MEDITERRANEAN AND CENTRAL EUROPE
IN THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES
jan kysela
jan.kysela@hotmail.com
MEDITERRANEAN AND CENTRAL EUROPE
…. IN THE IRON AGE / BEFORE CHRIST / IN PRE-ROMAN PERIOD
MEDITERRANEAN AND CENTRAL EUROPE
IN THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES
why?
Oscar Montelius
Gero von Merhard
Wolfgang Kimmig
Otto-Hermann Frey
Venceslas Kruta
Marcus Egg
Anne-Marie Adam
Brian Sheffton
Friedrich Wilhelm von Hase
Renato Peroni
Giovannagelo Camporeale
Alessandro Naso
Martin Guggisberg
Stéphane Verger
Holger Baitinger
Jan Bouzek
MEDITERRANEAN AND CENTRAL EUROPE
IN THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES
what?
-to contextualise (Mediterranen) written records about the Transalpine area
-to trace the proofs of contacts between the Mediterranean (= ‚the classical world‘) and the Transalpine area
-to observe the Transalpine development through the Mediterranean models
I. Greek and Roman written sources on central Europe BC
the mentions are as a rule:
-not preserved (Posidonius)
-few
-compiled (Livy, Pliny, Plutarchus)
-not contemporary with the events (anything up to Caesar)
-not contemporary among themselves (the Hercynian forest)
-mediated (often many times) (Posidonius → Strab, Plutarch)
-contradictory (the Hercynian forest)
-about something completely different
than we would like to (Strab, Plin ,Paus)
-misunderstood (Herodotus)
-intentionally twisted (Livy, Caesar)
-stereotypical (just everybody…)
just like in most of Italy.. and Greece… …. only worse.
I. Greek and Roman written sources on central Europe BC
[Hecateus]
Herodotus
[Pytheas]
(pseudo)Skylax
Polybius
[Posidonius]
Strabo
Plutarch
Ptolemy
Caesar
Livy
Ovid
Veleius Paterculus
Tacitus
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
What is an ‚import‘?
What does the „importness“ of an artefact mean?
What type of contact does it attest?
….
G. PIERREVELCIN: Ke studiu dálkových kontaktů v pozdní době laténské.
Archeologické Rozhledy 61/2 (2009), 183-217.
-Les relations entre la Boheme et la Gaule du IVe au Ier siècle avant J.-C. - Vztahy
mezi Čechami a Galií ve 4. až 1. stol. př. Kr. Dissertationes Archaeologicae
Brunenses Pragensesque 12. Praha – Brno 2012, 33-41.
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
What is an ‚import‘?
N. VENCLOVÁ: External contacts - visible and invisible.
In: SALAČ – LANG eds: Fernkontakte in der Eisenzeit. Praha 2000, 72-82.
visible invisible
material products technologies,
techniques know
-howsemiproducts approaches and
strategies
raw materials social conduct
behaviour
manufacturing facilites ritual conduct
visual art customs
people and animals ideology
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
What is an ‚import‘?
N. VENCLOVÁ: External contacts - visible and invisible.
In: SALAČ – LANG eds: Fernkontakte in der Eisenzeit. Praha 2000, 72-82.
visible invisible
material products
(→)
technologies,
techniques know
-howsemiproducts approaches and
 strategies
raw materials
→
social conduct
behaviour
manufacturing facilites ritual conduct

visual art  customs
people and animals → ideology
textiles, foodstuffs
amber, coral
metals
how to recognise
them?
…and their material
manifestations
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
an „import“… and what else?
-context
-function?
-social status?
-complementarity with local products?
-chronology of its deposition
…..
 How many?
 To what extent standardised / pell-mell?
 How does my region compare with the neighbouring regions in numbers and usage?
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
What type of contact do the imports attest?
-direct contact A-B? B
A C
-relay movement? G
A B C D H
E
F
-local distribution? C D
E
A B F
G
… I H
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
Mechanisms of artefact mobility
-trade, exchange
-gift exchange (personal, diplomatic…)
-personal mobility
– mass migration (with many different possible variations)
– individual mobility - exogamy
- mercenaries
- tradespeople, artisans, „travellers“
-booty…
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-invisible imports – innovations
-really from the Mediterranean? (no intermediaries? They could have come up with the same idea independently?)
-difficult to quantify
-by their adoption and spread, external innovation at a certain point stop being foreign….
Hahn 2004 : Material appropriation – objectification – incorporation – tranformation
… if you really need to have an explanation for everything and don‘t worry that it does not reflect reality
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imitations “
style vs. form vs. function
II. proofs of contacts between Mediterranean Transalpine area
-the “imports“
-attention – if contacts seem to have existed in direction only, you should be suspicious
III. Mediterranean as a mirror of processes taking place in Central Europe
-e.g. the ‘princeley society‘
….
….
…. with all caveats they deserve.
-to contextualise the (Mediterranen) written records about the Transalpine area
-to trace the proofs of contacts between the Mediterranean and the Transalpine area
-to observe the Transalpine development through the Mediterranean models
=> to try to understand the nature and degree of mutual contact between them
-ex oriente (meridie) lux ?
-world systems – the Mediterranean core and the European periphery
-networks and small worlds
-“cultural influence spreading
from the Mediterranean
civilisations to the barbarian
central Europe“
-denying any inciative on the ‚recipient‘ side
-contradicting the facts
-ex oriente (meridie) lux ?
-world systems – the Mediterranean core and the European periphery
-networks and small worlds
- the Mediterranean core and the central European periphery
- a model developed to characterise „material exploitation“ in modern capitalist world
– the same nonesense as before….
–in the pre-Roman world there was hardly any power dominance of the supposed core over the
supposed periphery: rather a ‚distant parity‘ and selectivity in the degree and form of influence
-ex oriente (meridie) lux ?
-world systems
-networks and small worlds
-ex oriente (meridie) lux ?
-world systems – the Mediterranean core and the European periphery
-networks and small worlds
- the distinction Mediterranean – Transalpine word makes no real sense as analytical
units (only projections of the assumed interpretation)
-
WHEN and from WHERE?
Sn Ag Au Cu Fe amber salt
Sn Ag Au Cu Fe amber salt
Sn Ag Au Cu Fe amber salt
Brenner
Tarvisio
S.Gotthard
S.
Bernard
Brenner
Tarvisio
S.Gotthard
S.
Bernard