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Animals and Animated Objects in Past Societies. III International Interdisciplinary Meetings - Book of Abstracts
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...
52 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
4 people want to read
About the author
Leszek Gardeła
53 books10 followersDr habil. Leszek Gardeła is currently leading a project entitled "Slavs in the North: Foreign Elites in Viking Age Scandinavia" funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
Leszek Gardeła has a Habiliation from Ludwig-Maximilian's University in Munich (2023), a PhD in archaeology from the Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, UK (2008; supervisors: Professor Neil Price and Professor Peter Jordan / reviewers: Professor Andrew Reynolds and Professor Stefan Brink) and an MA from the Institute of Prehistory of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland (2008). In 2007-2008 he was an Erasmus student at the Universitetet i Oslo where he studied runology, Viking archaeology and Old Norse.
Leszek Gardeła's main research interests include early medieval mortuary behaviour in Scandinavia and Central Europe, as well as various aspects of symbolism and magic among Viking and Slavic societies. Dr Gardeła also has a keen interest in the role of Scandinavian immigrants in Central and Eastern Europe and is now working on a monograph on Vikings in Poland (the book is under contract with Routledge).
Dr habil. Leszek Gardeła has travelled widely attending conferences and giving guest lectures in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. To date, he has published over 170 articles in various academic journals and edited collections. He is the author of six monographs - "Scandinavian Amulets in Viking Age Poland" (Institute of Archaeology UR: Rzeszów 2014), "(Magic) Staffs in the Viking Age" (Fassbaender: Vienna 2016), "Bad Death in the Early Middle Ages: Atypical Burials from Poland in a Comparative Perspective" (Institute of Archaeology UR: Rzeszów 2017), "Magia, kobiety i śmierć w świecie wikingów" ("Magic, Women and Death in the Viking Age", Triglav: Szczecin 2019), "Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North" (Oxbow: Oxford & Philadelphia 2021), "The Vikings in Poland" (Routledge: London & New York, forthcoming in 2024) - and editor of several books (with Ł. Ciesielski 2010: “In the margin. Among the omitted topics”, Poznań; with K. Kajkowski 2013: “The head motif in past societies in a comparative perspective”, Bytów; with C. Larrington 2014: Viking Myths and Rituals on the Isle of Man, Nottingham; with K. Kajkowski 2015: "Mirosław Kuźma. Sztuka i archeologia", Bytów; with K. Kajkowski 2015: "Limbs, Bones, and Reopened Graves in Past Societies", Bytów; with K. Kajkowski 2023: "Animals and Animated Objects in Past Societies", Turnhout; with S. Bonding and P. Pentz 2023: "The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World", Oxford & Philadelphia.
In 2020-2023, Dr Leszek Gardeła was Researcher and Senior Researcher at the National Museum of Denmark.
In 2018-2019, Dr Leszek Gardeła was a DAAD P.R.I.M.E/ Marie Curie Fellow at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany and the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion at the University of Bergen, Norway.
In 2014-2017, Dr Leszek Gardeła led an interdisciplinary project at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Rzeszów, Poland, focusing on "Bad Death in the Early Middle Ages: Atypical Burials from Poland in a Comparative Perspective". The project was funded by the Polish National Science Centre (NCN).
In 2013-2014, Dr Leszek Gardeła was involved in a AHRC-funded project “Languages, Myths and Finds: Translating Norse and Viking Culture for the 21st Century”. Working in collaboration with Dr Carolyne Larrington (Oxford) and a group of British PhD-students, he explored Viking heritage on the Isle of Man, with a particular focus on aspects of myth and ritual.
Leszek Gardeła has a Habiliation from Ludwig-Maximilian's University in Munich (2023), a PhD in archaeology from the Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, UK (2008; supervisors: Professor Neil Price and Professor Peter Jordan / reviewers: Professor Andrew Reynolds and Professor Stefan Brink) and an MA from the Institute of Prehistory of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland (2008). In 2007-2008 he was an Erasmus student at the Universitetet i Oslo where he studied runology, Viking archaeology and Old Norse.
Leszek Gardeła's main research interests include early medieval mortuary behaviour in Scandinavia and Central Europe, as well as various aspects of symbolism and magic among Viking and Slavic societies. Dr Gardeła also has a keen interest in the role of Scandinavian immigrants in Central and Eastern Europe and is now working on a monograph on Vikings in Poland (the book is under contract with Routledge).
Dr habil. Leszek Gardeła has travelled widely attending conferences and giving guest lectures in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. To date, he has published over 170 articles in various academic journals and edited collections. He is the author of six monographs - "Scandinavian Amulets in Viking Age Poland" (Institute of Archaeology UR: Rzeszów 2014), "(Magic) Staffs in the Viking Age" (Fassbaender: Vienna 2016), "Bad Death in the Early Middle Ages: Atypical Burials from Poland in a Comparative Perspective" (Institute of Archaeology UR: Rzeszów 2017), "Magia, kobiety i śmierć w świecie wikingów" ("Magic, Women and Death in the Viking Age", Triglav: Szczecin 2019), "Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North" (Oxbow: Oxford & Philadelphia 2021), "The Vikings in Poland" (Routledge: London & New York, forthcoming in 2024) - and editor of several books (with Ł. Ciesielski 2010: “In the margin. Among the omitted topics”, Poznań; with K. Kajkowski 2013: “The head motif in past societies in a comparative perspective”, Bytów; with C. Larrington 2014: Viking Myths and Rituals on the Isle of Man, Nottingham; with K. Kajkowski 2015: "Mirosław Kuźma. Sztuka i archeologia", Bytów; with K. Kajkowski 2015: "Limbs, Bones, and Reopened Graves in Past Societies", Bytów; with K. Kajkowski 2023: "Animals and Animated Objects in Past Societies", Turnhout; with S. Bonding and P. Pentz 2023: "The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World", Oxford & Philadelphia.
In 2020-2023, Dr Leszek Gardeła was Researcher and Senior Researcher at the National Museum of Denmark.
In 2018-2019, Dr Leszek Gardeła was a DAAD P.R.I.M.E/ Marie Curie Fellow at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany and the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion at the University of Bergen, Norway.
In 2014-2017, Dr Leszek Gardeła led an interdisciplinary project at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Rzeszów, Poland, focusing on "Bad Death in the Early Middle Ages: Atypical Burials from Poland in a Comparative Perspective". The project was funded by the Polish National Science Centre (NCN).
In 2013-2014, Dr Leszek Gardeła was involved in a AHRC-funded project “Languages, Myths and Finds: Translating Norse and Viking Culture for the 21st Century”. Working in collaboration with Dr Carolyne Larrington (Oxford) and a group of British PhD-students, he explored Viking heritage on the Isle of Man, with a particular focus on aspects of myth and ritual.
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