| Title | : | Animals and Animated Objects in Past Societies. III International Interdisciplinary MeetingsBook of Abstracts |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 52 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2018 |
The International Interdisciplinary Meetings ‘Motifs through the Ages’ were initiated in 2012 and their goal is to stimulate an open academic dialogue between scholars who share particular interest in past beliefs and mortuary practices and who represent various disciplines within the broad field of the humanities (e.g. anthropology, archaeology, history, linguistics, philology, philosophy).
The two previous instalments of our conference were focused on exploring the symbolism and (re)use of human bodies and body parts in ritual practices of prehistoric, medieval and modern societies. This year we have decided to concentrate our attention on the varied ways in which animals, their bodies and body parts were conceptualised by people who lived in Europe in the period spanning the sixth through thirteenth centuries AD.
Animals have played important roles in the lives of various societies since time immemorial and people have developed different approaches to the creatures they shared their world with. These varying perceptions of animals are particularly clear in the Migration Period and the Middle Ages when animals were both feared and revered and when zoomorphic ornamentation became a characteristic feature of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon art. Old Norse sagas, Eddic poetry and runic inscriptions demonstrate that certain people had names which referred to particular animals and that some of them even behaved and dressed in a way that likened them to bears, wolves and birds. Animals also played important roles in the lives of the Slavs. Although extant textual sources describing their worldviews and religious beliefs are not as detailed as those pertaining to the Germanic societies, recent archaeological finds demonstrate that horses, cattle, snakes and other animals must have likewise been used among these people as powerful symbols imbued with multiple meanings: we fond them on elaborately decorated objects made of metal and wood and we also know that they served important roles in ritual practices. Similar to the Slavs, the Balts also held certain animals in very high regard. Their mortuary customs and art show that horses were of particular significance. Moreover, all these different societies seem to have shared a belief that through specific rituals, not only humans but also objects could be imbued with animal-like qualities, giving their wielders advantages in everyday life, on the battlefield and on their journey to the otherworld.
All these different entanglements between humans, animals and objects will be the central themes that we will seek to explore during our conference in Bytów. In our discussions, we will investigate if comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence have the capacity to open up new paths to a better and more nuanced understanding of pre-Christian mentalities.
Source: https://www.academia.edu/35342509/Gar...
The two previous instalments of our conference were focused on exploring the symbolism and (re)use of human bodies and body parts in ritual practices of prehistoric, medieval and modern societies. This year we have decided to concentrate our attention on the varied ways in which animals, their bodies and body parts were conceptualised by people who lived in Europe in the period spanning the sixth through thirteenth centuries AD.
Animals have played important roles in the lives of various societies since time immemorial and people have developed different approaches to the creatures they shared their world with. These varying perceptions of animals are particularly clear in the Migration Period and the Middle Ages when animals were both feared and revered and when zoomorphic ornamentation became a characteristic feature of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon art. Old Norse sagas, Eddic poetry and runic inscriptions demonstrate that certain people had names which referred to particular animals and that some of them even behaved and dressed in a way that likened them to bears, wolves and birds. Animals also played important roles in the lives of the Slavs. Although extant textual sources describing their worldviews and religious beliefs are not as detailed as those pertaining to the Germanic societies, recent archaeological finds demonstrate that horses, cattle, snakes and other animals must have likewise been used among these people as powerful symbols imbued with multiple meanings: we fond them on elaborately decorated objects made of metal and wood and we also know that they served important roles in ritual practices. Similar to the Slavs, the Balts also held certain animals in very high regard. Their mortuary customs and art show that horses were of particular significance. Moreover, all these different societies seem to have shared a belief that through specific rituals, not only humans but also objects could be imbued with animal-like qualities, giving their wielders advantages in everyday life, on the battlefield and on their journey to the otherworld.
All these different entanglements between humans, animals and objects will be the central themes that we will seek to explore during our conference in Bytów. In our discussions, we will investigate if comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence have the capacity to open up new paths to a better and more nuanced understanding of pre-Christian mentalities.
Source: https://www.academia.edu/35342509/Gar...
