Interactional sensibilities: bringing ancient disability studies to its archaeological senses

This chapter presents an argument for the closer integration of ancient disability studies with sensory archaeologies, proposing that, in order to understand the lived complexities of being an embodied human in the ancient world, it is crucial to combine the perspectives offered by both areas of research. More specifically, it spotlights how these approaches might be used in the context of interactional theory to characterise the ancient experiential realities of both sensory perception and disability or impairment. This is explored with reference to a case study concerning ritualised movement at the Roman sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste (Palestrina), which reveals how greater awareness of the lived experiences of visual and mobility impairments can provide new ways of understanding the sensescapes of ancient religious place and, equally, ancient lived experiences of both religion and disability