ABSTRACT
The roots of significant archaeological interest in the senses lie in an eclectic array of archaeological studies published during the last decade of the twentieth century and first decade of the twenty-first. Only a few of these publications were dedicated to investigating ancient sensory regimes. The concept of ‘sensorium’ has proved to be a useful concept for thinking about the ways in which we make sense of the world around us and the ways in which different contexts shape perceptions. In scientific discourse it has come to refer to the sum of an organism’s perceptions of the environments within which it lives. ‘Affect’ is a slippery term, increasingly used in sensory studies, and is one which requires some unpacking. ‘Affect’ is generally used as a verb, meaning to influence something, to produce a change—an alternative verb is ‘impact’. ‘Affect’ also can be used as a noun referring to feeling, emotion, or specific emotional response.
