Ženske, ovce in tekstil: družbeni pomen jagod v obliki ovnove glavice v starejši železni dobi na Slovenskem

Ram’s head beads are well-known items of personal adornment in the Dolenjska Hallstatt cultural group. Recent analysis has demonstrated that they are the most common zoomorphic artefacts in this region with 187 currently known. This article updates the list of known beads and contextualizes their significance in the Dolenjska Hallstatt cultural group. It is argued that the sheep imagery of these beads and their distribution in female graves is related to local textile production. It is proposed that beads signalled aspects of personal and economic identity for Dolenjska Hallstatt women related to the production of high-quality textiles. In addition, the distribution of these beads demonstrates Iron Age community networks on the western frontier of Dolenjska, and perhaps even reflects the movement of women between communities.Jagode v obliki ovnove glavice sodijo med dobro znane nakitne predmete dolenjske halštatske kulturne skupine. S 187 doslej odkritimi primerki so na tem območju najpogostejše zoomorfne najdbe, kot je pokazala nedavna analiza. V prispevku je posodobljen seznam tovrstnih jagod in kontekstualiziran njihov pomen v tej kulturni skupini. Predstavljeni so argumenti za tezo, da so upodobitve ovac/ovnov v obliki jagod in njihovo pojavljanje v ženskih grobovih povezani z lokalno tekstilno dejavnostjo. Pripisati jim je mogoče vlogo označevalca osebne in ekonomske identitete dolenjskih halštatskodobnih žensk, povezano z izdelovanjem visokokakovostnih tkanin. Poleg tega kaže razprostranjenost teh jagod na mrežo tesnih stikov med najdišči na zahodnem obrobju teritorija dolenjske železnodobne skupnosti, morda odslikava celo mobilnost žensk med lokalnimi skupnostmi

Insignia of power

Bird symbolism in the Dolenjska Hallstatt culture had strong associations with ritual and hierarchy, as demonstrated by bird imagery on insignia of power such as bronze vessels, wagons, and sceptres. The elaboration of such items with birds may have elevated items of prestige to items of ritual potency, highlighting the sacred and worldly power of the elite males with whom these items were associated. Avian depictions on bronze vessels, sceptres, and wagons with important cosmological and ritual associations indicate that birds were deeply entangled in presentations of status, particularly those that blurred the lines between the secular and sacred realms

Cultural Constructions of Nature: Animal Representation and Use in Early Iron Age Southeastern Slovenia

This dissertation investigates the place of animals in the cultural world of Early Iron Age southeastern Slovenia (800-300 BCE) by analyzing animal iconography and faunal remains in archaeological contexts. The central questions are: What types of human-animal relationships characterized Early Iron Age Slovenia, and how were these relationships intertwined with conceptions about animals in local cultural frameworks? I examine the conception of the animal world and its symbolic significance through quantitative and qualitative analyses of animal depictions on artifacts as well as faunal remains from mortuary contexts. The analysis is structured to answer a series of empirical questions that provide insight into the central questions posed above. These include: 1) In what contexts do animal depictions and zooarchaeological remains appear and is there any patterning within or between these datasets? 2) Are there any differences in the representation or treatment of certain animals based on taxon? 3) Are any of these representational artifacts or taxa preferentially associated with elites or other identifiable social roles? This holistic analysis reveals how ideologies and practice were co-constituted in the construction and maintenance of human-animal relationships and how conceptions of animals were deployed in symbolic communication through the medium of artistic representation. The use of multiple lines of evidence provides a robust framework, both materially and theoretically, to address ancient beliefs and practices regarding animals. The juxtaposition of representational practices and the remains of physical interactions with animals evidenced by the zooarchaeological remains provides insight into multiple aspects of prehistoric animal relations – the real and the ideal(ized). This highlights the multifaceted nature of human-animal relationships and the fundamental role played by material culture in these interactions, where multiple complementary, competing, or even contrasting ideologies and modes of practice may exist simultaneously in the same cultural sphere, and are negotiated through time. This project contributes to a growing literature on how animals and humans are intertwined in preindustrial societies conceptually as well as physically – good to think as well as good to eat, sacrifice, or depict

