Welcome by CARTA Co-Director, Katerina Semendeferi. Opening remarks by Event Co-chair, Mark Collard.
Body Modification: Anatomy, Alteration, and Art in Anthropogeny
Friday, February 09, 2024Abstracts
Abstracts
Our unique ability to culturalize our body has deep roots. We propose an evolutionary scenario for the culturalization of the human body that, although only relying on technologies that have left traces on the archaeological record, identify trends that may shed light on the evolution of ephemeral practices. This scenario starts 500-300 ka and identifies major tipping points at 140 ka, 70 ka and 45 ka, followed by an acceleration corresponding to the emergence of production economies. The logic that has governed this step-by-step process is that of a gradual increase in the complexity of the technologies used to culturalize the body and in the time and effort invested in the acquisition and transformation of raw materials needed to implement them. In parallel, the gradual complexification of symbolic codes required the creation of dedicated cognitive functions and neural circuits allowing the increasing complexity of the messages conveyed by these practices to be deciphered and novel values to be attributed to these representations and their association on the body. Ephemeral practices have also probably progressed towards increased complexity in terms of techniques, symbolic codes, and the involvement of specialized individuals to ensure their continuity and, if needed, further elaborate development.
Today, permanent body modification (PBM) is very popular. Studies suggest that well over a billion living people have experienced one or more types of PBM. But what is the history of PBM? When did the different types originate? Were they invented recently, or do they have a long history? Did they appear simultaneously or at different times? In this presentation, we shed some light on these questions. We begin by considering whether there is any evidence of PBM in non-human animals or our extinct hominin relatives. From there, we discuss the early archaeological and historical evidence of seven of the main types of PBM practiced by modern humans: tattooing, scarification, amputation, piercing, genital modification, dental modification, and bone shaping. We first outline some of the earliest possible evidence of the types, followed by some of the later, yet more secure, evidence for them. There is, we show, strong evidence indicating that humans have been practicing PBM for at least 15,000 years. We also show that there is weaker but still intriguing evidence suggesting that PBM has a much deeper antiquity in human history, perhaps dating as far back as 80,000 years ago.
Bioarchaeological approaches to permanent body modification—such as tooth ablation, facial piercing, and cranial modification—among Pleistocene peoples are augmenting our understanding of social identities and population dynamics in the deep past. Recent analyses of an early Epipaleolithic skeleton, Ohalo II H2, from southwestern Asia and the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Oldupai (Olduvai) Hominid 1 skeleton from Tanzania provided dental evidence for permanent body modification. A differential diagnosis of antemortem tooth loss is suggestive of the intentional removal of a maxillary central incisor of Ohalo II H2. Thus, Ohalo II H2 represents the earliest probable case of intentional incisor ablation in Southwest Asia—a widespread cultural practice in Iberomaurusian and Natufian contexts. An analysis of Oldupai Hominid 1 dental wear is suggestive of the use of facial piercings (“labrets”)—a form of body modification previously unknown in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene contexts in East Africa. Both case studies are exceptional in that they are chronologically early representations of probable permanent body modification practices in their regions. They also highlight the potential for using embodied markers of human social identities to understand the population dynamics of Pleistocene peoples.
Archaeological research provides the potential to examine cultural practices over long periods of time to begin to disentangle the motivations for their adoption, change, and abandonment. By focusing on a specific area-- the territory now included in Mexico and Central America-- this talk demonstrates how histories of body modification can illuminate shared identities that cross linguistic, ethnic, and political boundaries, and distinctions created within regional traditions and individual societies. Beginning from the observation that the indigenous societies of this region viewed the human body as something that was produced by the actions of the adult community shaping infants, children, and adults, the talk contributes to the broader project of understanding body modification more widely, suggesting that a boundary between the natural body and the social person was neither universal nor understood to develop on its own.
In the literature on lip plates in Southern Ethiopia there has been a strong emphasis on their socio-cultural importance and little information about their biocultural significance. I propose that cultural keystone species theory and cultural keystone place theory could provide a useful frameworks for understanding relationships between the agro-pastoralist Mursi of Southern Ethiopia and the plant species and places that are integral to maintaining their cultural bodily practices. Keystone designations are applied here to the indigenous fruit tree lomay (Ximenia americana) and special clay pits in recognition of their role in the success of permanent body modification practices such as the piercing and stretching of women’s lower lips, but also in the promotion of health, social well-being and a sustainable environment.
This presentation offers an overview of the many forms of permanent genital modifications embedded in human cultures, where they occur, the reasons why, the archaeological investigations of origins, and future trends. Included are female clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation, and other practices that affect about five percent of females worldwide; and the male practices that affect one-third of males: circumcision, superincision, and subincision. Why have so many cultures invented and preserved these modifications as part of their valued heritage? Controversies abound: the current human rights opposition to all female practices is met with backlash, and others question the “justifications” for continuing male circumcision.
"Footbinding" refers to a 1000-year-long practice in which ethnically Han Chinese families would modify the feet of young girls often by repeatedly wrapping the four small toes under the sole of the foot to maintain its small size, often breaking those toes in the process. Various explanations for the origins, maintenance, and cessation of footbinding have been proposed, and two stand out: the Labor Market Hypothesis and an Evolutionary Social Sciences Hypothesis. The purpose of this paper is to express some desiderata on a theory of footbinding; to present a variety of facts about footbinding that merit explanation; to distinguish clearly between explanations of the origins, the maintenance, and the cessation of footbinding; and to articulate the main components of each of these two theories. In adjudicating between the two theories, sundry evidence about footbinding drawn autopsy results, medical examinations, anthropological records about wedding practices, testimonies of footbinding fetishes, interviews with footbound women, contents of popular songs, and citations of many historical texts about footbinding is presented. It is argued that principles from evolutionary social and psychological sciences about hypergyny, mate guarding, parental competition, mate competition, and paternal uncertainty better explain the origins and maintenance of footbinding than do facts about the labor market.
This presentation presents a new account of the development of professional tattooing in Britain and America since the late 19th century. Research based exclusively in primary sources reveals that the story of what kickstarted the creation of commercial tattooing, and what sustained it, ultimately becomes intelligible as a small and interconnected network of transnational artists and – crucially – clients. These newly clarified networks problematise both the date and form of the customary notion of a “Tattoo Renaissance” in the 1970s and 80s. Moreover, this research presents a more diverse account of the transmission of design, technology and influence throughout Euro-American tattooing than had previously been understood both within the industry, and beyond. This talk is drawn from research for Dr. Lodder’s next book on the history of the modern Euro-American tattoo industry, due to be published in late 2024 with Yale University Press.
Across continents, material evidence of body piercing jewelry abounds in the archeological record. However, the varying procedures and processes of piercing, healing, and stretching these wounds for adornment remains unfamiliar to most archeologists. This PowerPoint presentation discusses the early self-experimentations that led to the development of the Euro-American body piercing industry. From the late 19th throughout the 20th centuries shared personal correspondence, illustrations, and photographs document the adaptations, innovations, successes, and failures that came to coalesce a current community’s collective knowledge. Understanding the processes of these secretive explorations provides insights into many of the cross-cultural practices of the past for which no clear records remain.
Question and answer session with all speakers. Wrap-up by Event Co-chair, Francesco d'Errico. Closing remarks by CARTA Executive Co-Director, Pascal Gagneux.
