Situla Art is an Iron Age artisanal tradition dated to c. 660/650–275 BC, corresponding to the Hallstatt C2 to the La Tène B2 phases. It is characterised by striking sheet-bronze objects with ...embossed and/or incised decoration in Orientalising taste with animals, plants and/or human figures generally distributed in friezes. Situla Art is documented between the Apennines and the eastern Alps, and Este is suggested as its key centre. This paper provides a long overdue literature review, a working definition for Situla Art and an updated catalogue with 306 objects. It also (re-)investigates the influences which may have led to the emergence of Situla Art, its development and decline. Hats and earrings depicted in Situla Art are investigated to highlight their identity valencies, and to provide socio-political insights on the Iron Age elite who used Situla Art as a non-linguistic symbol-based system to acquire, exhibit and legitimate power over time in the area of its distribution.
U radu je analizirana pojasna kopča kompozitne konstrukcije koja potječe sa željeznodobnog nalazišta Prozor kod Otočca. Oblikom i konstrukcijom, sastavljenom od željezne ploče na koju je zakovicama ...pričvršćen brončani lim ukrašen iskucavanjem, bliska je pojasnim kopčama s prostora dolenjske halštatske skupine, datiranima u razdoblje
6. i 5. st. pr. Kr. Također, razmatra se izvor nadahnuća za izvedbu konjskih figura kojima je kopča ukrašena, a koje se, u odnosu na ostale, uglavnom stilizirane, prikaze konja s japodskog prostora, odlikuju određenom realističnošću.
The main object of this article is the codification of varieties of the problem of depictions by motifs, but also by symbols or ciphers: The first motif to mention is the arrival to the feast by ...horses and wagons or the processions with animals, of warriors or participants. Secondly, the so-called Epulum is to be named, celebrating, wining and dining, offering food and drink to participants and lovers. As part of the festival, musicians are playing the lyra and blowing the syrinx too, also dancers and a singing man can be seen. Finally, the contests, so-called Agones – „gymnic“ as fist fighting, so-called „Faustkampf“, „hippic“ as horse- and chariot racing, and „music“ as acting perfomance of musicians – are named. But in order to represent the festivities in full complexity on one frieze, the artist has to use ciphers as well.
Depictions of birds are overrepresented in the Dolenjska Hallstatt culture, and appear on over a quarter of artefacts depicting animals. A wide variety of artefacts with birds have been found ...primarily in graves, and crosscut gender, status, and age. However, poor preservation of zooarchaeological remains has made reconstructions of lived human-bird interactions difficult. This study uses ecological and ethological data, combined with local imagery, to provide insight into prehistoric human-bird interfaces in this area, and the cultural conceptions surrounding these interactions. Birds would have been a constant presence in the lives of Dolenjska Hallstatt people; however, human relationships with them were based more on observation than direct interaction. Birds were ubiquitous in imagery, and it is proposed that this stemmed from Dolenjska Hallstatt conceptions of birds as important observers of human actions, ritual mediators, and possibly guides or guardians. Their differences from humans and other animals distinguished them - they were set apart, and depictions highlighted non-normative behaviours. Birds in the Dolenjska Hallstatt worldview were more than animals, ascribed extraordinary capabilities that made them ritually potent and richly symbolic creatures.
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.
Příspěvek se věnuje nálezům odkrytým na Vraném vrchu u Spolí, okr. Český Krumlov. V nadmořské výšce 635 m u paty skalního výběžku na svahu spadajícím příkře k Vltavě byla v hl. 20 cm nalezena skupina ...šesti bronzových náramků z pozdní doby halštatské. Při následném sondážním výzkumu ověřujícím místo nálezu se ve stejné hloubce našlo deset zlomků dislokovaných lidských kostí z dospělého jedince, v těsné blízkosti náramků ležel skleněný kroužek hnědožluté barvy o průměru 34 mm. Celková situace svědčí pravděpodobně o „obětním“ charakteru lokality. Určení rostlinných makrozbytků umožnilo částečně rekonstruovat přírodní prostředí zkoumaného místa. Analýza artefaktů i celé nálezové situace, evidence dalších nálezů v širším okolí depotu náramků, svědectví výjevů na soudobém situlovém umění i paralely z prostoru střední a jižní Evropy umožňují položit si řadu otázek o podobách různých náboženských rituálů starší doby železné. Výjimečný skleněný artefakt ze Spolí prozrazuje nadregionální kontakty, práce se v širších souvislostech zabývá též problematikou rekonstrukce dálkových koridorů.
The article addresses finds uncovered on the hill known as Vraný vrch near Spolí in the Český Krumlov district. A group of six bronze bracelets from the Final Hallstatt period were found at an elevation of 635 m a.s.l. and 20 cm below the ground at the base of a rocky promontory on a hillside dropping steeply to the Vltava River. During the subsequent trench excavation to verify the location of the find, ten fragments of dislocated human bones from an adult individual were found at the same depth, and a brown-yellow glass ring with a diameter of 34 mm was also lying nearby. The finds are probably evidence of the ‘sacrificial’character of the site. The identification of plant macro-remains allowed a partial reconstruction of the natural environment of the studied location. An analysis of the artefacts and the entire find situation, evidence of additional finds in the broader area of the bracelet hoard, the testimony of images on contemporary situla art and parallels from Central and Southern Europe raise numerous questions on the form of various religious rituals of the Early Iron Age. The remarkable glass artefact from Spolí indicates superregional contacts, and the paper in broader contexts also deals with the issue of reconstructing long-distance corridors.
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