Pip Stone (University of Exeter; p.c.r.stone@ex.ac.uk) and Mike Lally (Archaeological Solutions; mlally@soton.ac.uk)

In recent years, a small number of researchers have started to reconsider the nature of human, animal and object relationships in prehistory and how these can be perceived as indicators of identity, both personal and cultural. Such research has traditionally centred upon one or other of object biography or body objectification. This session seeks to combine these two strands of archaeological enquiry, through the notion of ‘blurred identities’, where objects were perceived as having humanlike characteristics, biographies or lifecourses, while bodies (human or animal) or parts of bodies were objectified; conceptualised, transformed and treated in a similar way to objects. The session seeks to reconsider the nature and social roles of both bodies and objects in relation to the construction of identity in prehistory.