Small things, big problems. Analysis of small objects in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

This article focuses on the study of small objects found in ancient Eastern Mediterranean sites, to reevaluate the social practices and deposition contexts in which they were inserted. Due to their reduced dimensions, the small objects make up a class of artifacts with high potential for studying the areas of use –domestic and public– in which they participated. The samples analyzed in each of the four cases presented here come from collections with different origins. In relation to them, there is a history of looting and non-systematic excavations carried out mainly between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, which led to certain records being presented to a large extent altered.