Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans The testimony of tools for determining the value of metal Tisíciletá kontinuita votivního chování Evropanů Svědectví nástrojů k určení jakosti kovu

Martin Ježek

doi:10.35686/ar.2020.11

Abstract

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 describes 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.

Highlights

The social circumstances leading to certain disciplines ignoring, for many decades, clear facts that do not suit the current consensus form an attractive subject in the history of science
On two of the seven specimens chosen by Rausing for chemical microanalysis have been identified streaks of gold
The long history of depositing selected objects in wet environments in Europe shows that late medieval Christians retained millennia-long votive habits but changed the ob jects used in their expression

Summary

Introduction

The social circumstances leading to certain disciplines ignoring, for many decades, clear facts that do not suit the current consensus form an attractive subject in the history of science. The prehistoric and early medieval European (unlike Egyptian) graves of adults and children (including infants) alike contain different tools used to test the value of pre cious metal, i.e. weights and balances, as well as other tools which have led to widespread speculation about the profession of the deceased (in the case of children’s graves, mostly nonsensical ramblings: see Ježek 2015, 127; 2017, 84, with refs.) These reflections – graves of merchants (in the case of finds of balances and/or weights), craftsmen (working tools), smiths (forging tools), metallurgists (casting moulds, tuyeries, crucibles, etc.), or even their descendants – admire the high social status of ancient craftsmen, in particular smiths, based on their other grave goods, often very rich, or even on the dimension of relevant mounds (for typical example, see Steuer 1982, 477–482). In connection with – again, symbolic – valuables, this tradition lives on today as an eloquent example of longue durée behaviour transcending various socio-cultural and religious systems

Touchstones as a subject of archaeological study

Tools for determining the value of precious metal as an age-long symbol

Analytical results versus archaeological stereotypes

The longue durée of one type of Europeans’ votive behaviour

Findings

Conclusion