsic cultural, iconographic, and semiotic value did this natural material hold for elite European society? As I argue, ivory's intrinsic religious, mythological, political, and colonial materialities fashioned a material representative of the changing cultural ideologies of early modern Europe. Through the explication of specified narratives, ivory's agency and material potency shines as bright as its own polished surface.Item Remodeling the narrative of women and the built environment in the Middle Ages(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021) Jacobs, Alicia Gabrielle; Stanton, Anne RudloffScholarship on the design, construction, decoration, and reception of the built environment during the medieval era has tended to focus on men as the primary makers and default users of this environment. However, recent scholars have examined a variety of media -- including art, architecture, and texts -- and uncovered the many contributions that medieval women made to these fields. By examining feminist scholarship and historiography, this thesis explores three case studies -- elite and non-elite medieval women within male-dominated design spaces, Eleanor of Castile and her acquisition of property, and Christine de Pizan's manipulation of an architectural trope -- through a feminist lens to highlight the various ways in which medieval women worked in gendered environments, and carved out space and claimed agency through their contributions to the design world in the Middle Ages. These case studies include physical structures that were created as a result of inherited or acquired wealth, idealized spaces that were designed to protect women against the vicious attacks of men, and explores conditional situations in which both elite and non-elite women worked in the built environment. This thesis recognizes the struggles that these women endured in order to create space for themselves within societal confines, and contributes to and expands the scholarship surrounding the multifaceted ways in which women contributed to the design world in the Middle Ages. These women cleverly maneuvered through gendered spaces; capitalized on their elite roles in their households; acquired and managed property; and manipulated tropes and disseminated knowledge during a time rife with patriarchal norms.