TOMASZ GRALAK ARCHITECTURE, STYLE AND STRUCTURE IN THE EARLY IRON AGE IN CENTRAL EUROPE Wrocław 2017 Reviewers: prof. dr hab. Danuta Minta-Tworzowska prof. dr hab. Andrzej P. Kowalski Technical preparation and computer layout: Natalia Sawicka Cover design: Tomasz Gralak, Nicole Lenkow Translated by Tomasz Borkowski Proofreading Agnes Kerrigan ISBN 978-83-61416-61-6 DOI 10.23734/22.17.001 Uniwersytet Wrocławski Instytut Archeologii © Copyright by Uniwersytet Wrocławski and author Wrocław 2017 Print run: 150 copies Printing and binding: "I-BIS" Usługi Komputerowe, Wydawnictwo S.C. Andrzej Bieroński, Przemysław Bieroński 50-984 Wrocław, ul. Sztabowa 32 Contents INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER I. THE HALLSTATT PERIOD 1. Construction and metrology in the Hallstatt period in Silesia .......................... 13 2. The koine of geometric ornaments ......................................................................... 49 3. Apollo’s journey to the land of the Hyperboreans ............................................... 61 4. The culture of the Hallstatt period or the great loom and scales ....................... 66 CHAPTER II. THE LA TÈNE PERIOD 1. Paradigms of the La Tène style ................................................................................ 71 2. Antigone and the Tyrannicides – the essence of ideological change ................. 101 3. The widespread nature of La Tène style ................................................................. 105 A. The Baltic Sea ............................................................................................................ 106 B. The Black Sea ............................................................................................................. 110 CHAPTER III. THE ROMAN PERIOD 1. Birth of Early Roman style in the Barbaricum ..................................................... 113 2. Metrology and style paradigms during the Roman period ................................ 119 3. Variations on a theme, or metrology and paradigms of style in the Wielbark culture .......................................................................................................................... 147 4. The Wielbark culture and the Przeworsk culture – in search of the structural causes of dissimilarity ............................................................................................... 167 5. Ritual space and structure ........................................................................................ 177 6. Revival of the Hallstatt culture during the Roman period ................................. 192 CHAPTER IV. THE MIGRATION PERIOD 1. Ideological changes in late antiquity ...................................................................... 195 2. The Huns, animal style, shamanism and graves ................................................... 208 3. Changes in the perception of space ........................................................................ 222 4. Epilogue ...................................................................................................................... 237 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 239 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 241 5 And my songs and everything you will forget A song by Papusza, the Roma poetess Introduction This work concerns questions occasionally raised in archaeological publications. Analysis of construction is a commonly applied procedure, while metrological analysis is undertaken extremely rarely. The methodology is to search for repeata- ble distances perceptible in the arrangement of postholes or other archaeological features. The outcome does not result from arithmetic calculation, but from the analyses of a geometric nature. There were analysed mainly the remains of dwel- ling or economic structures. Graves constructions usually did not allow to carry out such a research. That is why they were done only in the case of one archaeolo- gical culture. Hence, a search for the length of prehistoric units of measurement will constitute a large part of this book. However, it will be only a starting point for further work. Metrological analysis allows researchers to determine the ar- rangements of buildings relatively accurately and, due to this, their structure can be identified. This allows us to ask why the spatial arrangement of buildings and settlements was organised in one way and not in another. This applies to physi- cal spaces and ritual and social ones. The aim of this work is to study the means of thinking about the world – and more specifically how and why they were used in a certain way. To answer such questions the constructions techniques of buil- ding were compared with other products of material culture. A thorough stylistic analysis was undertaken and an attempt was made to determine the paradigms of individual artistic styles. All these phenomena will be analysed against the bac- kground of the contemporary transformations of social structure. These issues are part of so-called cognitive archaeology. In the course of the narration there will repeatedly appear the issue of the modular system. For the purposes of this study a very broad understanding of this term was adopted; this is a composition (structure) composed of repeteable elements (modules, segments). Such a broad definition enabled the identification of many aspects of this phenomenon. The analysis of this issue, however, was not a goal itself – as a result of the adopted research method, this phenomenon appe- ared to be a very important one. In territorial terms this work will focus broadly on areas of Central Eu- rope – between the Rhine and the Vistula Rivers as well as the Baltic Sea and the Danube. However, as the author is most familiar with the territory of Poland and especially that of Lower Silesia, the archaeological sites from this region will be most frequently analysed. 9 Architecture, style and structure in the Early Iron Age in Central Europe In chronological terms the analyses will encompass the Hallstatt thro- ugh to the La Tène and the Roman periods to the Migration period. In Central Europe, this whole period can be described as the Early Iron Age (see Kmieciń- ski 1981, 377-385, Fig. 121). This considerable timeframe will allow us to discuss the essence of changes in construction, the perception of space and the culture(s) of that time. In the individual chapters will be analised the aforementioned issues in successive chronological periods – which is clearly defined by their titles. The assumption is made in this work that ideology is an important cause of social and political changes. It is reflected in material culture which is largely its physical realisation. It was assumed that ideas which are understood as 'common mental models' (including religious beliefs) are primary factors that allow for co- operation between human groups (Fukuyama 2012, 490-494). It was assumed that every object is a carrier of meanings. Of course not every object carries the same amount of information. Because of the value of in- dividual items for communities, certain categories of objects were chosen. Such a choice in itself already indicates the priorities of different cultures. The Greeks classified a category of objects known as gnôrismanta – mainly weapons and jewel- lery that served to identify its owner. Similar objects can also be found amongst the Celts, Germans and Slavs (Kowalski 2001, 127-128, 2005, 238). Hence, material culture was treated as a type of language, or perhaps more accurately, as a commu- nication medium. This assumption can be described by the following scheme: Material object: function + message Three variants of the relation: function = message function < message function > message Function is understood as the direct purpose of the object, for example, ac- tivities executed by it. In contrast, the message transmits information about its user, for example, about his status, age, beliefs, etc. The function and the message as well as their relationship are negotiable and subject to changes; they are comprehensive depending on the cultural competence available to a potential user or recipient. The- refore, they have never been (and never will be) available to all to the same degree. The consequence of such an assumption is the opinion that material ob- jects embody an idea – a myth, as do cultures. It is difficult to imagine a deliberate execution of anything without a prior plan (intention). This concept became the basis for stylistic analysis in the individual periods in question. It was carried out assuming that style as 'a way of doing' something (Hodder 1990, 45) is expres- sed through different media (Uspieński 1977, 181-212; Gombrich 2009, 195-209). Hence, when comparing successive elements of culture one can expect to capture 10 Introduction a set of repeatable features – paradigms*. To a certain degree, this assumption corresponds to the one proposed by P. Bourdieu, the concept of habitus, i.e. ways of perceiving and classifying the world and the structures that result from them as well as manners of behavioural and emotional functioning (Bourdieu 2007, 454). Such a method of analysing cultural products is also confirmed by the re- sults of psychological research, indicating that people, and especially children do not draw what