What is Material Culture?

Material Culture is the society of grounded objects and architecture through people. Some of the items can be from creation, trade of objects, and sometimes behavior norms. Material Culture is used in archaeological and anthropological studies. This means that the materials are defined as is, under relations of culture and historical contents. Material Culture can be best described as any objects that humans need to use for survival and social relationships, identity, or benefit someone's state of mind.

From what I see in the image are gold goblets, with floral engraving. These can be in all different sizes. At first glance, I thought these were flower vases or just decorations for homes. Since some of these are gold or silver, I would think these were sold to mainly upper-class families.

The object I chose is the image on the right. This is an engraved shell case from WWI, but this also is known as trench art. Trench Art is a decorative item that is made by soldiers. These represented how the crafter was feeling, but also can show what materials were around the person while it was being made. I believe that this object was made for valuables or downtime that soldiers had while in war. But this could also be how soldiers would leave a message, or mark to their loved ones. Trench Art was created during WWI and WWII.