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Graham, Emma-Jayne
(2025).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800088696
Abstract
The Sanctuary of Juno at Gabii in the ancient region of Latium (Italy) was monumentalised between 160–150 BCE and is probably best known for the sacred grove that once framed its main temple building. Previous work has argued that the sensory affordances of ritualised encounters with the vibrant organic materialness of the grove contributed to the ongoing production of lived religion. However, the grove was not the only vibrant material component of the sanctuary landscape with sensory implications. This chapter turns its attention to relations between kinaesthesia, time and space at the Sanctuary of Juno to demonstrate how experiences of physical movement were responsible for assembling both the material and temporal aspects of religious place, specifically with reference to earlier features of the sacred landscape. It explores the extent to which these engagements involved sensory assemblages that enabled the sanctuary’s past to generate sensory affect in the present, and the subsequent consequences of this. It therefore pioneers a new approach to engaging with the interpretative possibilities opened up by assemblages that involve the sensorial actualisation of the past, demonstrating how the concept of sensory assemblages can be employed more productively as an analytical tool for archaeological research. Accordingly, the chapter argues for the development and application of sensory methodologies that fully incorporate the differential affordances of time as well as space, and establishes how these can be used to generate valuable new interpretations of complex ancient sites.