Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans

Archaeology has a great deal of experience with how the misinterpretation of finds creates a false image of the past. The main reason for this is down to ideologically-conditioned stereotypes. The paper descri¬bes one such case involving hundreds of thousands of finds of one type of artefact, commo...

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Main Author: Martin Ježek
Format: Article
Language:ces
Published: Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 2020-09-01
Series:Archeologické Rozhledy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://archeologickerozhledy.cz/index.php/ar/article/view/39
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author Martin Ježek
author_facet Martin Ježek
author_sort Martin Ježek
collection DOAJ
description Archaeology has a great deal of experience with how the misinterpretation of finds creates a false image of the past. The main reason for this is down to ideologically-conditioned stereotypes. The paper descri¬bes one such case involving hundreds of thousands of finds of one type of artefact, commonly classified as whetstones, pendants, amulets, etc., from the Chalcolithic up to the Early Middle Ages. The article emphasises that although touchstones from ancient burials had already been identified using an electron microscopy half a century ago, the interpretation of these finds corresponding to the paradigm from the early 19th century remains popular to this day. For the chemical microanalysis of metal traces preserved on the surface of these stone artefacts, samples were selected from Russian, Slovakian, Swedish and Ukrainian sites, from the Hallstatt period up to the Early Middle Ages, with special regard for their previous interpretation history. However, the main aim is to point out the symbolic role of tools used to test the value of precious metals outside the grave context. Finds from wet environments in particular reveal the continuity of the behaviour of European over the millennia, regardless of the current ideology or cult, and the diversity of artefacts that were, and still are, chosen as a medium for votive behaviour.
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spelling doaj.art-8174c368a47d4e50858a95150fb260ad2023-01-12T21:01:01ZcesInstitute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, PragueArcheologické Rozhledy0323-12672570-91512020-09-0172310.35686/AR.2020.11Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of EuropeansMartin Ježek0Institute of Archaeology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Letenská 4, CZ-118 01 Prague Archaeology has a great deal of experience with how the misinterpretation of finds creates a false image of the past. The main reason for this is down to ideologically-conditioned stereotypes. The paper descri¬bes one such case involving hundreds of thousands of finds of one type of artefact, commonly classified as whetstones, pendants, amulets, etc., from the Chalcolithic up to the Early Middle Ages. The article emphasises that although touchstones from ancient burials had already been identified using an electron microscopy half a century ago, the interpretation of these finds corresponding to the paradigm from the early 19th century remains popular to this day. For the chemical microanalysis of metal traces preserved on the surface of these stone artefacts, samples were selected from Russian, Slovakian, Swedish and Ukrainian sites, from the Hallstatt period up to the Early Middle Ages, with special regard for their previous interpretation history. However, the main aim is to point out the symbolic role of tools used to test the value of precious metals outside the grave context. Finds from wet environments in particular reveal the continuity of the behaviour of European over the millennia, regardless of the current ideology or cult, and the diversity of artefacts that were, and still are, chosen as a medium for votive behaviour. https://archeologickerozhledy.cz/index.php/ar/article/view/39Europeburialvotive behaviourwetlandwatertouchstone
spellingShingle Martin Ježek
Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans
Archeologické Rozhledy
Europe
burial
votive behaviour
wetland
water
touchstone
title Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans
title_full Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans
title_fullStr Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans
title_full_unstemmed Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans
title_short Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans
title_sort millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of europeans
topic Europe
burial
votive behaviour
wetland
water
touchstone
url https://archeologickerozhledy.cz/index.php/ar/article/view/39
work_keys_str_mv AT martinjezek millenniaofcontinuityinthevotivebehaviourofeuropeans