Cultural Constructions of Nature: Animal Representation and Use in Early Iron Age Southeastern Slovenia

This dissertation investigates the place of animals in the cultural world of Early Iron Age southeastern Slovenia (800-300 BCE) by analyzing animal iconography and faunal remains in archaeological contexts. The central questions are: What types of human-animal relationships characterized Early Iron Age Slovenia, and how were these relationships intertwined with conceptions about animals in local cultural frameworks? I examine the conception of the animal world and its symbolic significance through quantitative and qualitative analyses of animal depictions on artifacts as well as faunal remains from mortuary contexts. The analysis is structured to answer a series of empirical questions that provide insight into the central questions posed above. These include: 1) In what contexts do animal depictions and zooarchaeological remains appear and is there any patterning within or between these datasets? 2) Are there any differences in the representation or treatment of certain animals based on taxon? 3) Are any of these representational artifacts or taxa preferentially associated with elites or other identifiable social roles? This holistic analysis reveals how ideologies and practice were co-constituted in the construction and maintenance of human-animal relationships and how conceptions of animals were deployed in symbolic communication through the medium of artistic representation. The use of multiple lines of evidence provides a robust framework, both materially and theoretically, to address ancient beliefs and practices regarding animals. The juxtaposition of representational practices and the remains of physical interactions with animals evidenced by the zooarchaeological remains provides insight into multiple aspects of prehistoric animal relations – the real and the ideal(ized). This highlights the multifaceted nature of human-animal relationships and the fundamental role played by material culture in these interactions, where multiple complementary, competing, or even contrasting ideologies and modes of practice may exist simultaneously in the same cultural sphere, and are negotiated through time. This project contributes to a growing literature on how animals and humans are intertwined in preindustrial societies conceptually as well as physically – good to think as well as good to eat, sacrifice, or depict.2018-05-2

Parts and Wholes: The Role of Animals in the Performance of Dolenjska Hallstatt Funerary Rites

There is a rich iconographic tradition demonstrating the importance of animals in ritual in the Dolenjska Hallstatt archaeological culture of Early Iron Age Slovenia (800–300 bce). However, the role of animals in mortuary practice is not well represented iconographically, though faunal remains in graves indicate that their inclusion was an integral part of funerary performance. Here, animal bones from burials are compared to images of animal sacrifice, focusing on the ritual distinctions between the deposition of whole animal bodies versus animal parts. It is proposed that human–animal relationships were a key component of funerary animal sacrifice in these multispecies communities. The deposition of whole horses may have been due to a personal relationship with the deceased human. In turn, the sacrifice of an animal and division of its parts may have been essential for the management of group ties with the loss of a community member. Particular elements such as teeth, horns, and claws may have served as amulets—perhaps indicating that these were personal items that had to be placed in the grave with the deceased or that the deceased needed continued protection or other symbolic aid

Insignije moči: Podobe ptic na hierarhičnih in ritualnih predmetih v železni dobi na Dolenjskem (jugovzhodna Slovenija)

Bird symbolism in the Dolenjska Hallstatt culture had strong associations with ritual and hierarchy, as demonstrated by bird imagery on insignia of power such as bronze vessels, wagons, and sceptres. The elaboration of such items with birds may have elevated items of prestige to items of ritual potency, highlighting the sacred and worldly power of the elite males with whom these items were associated. Avian depictions on bronze vessels, sceptres, and wagons with important cosmological and ritual associations indicate that birds were deeply entangled in presentations of status, particularly those that blurred the lines between the secular and sacred realms.Simbolika ptičev v dolenjski halštatski kulturi je imela močne povezave z ritualom in hierarhijo, kar dokazujejo podobe ptičev na insignijah moči, kot so bronaste posode, vozovi in žezla. Dodelava predmetov z motivi ptic je morda dvignila pomen prestižnih predmetov na raven predmetov z ritualnim vplivom, in tako poudarila sveto in vsakršno moč elitnih moških, s katerimi povezujemo tovrstne najdbe. Podobe ptic na bronastih posodah, žezlih in vozovih s pomembnimi kozmološkimi in ritualnimi povezavami kažejo, da so bile ptice globoko vpletene v predstave o statusu, predvsem pri predmetih, ki povezujejo sveto in posvetno