ABSTRACT
Individual and social identities, as well as social relations, are fundamental elements of early Iron Age societies. This study investigates how prehistoric people constructed and negotiated personal identities in the setting of their societies and how societies constructed difference between themselves and others. To approach identity from a new and different angle, this study takes the human body as the focal point of investigation. The human body can be understood as a medium through which social relations, identities and status categories are negotiated, as they are not fixed and permanent, but malleable and in a constant state of alteration. Aspects of identity include, among others, the ways that gender relations were constituted, maintained and practiced; how age contributed to the way individuals were perceived; how wealth and status came to be significant personal characteristics; and how different variables of identity were interconnected.
