Organised by Elisa Roßberger and Marina Weiss (Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology, Freie Universität Berlin), Stephanie Langin-Hooper (Southern Methodist University, Dallas), Régine Hunziker-Rodewald (University of Strasbourg/Freie Universität Berlin) and Enrica Inversi (The British Museum/Freie Universität Berlin).

Figurines – made of clay, stone, wood, or other materials throughout the ancient world – capture postures, gestures, and movements that serve as visualised expressions of action, practice, and cognitive frameworks within their respective cultural contexts. While static, they encapsulate sequences of motion with deliberately chosen gestures that reflect everyday and ritualistic practices. By focusing on bodily forms and attributes, this workshop examines how figurines function as markers of action and experience and, thus, as entry points for associative thinking within distinct cognitive realms or performative settings. Exploring figurines as representations and active participants in social life, we consider their cognitive function – mnemonic devices, behavior models, or gesture guides? – and their potential to stimulate embodied responses and performative engagement.

Inspired by insights from gesture studies, cognitive science, and performance studies, the workshop will open a dialogue on figurine agency through cognitive stimulation with specialists in different figurine traditions of Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean during the second and first millennium BCE. Combining scholarly papers and respondent-led discussions will stimulate active exchange between theoretical reasoning and artifact-oriented, comparative analyses.

Further details on the programme will follow soon.