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Trup nieobecny?... czyli o brakujących szczątkach kostnych w grobach kultury wielbarskiej

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Skóra K.

Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia

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2014

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vol. 60

45-68

EN

In cemeteries of the Wielbark Culture we notice inhumation or cremation graves, in which there are either no human bones, or merely a small part of them (cenotaphs, symbolic graves, partial burials). This paper discusses reasons behind this absence. First of all, we face the following problem: do we observe a custom of commemoration of the absent dead in the funeral rite, or is it rather our present-day cultural construct? At the moment, it seems rather impossible to correctly describe this phenomenon and to identify its scope. It is first of all natural causes leading to a decomposition of the skeleton that can be made responsible for the absence of bones in the grave. On the other hand, a custom of commemorating of the absent dead must be considered. This custom is testified to in many societies, regardless of their level of civilisation. A death in circumstances which render a burial by relatives or in a home cemetery impossible is not an uncommon phenomenon, especially in turbulent times of military conflicts or in periods of migrations. An empty grave can also be a result of exhumation, undertaken for many a reason: migration and a need for transposition of remains, annihilation of remains of the dead due to personal animosities, for the purpose of political or religious ostentation, post mortem penal activities or anti-vampire practices. A removal of the dead from the grave can be an element of actions which are included in the term of damnatio memoriae. Throwing away of the dead from their places of rest can be a result of new orders, be it political or social ones. Bodies may have also been removed during a robbery. The paper also discusses the issue of a too small weight of burnt human bones which found their way to cremation graves in cemeteries of the Wielbark Culture. The average weight of bones calculated for all the cemeteries which were included in the analysis (from 8.7 g – Kutowa, to 1092 g – Grębocin) significantly differs from expected values (c. 1.5-3 kg, depending on the age and sex). An analogously low result was received for mass graves, where the presence of bones of two (usually) or more dead persons (sporadically) was identified. A low weight of bones in cremation graves can also be due to circumstances and ways of cremation or to taphonomic processes. Another possibility implies that only part of ashes was put into the grave, while for the remaining such as, among others, storing in houses or scattering in various places: in necropoles, throwing into watercourses (as a particular form of sacrifice), a burial of the dead in several graves, deposition in the border space of inhabited places, scattering in the landscape or division of remains between mourners as a physical trace of memory. One of possible reasons for scattering of burnt remains may be a need for a quicker physical destruction of the body. In some cultures this is a condition for a transformation of the dead and obtaining of the status of an ancestor. An overview of discoveries from cemeteries of the Wielbark Culture demonstrated a complexity of interpretation problems. The eponymous issue calls for a development and precise research at the level of individual cemeteries, for, e.g., geochemical examinations of contents of grave pits and the help of anthropology in explanations of proposed hypotheses.

2

¿El canto a San Francisco o las exequias de Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal? Una aproximación al llamado Pipilcuicatl o “Canto de niños” del manuscrito de Cantares mexicanos

100%

Szoblik K.

Sztuka Ameryki Łacińskiej

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2019

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issue 9

19-67

PL

Celem prezentowanego artykułu jest dokonanie przekładu krytycznego jednego z utworów zebranych w szesnastowiecznym manuskrypcie znanym jako Cantares mexicanos. „Pieśń dzieci”, w języku nahuatl Pipilcuicatl, jest jedną z nielicznych pieśni z tego zbioru, której przypisany został konkretny kontekst przedstawienia, co pozornie w znacznej mierze powinno ułatwić poprawną analizę tekstu. Jednakże jak wykazały przeprowadzone badania, analizowany utwór jest w rzeczywistości przeróbką kilku starszych dzieł. Nakładają się w nim znaczenia pochodzące z różnych kultur, ideologii i kontekstów społeczno-politycznych, między innymi: dawnych rytuałów indiańskich, obrzędów pogrzebowych, wierzeń popularnych rozpowszechnionych w średniowiecznej i wczesnorenesansowej Europie, a także estetyki charakterystycznej dla wczesnokolonialnej Nowej Hiszpanii. Celem prezentowanej pracy jest wskazanie różnorakich znaczeń i możliwych interpretacji elementów symbolicznych zawartych w badanym utworze.

EN

The article presents a critical interpretation of one of the songs collected in the 16th-century manuscript known as Cantares mexicanos. “The Children’s Song”, in Nahuatl Pipilcuicatl, is one of the few pieces of this manuscript provided with clear information on the context of its performance, which apparently should facilitate its correct interpretation. However, as the present analysis shows, the song in question is in fact a result of various reelaborations of the more ancient models. It is an overlap of diff erent semantic levels corresponding to diverse ideologies, objectives, events and socio-politic contexts, such as: the ancient indigenous rituals, funerary celebrations, Medieval and Renaissance Christian popular beliefs and aesthetics, as well as the contemporary Colonial aesthetics of the New Spain. The objective of this article is to indicate the possible meanings that might have been attributed to diff erent elements of this song by the Spaniards and the indigenous participants of the celebration.

