Archaeology of the Barbarians’ fashion – dress and its accessories in prehistory 2800-DWOZD-OG

The term "fashion" is commonly understood today as a labile pattern of dress style, subject to changes over time, mainly due to cultural factors, and more and more often – just business ones. However, fashion in a broader sense goes far beyond the question of style.
From the earliest times, the type of clothing and its composition are on the one hand an expression of human adaptation to natural conditions, but on the other – along with dress accessories – are also a form of a message given by the user on his self-identification, group membership, social position, etc. It is worth getting to know more closely the times when fashion as a cultural phenomenon has just shaped and understand the then factors – from environmental to cultural ones – that determined its character.
The aim of the course is to present and interpret the changes taking place in ways of dressing by the prehistoric societies living in Central Europe in the time span between the Stone Age and the decline of the Iron Age (from ca. 200.000 BC until the half of the 1st millennium AD). The lower chronological boundary is the dating of the first premises regarding the use of broadly understood ‘clothes’. During the course, the most interesting aspects of prehistoric
fashion will be discussed on the basis of archaeological finds, deriving mainly from Central Europe, but also taking into account important discoveries from other areas. At the beginning students learn the basics of the prehistoric archaeology (terminology, kinds of sources, and chronology). The order of subsequent classes is chronological, starting from the outline of archeology of fashion of the Stone Age, through the Bronze Age, to the end of the Iron Age. The end of the course falls on the times of the turn of Antiquity and Dark Ages,
when in central-eastern part of Europe there were fundamental changes in fashion and its up to now development cycle was interrupted.
An important element of the course is to discuss the ways of making dress and its accessories in prehistory, ranging from leather tanning, through spinning and weaving textiles, metalworking, to glass processing techniques. Another issue discussed during the classes is the diversification of the general dress code, as well as the ornaments’ decoration.
This issue is combined with the third goal of the lecture, i.e. explanation the reasons for this diversity, and thus with the interpretation of the function and meaning (practical or symbolic) of particular elements of prehistoric fashion. The topic is also related to the issue of access to raw materials and the methods of their acquisition by Barbarian tribes.
All these issues are discussed against the background of the most important economic and cultural changes taking place within the specified time frames.
Classes are conducted as a multimedia lecture (with the use of illustrations and
movies), supplemented with a presentation of original artefacts or their copies.

Type of course

general courses

Mode

Classroom

Course coordinators

Andrzej Maciałowicz

Learning outcomes

Students will gain knowledge about the origins and development (variability) of prehistoric fashion, as well as learn the most important issues regarding ancient techniques of making clothing and dress accessories from various raw materials (leather, plant and animal fibres, metals, glass); they will also learn about the various functions that individual elements of the outfit could have played among contemporary communities (K_W08; K_W015). In addition, the course participants will also get basic knowledge about archaeology (research methods, terminology, chronology) and its connections with other fields of science (K_W02; K_W06). An important goal of the course is the ability to understand the relationship between various products of material culture (outfits) and social, cultural and economic processes in prehistory (K_U13).
The course will also expand awareness of the importance of archaeological artefacts for cultural heritage and their role in understanding the past of man (K_K03).

Assessment criteria

Written test.

Assesment criteria:
89% - 5
84% - 4+
68% - 4
63% - 3+
53% - 3

Bibliography

1. Introduction into prehistoric archaeology and fashion:

KOZŁOWSKI, J.K. (ed.)
1999 Encyklopedia historyczna świata, tom I: Prehistoria, Kraków.

GRÖMER, K.
2010 The art of prehistoric textile making. The development of craft traditions and clothing in Central Europe, Wien.

online access (English text):
http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=604250

online access (German text):
https://www.academia.edu/10731897/Pr%C3%A4historische_Textilkunst_in_Mitteleuropa_-_Geschichte_des_Handwerks_und_der_Kleidung_vor_den_R%C3%B6mern

2. Selected topics:

CHMIELEWSKI, T.J.
2009 Po nitce do kłębka... O przędzalnictwie i tkactwie młodszej epoki kamienia w Europie Środkowej, Warszawa 2009.

FIBEL...
2000 Fibel und Fibeltracht, (in:) H. Beck, H. Jankuhn, R. Wenskus (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 8, Berlin-New York, 411–608.

limited online access:
https://books.google.pl/books?id=Wv1ze-RxZKkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

GARBACZ-KLEMPKA, A. I IN.
2016 Analiza technologii warsztatu odlewniczego osady kultury mogiłowej w Szczepidle, gm. Krzymów, woj. wielkopolskie, stan. 17, na podstawie badań metaloznawczych, (in:) P. Makarawicz, Szczepidło. Osada metalurgów kultury mogiłowej nad Wartą, Poznań, 389–424.

