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Material Culture

A study of material culture helps us to reproduce the past. Study and painstaking reproduction of original clothing and equipment help to produce accurate representations of the historical period under study, and any attempts at re-creating any aspect of other cultures must rely on a study of material culture for authenticity. Our commitment to this type of research requires a large investment of time and effort.

As a single example, in order to reproduce even the simplest evolutions of a Greek phalanx we think we require at least thirty individuals armed with a shield and spear of the correct size and weight. A single aspis, or Greek hoplite shield, is the product of thirty or forty hours of skilled labor, from carving the wood blank to painting the finished shield. Thirty of these shields will represent an investment of over one thousand volunteer hours. This article illustrates the methods we have used to reconstruct these items.

Once armed, these people must learn the commands and practice executing them on orders. Then, and only then, can the phalanx be assembled and maneuvers attempted, and even then, after the expenditure of several thousand volunteer hours, we will have only a partial understanding of the difficulties faced by a hoplite.

Human beings perceive and understand the material things around them as they have learned about those objects from their culture. Manufactured items (whether manufactured by hand or by machine, made of plastic or made of bone or stone) are especially meaningful and the relationship between object and meaning is usually what scholars of material culture study. An example might be the relationship between a medieval Japanese sword–a katana–and the unique meaning that this particular object developed in the society–its symbolism, and even its philosophical meaning as a warrior’s “soul.”

Archaeologists try to understand the function and day-to-day life of past human societies by inferring intellectual culture, such as religion or politics or even military evolutions, from the material record they have left behind. Understanding aspects of the material culture of historic peoples is the goal of some schools in archaeology and is the particular goal of Hoplologia.