Re: bronze age weapons

On 26 Feb 2006 17:09:56 -0800, in sci.archaeology, Day Brown wrote:

Well, Mallory, "In Search of the Indo-Europeans" says there aint much
evidence of warfare until the late bronze age. And Campbell suggests
that these early agrarian cultures, which had vastly more people than
the patriarchic hunting tribes, were matriarchic.

Gimbutas shows us lots of arsenic bronze artifacts from the
Chalcolithic era in Slavic Europe, (8000-4000 BCE) *none* of which are
weapons. So a very skilled degree of metalugy existed prior to the
manufacture of the bronze weapons you refer to, and it was, as you say,
a very valuable commodity. And typical for precious objects, more for
ceremonial uses.

What is a weapon? Are you really suggesting there was no hunting during
this period? No stone axes, etc? Or copper? Oetzi had a copper axe and a
flint knife.


The "Chieftan" skeleton at Varna is also instructive because of the
notorious gold "penis sheath". I read that what we actually have here
is a transvestite dyke. This is supported by the fact that in the
Balkans, not that far away, there are *still* transvestite dyke
chieftans.

4 years less 2 weeks ago I asked you for evidence for this, and got no
reply:
"A transvestite dyke? How does the archaeology show this? You'd have to
know:

1. That the skeleton is definitely that of the 'leader'.
2. Not just the relationship between clothing and gender, but comparative
clothing of 'leaders'.
3. Evidence for not just the sex of the skeleton, but the sexual practices
of the person when alive.

I'd love to see the evidence for this.

I don't have these at home, but the most relevant reading is probably:

CHAPMAN, J. 1991. The creation of social arenas in the Neolithic and
copper age of SE
Europe: the case of Varna, in P. Garwood et al. (ed.), Sacred and profane:
152-71. Oxford:
Oxford University Committee for Archaeology. Monograph 32.

ANTHONY, D.W. 1996. Nazi and ecofeminist prehistories: ideology and
empiricism in
Indo-European archaeology, in P. Kohl & C. Fawcett (ed.), Nationalism,
politics and the
practice of archaeology: 1-32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press"

I have always thought that 'dyke' was pejorative, by the way, most people
who use the word are men who don't like/are afraid of women.

Seems that in the chronic blood feuds that hill tribes are known for,
nobody would assassinate a woman. Of course, since she'd just be
replaced by another woman.

The spears buried with the body are instructive as well, with metal
points that are way to long and slender for military use. I expect
fishing. Varna is on the West coast of the Black Sea. Then too, there
are the double headed axes.

And again, not weapons. They are made of gold foil with handles thinner
than my pinky. I dont think you could behead a mouse with one. They
are, as Gimbutas says, *not* double bitted axes, but magic wands, the
shape actually representing butterflys.

Virtually all archaeologists who study prehistory know that there were
ceremonial axes such as the ones you describe above. There were also real
axes, used to chop trees and almost certainly in hunting and fighting.

Of course, as patriarchy took over, it was morphed into the labyrith.

This assumption of matriarchy has been challenged. See for instance:

http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/fmuntean/POM6a1.html
An Archaeological Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm
by Brian Hayden Simon Fraser University

Goddesses, Gimbutas and 'New Age' archaeology. by Lynn Maskell,
Antiquity March 1995, available for $2.50 at
http://library.northernlight.com/SL19970923010094043.html?cb=0&sc=0

Thanx for the tip about short sword handles.


To quote another poster elsewhere, "Day, while your submissions are very
wordy, to date they're certainly not 'linky' or illustrative.
Feel free to sprinkle your discourse at strategic points with relevant
internet links from unsuspicious third parties, or photos and other
imagery, to underscore a point or two."

Doug
--
Doug Weller --
Doug & Helen's Dogs http://www.dougandhelen.com
A Director and Moderator of The Hall of Ma'at http://www.hallofmaat.com
Doug's Archaeology Site: http://www.ramtops.co.uk


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