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/31492743/Analiza_technologii_warsztatu_odlewniczego_osady_kultury_mogi%C5%82owej_w_Szczepidle_gm._Krzym%C3%B3w_woj._wielkopolskie_stan._17_na_podstawie_bada%C5%84_metaloznawczych._Technological_analysis_of_the_casting_workshop_from_the_Szczepid%C5%82o_settlement_on_the_basis_of_metallurgical_studies

GILLIGAN, I.
2016 Clothing, (in:) T.K. Shackelford, V.A. Weekes-Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science (internet publication).

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/29002116/Clothing

GLEBA, M.
2008 You are what you wear: Scythian costume as identity, (in:) M. Gleba et al. (eds.), Dressing the Past, Ancient Textile Series 3, Oxford, 13–28.

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/603076/You_Are_What_You_Wear_Scythian_Costume_as_Iden
tity

GRÖMER, K., RÖSEL-MAUTENDORFER, H., BENDER JØRGENSEN, L.
2013 Visions of dress: recreating Bronze Age clothing from the Danubian region, „Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture” 11/3, 218–241.

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/10762573/Visions_of_Dress._Recreating_Bronze_Age_Clothing_from_the_Danube_Region

KARWOWSKI M.
2006 Major questions concerning Celtic glass from the eastern regions of the La Tène culture, „Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia” 1, 133–157.

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/5355384/M._Karwowski_Major_Questions_Concerning_
Celtic_Glass_from_the_Eastern_Regions_of_La_T%C3%A8ne_Culture_Analecta_Archaeologica_Ressoviensia_1_2006_133-159

KIEFERLING G.
s.d., Techniczne aspekty realizacji zapinek wczesno- i środkowolateńskich (internet publication).

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/9596710/%C5%81ukasz_Kieferling_Techniczne_aspekty_realizacji_zapinek_wczesno_i_%C5%9Brodkowolate%C5%84skich

s.d., Rekonstrukcja zapinki A.18b z Legionowa (internet publication)

access online:
https://www.academia.edu/31307771/%C5%81ukasz_Kieferling_Rekonstrukcja_zapinki_A18b_z_Legionowa

KNEISEL J.
2007 Die gegürtete Frau – Versuch einer Trachtrekonstruktion, (in:) M. Blecic (ed.), Scripta praehistorica in honorem Biba Teržan, Situla 44, Ljubljana, 583–596.

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/6030653/Die_geg%C3%BCrtete_Frau._Versuch_einer_Trachtrekonstruktion

MANNERING, U.
2010 The Huldremose find. An Early Iron Age woman with an exceptional costume, „Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae” XXIII, 15–24.

SŁOMSKA, J., ANTOSIK, Ł.
2018 W jakim stroju na swój pogrzeb, czyli próba interpretacji funkcji tekstyliów archeologicznych odkrywanych w grobach z wczesnej epoki żelaza z terenu Polski, „Przegląd Archeologiczny” 66,57–75.

online access:
https://www.academia.edu/37957534/W_jakim_stroju_na_sw%C3%B3j_pogrzeb_czyli_pr%C3%B3ba_interpretacji_funkcji_tekstyli%C3%B3w_archeologicznych_odkrywanych_w_grobach_z_wczesnej_epoki_%C5%BCelaza_z_terenu_Polski

SOFFER, O., ADOVASIO, J.M., HYLAND, D.C.
2000 The “Venus” figurines. Textiles, basketry, gender, and status in the Upper Palaeolithic, „Current Anthropology” 41/4, 511–537.

online access:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235979951_The_Venus_Figurines_Textiles_Basketry_Gender_and_Status_in_the_Upper_Paleolithic

TUSZYŃSKA M., STROBIN A., STROBIN J.
2016 Rzemieślnicy czy artyści? Ozdoby kobiece z Pomorza u schyłku starożytności, Gdańsk.

online access:
https://archeologia.pl/!pliki/publikacje_elektroniczne/rzemieslnicy_czy_artysci_ozdoby_kobiece_z_pomorza_u_schylku_starozytnosci.pdf

WOŹNIAK M.
2015 Starożytna metalurgia żelaza na ziemiach polskich przez pryzmat Mazowieckiego Centrum Metalurgicznego, (in:) Ł. Kaczmarek (ed.), Dawna wytwórczość na ziemiach polskich. Katalog wystawy w Muzeum Początków Państwa Polskiego w Gnieźnie, Gniezno, 41–50.

online access:
http://muzeumgniezno.pl/fotki/files/files/publikacje/e_wyd_Dawna_wytworczosc_2015.pdf

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

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Description of 2800-DWOZD-OG in USOSweb