ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the focus shifts from the cognitive engagement with materiality to the way the body articulates with artifacts, with particular focus on the sense of touch and haptics. Physiological research, building on the pioneering work of Henry Head, on the sense of touch shows that there are several levels to tactile sensation, and that the sense of touch and proprioception affect the individual mental body representation. The integument plays the role of the sensory organ for tactile stimuli, and in humans the hand is the site of a high density of microreceptors. The human hand is thus a highly sensitive sensory organ that also plays a critical role in combining potential for power and precision in artifact manufacture and use. Psychological research demonstrates that the mental body representation responds to both tactile and visual stimulus, and that use of a tool can shift the limits of the mental body representation outward away from the body, providing a new perspective on the expansion of the reach of tools through human evolution, beginning with hand-axes, spears, and atlatls (spear-throwers). This discussion draws on recent archaeological research, including the sites of Kathu Pan 1 and Schöningen, which are relevant to the development of spears. It appears likely that beyond the adaptive value of these technological developments, there would have also been an effect on the mental body image, with an expansion of the self outward through artifacts that are at once connected to the self but projecting outward. The final section of the chapter considers the ability of artifacts to project inward, using Roman slave collars as an example.