3

Svinec (olovo) v ritualach indoevropejcev

100%

Dovgjalo G. I.

Etnolingwistyka. Problemy Języka i Kultury

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1996

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vol. 8

147–157

PL

Artykuł jest poświęcony opisowi magicznych funkcji ołowiu i cyny w wyobrażeniach narodów indoeuropejskich: Hetytów, starożytnych Greków, Hindusów i średniowiecznych Słowian wschodnich. Przytaczane są także typologicznie bliskie dane z tradycji pozaindoeuropejskich: sumeryjskiej, akadyjskiej, późnosemickiej, w tym – biblijnej. Autor pokazuje, że przedmioty wykonane z ołowiu, w szczególności płyty, posiadały – wedle wierzeń – moc obrony przed złymi siłami magicznymi, odbijając ich oddziaływanie. Omawiany jest także rozpowszechniony motyw zamknięcia zła do naczynia z ołowianą pokrywką, zastosowanie ołowiu w magii medycznej i w rytuałach pogrzebowych narodów indoeuropejskich.

EN

The article is devoted to magic characteristics attributed to lead and tin in Indo- European nations: the Hittites, the ancient Greeks, Hindus and mediaeval eastern Slavs. Typologically close data from non-Indo-European traditions are also mentioned: Sumerian, that of the Semites from Mesopotamia and late Semitic traditions — also biblical. It is shown that according to common beliefs, lead objects, especially plates, could serve as protection against the evil forces ot magic by reflecting their influence. A widespread practice of closing the evil forces in a receptacle with a lead cover is also mentioned, as well as the use of lead in burial practices of Indo-European nations.

4

Groby podwójne w Polsce wczesnośredniowiecznej. Próba rewaluacji

80%

Gardeła L., Kajkowski K.

Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia

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2014

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vol. 60

103-120

EN

This article seeks to reassess the notion of double graves in early medieval Poland. Burials of this kind are rarely found at inhumation cemeteries and their total number usually does not exceed 1% of all graves from a particular site. The paper begins by presenting a brief overview of various textual sources, mostly Arabic, which describe funerary rituals of the pagan Slavs. Some of these accounts mention a peculiar practice during which the wives of the deceased committed suicide at the graveside in order to be buried or cremated with their husbands. While it is difficult to assess the authenticity of such descriptions, a number of previous scholars have suggested that double graves of men and women may represent burials of married couples. The authors of the present article seek to expand these interpretations and argue for the necessity to acknowledge the multivalence and diversity of double graves in early medieval Poland. To demonstrate their arguments the different sections of the article focus on several variants of double graves that have been observed within the examined corpus of evidence. The cases discussed in detail include: 1. alleged burials of married couples (where the man and woman lay very close to one another, sometimes holding hands), 2. potential human sacrifices (where one of the individuals seems to have suffered a violent death, as evidenced by traces of wounds, usually to the skull, inflicted with the use of a sharp instrument), 3. double and mass graves perhaps resulting from dramatic events (plagues, war etc.), 4. cases of reopened graves (where the second individual is added to a pre-existing single grave), 5. graves of two men (interpreted as burials of relatives, companions or perhaps homosexuals), and 6. double graves of adults and children. Having reassessed a large body of data the authors argue that the previously proposed interpretations, which perceived practically every double grave of a man and woman as belonging to a married couple, should be seriously reconsidered. The diversity of double graves in early medieval Poland allows for a supposition that they may have resulted from various circumstances – not necessarily as peaceful and innocent as postulated in the works of previous scholars. However, in the context of textual sources, it is quite possible that some funerals may have also been understood as “posthumous weddings”. The ritual murder of one of the individuals could have been intended to wed him or her to the deceased, thereby ensuring they are remembered by their contemporaries not as spinsters or bachelors, but as fully accomplished members of the society.

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2 Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia

1 Etnolingwistyka. Problemy Języka i Kultury

1 Sztuka Ameryki Łacińskiej

1 Dovgjalo G. I.

1 Gardeła L.

1 Kajkowski K.

1 Skóra K.

1 Szoblik K.

1 2019

2 2014

1 1996

Trup nieobecny?... czyli o brakujących szczątkach kostnych w grobach kultury wielbarskiej

¿El canto a San Francisco o las exequias de Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal? Una aproximación al llamado Pipilcuicatl o “Canto de niños” del manuscrito de Cantares mexicanos

Svinec (olovo) v ritualach indoevropejcev

Groby podwójne w Polsce wczesnośredniowiecznej. Próba rewaluacji