Material versus Design: A Transcultural Approach to the Two Contrasting Properties of Things

Abstract In the pre-globalization era, foreign objects acquired high social value due to their exotic character, relative inaccessibility, and distant origin. However, a closer look at the factors involved in the creation of their captivating aura reveals that their dislocation into a new cultural context affected the perception and appreciation of their material and design in substantially different ways. More interestingly still, the contrasting attitudes towards foreign material and foreign design in pre-modern societies clearly diverge from what one might consider contemporary common practice. The present paper addresses these questions of material and temporal divergence within a specific historical context: the cultural interaction in the second millennium BCE Eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, this case study aspires to demonstrate the potential of the Mediterranean as a favorable field of inquiry for exploring phenomena of transculture and globalization.