The Kelsey Pendant: participation and lived experience of a bronze amulet in late antique society

Lamaute, SE

Oxford Thesis Collection

Thesis

The Kelsey Pendant: participation and lived experience of a bronze amulet in late antique society

Abstract:: This thesis is a case study of one amulet, the Kelsey Pendant, held within the collections of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The Kelsey Pendant is an example of an amulet within the collections of a museum bereft of a definitive find context, which has limited its use in research outside of general visual analyses and sweeping comparisons. The thesis has approached the study of the pendant through the lens of material religion, which, unlike much of the extant scholarship on amulets, does not differentiate between, or categorise objects, within the realms of magic or religion. Instead, material religion provides a nuanced perspective of material culture focused on a societal outlook inclusive of experience and participation.

I provide a holistic perspective of the Kelsey Pendant and regard the pendant to be an active, equitable participant within the society in which it was created. The thesis analyses the amulet’s iconography in combination with other material culture as a means to reveal its activated histories and gain insight into aspects of society that were pertinent in Late Antiquity. The methodological approach of the thesis incorporates theories housed under the umbrella of new materialism (object-oriented ontology, gathering, bundling, and agential realism) which underscore the agency and continuous becoming of the pendant within itself whilst taking into account the potential within an experiential inter/intra-action with a bearer. Furthermore, the analysis combines ekphrasis with hypothetical scenarios in order to provide context to what may be occurring within the gathering of the pendant and its experience with a bearer.

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APA Style

Lamaute, S. E. (2025). The Kelsey Pendant: participation and lived experience of a bronze amulet in late antique society [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.

MLA Style

Lamaute, SE. The Kelsey Pendant: Participation and Lived Experience of a Bronze Amulet in Late Antique Society. 2025. University of Oxford, PhD thesis.

Chicago Style

Lamaute, SE. 2025. “The Kelsey Pendant: Participation and Lived Experience of a Bronze Amulet in Late Antique Society.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
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