An Ancient Obsession: Researching Sexuality Through Archaeology for the Umayyad Period in the Late Antique Near East, in the Desert Castle Qusayr 'Amra

This thesis discusses researching sexuality of past peoples through archaeological investigation, both its problems and advantages. It discusses the birth of sexuality research as a topic of interest and also considers its development over time. To be able to properly conduct sexuality research it is important to know the problems one might encounter in doing so and find ways of dealing with these. Besides discussing issues such as the negative views of sex and sexuality, heteronormativity and the recognition of sexual imagery and related artefacts in the archaeological record, the case study of the ancient bathhouse Qusayr ‘Amra is discussed, placing this theoretical issue in a more concrete framework. The question asked here is to what extent we can archaeologically research sexuality for the Umayyad Period, by looking at the frescoes of Qusayr ‘Amra. Here, we find a number of frescoes of nude men and women, that offer the potential to try and answer questions about sexuality. We...Show moreThis thesis discusses researching sexuality of past peoples through archaeological investigation, both its problems and advantages. It discusses the birth of sexuality research as a topic of interest and also considers its development over time. To be able to properly conduct sexuality research it is important to know the problems one might encounter in doing so and find ways of dealing with these. Besides discussing issues such as the negative views of sex and sexuality, heteronormativity and the recognition of sexual imagery and related artefacts in the archaeological record, the case study of the ancient bathhouse Qusayr ‘Amra is discussed, placing this theoretical issue in a more concrete framework. The question asked here is to what extent we can archaeologically research sexuality for the Umayyad Period, by looking at the frescoes of Qusayr ‘Amra. Here, we find a number of frescoes of nude men and women, that offer the potential to try and answer questions about sexuality. We find here that there might very well be a sexual component to the frescoes of this desert castle, that we might be able to understand when they are placed in a context of a number of literary sources from this time period.Show less

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An Ancient Obsession: Researching Sexuality Through Archaeology for the Umayyad Period in the Late Antique Near East, in the Desert Castle Qusayr 'Amra