Globalising luxuries

Research theme: Globalisation

The Globalising Luxuries project explores the production and distribution of luxury objects around the ancient Mediterranean world. Unlike most previous scholarship relating to these items, this project emphasises how ancient luxuries were produced and used by different peoples in the globalising world of the Mediterranean’s second and first millennia BCE, and aims to understand the chaîne opératoire of luxury production, distribution and use process draws out the extraordinary, complex and evolving impact of luxury material culture upon a diverse range of social groups and individuals beyond the wealthy consumers.

Such knowledge is important for our society today, for similar systems exist in our own globalised world; the long-term trajectory provided by the past enables us to better inform our present. The project integrates cutting edge scientific methodologies with archaeological, literary and visual culture analyses to do so.

Principal Investigator: Dr Tamar Hodos