© International Institute of Anthropology
© 2009 Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Created: 8-11-09.
© 2009 Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Created: 8-11-09.
Lolita Nikolova, PhD
International Institute of Anthropology, Salt Lake City, Utah
The book of Douglass W. Bailey “Balkan Prehistory” (2000) bridges for the first time
systematically the prehistoric archaeology and anthropology of this region. Later in
“Prehistoric figurines” (2005) the same author turned to fundamental social-psychological
issues concerning the function of the miniature art in the everydayness, rituals and beliefs
of prehistoric communities. Such social-psychological direction of research takes big step
toward unexplored cultural layers of Prehistory (see also Turner 2000; Matthew 2005, etc.)
that may help to understand profoundly the individual and group prehistoric behaviors and
to update the general interpretation of the prehistoric cultures.
From that perspective, the emotions build the skeleton of the social-psychological
behavior and in many cases they have invertible influence on the social interrelations.
Balkan Prehistory provides a variety of Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age evidence from
later 7th – 2nd millennium cal BCE (e.g. Nikolova 1999, 2003; Bailey 2000, 2005) that in turn
stimulates fruitful theoretical insights into the prehistoric emotions and connectivity. The
miniature prehistoric art in particular can be tested against the contemporary psychological
theories and classifications of emotions in order to understand better in depth the
prehistoric everydayness, the processes of enculturation and socialization, as well as of
the attachment theory, and how the emotions connected people to each other.
References:
Bailey, Douglass W. (2000). Balkan Prehistory. Exclusion, Incorporation and Identity. London
& New York: Routledge.
Bailey, Douglass W. (2005) Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and corporeality in the
Neolithic. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Matthews, Steven (2005). The materiality of gesture: Intimacy, emotion and technique in the
archaeological study of bodily communication. http://www.semioticon.
com/virtuals/archaeology/materiality.pdf
Nikolova, Lolita. (1999). The Balkans in Later Prehistory. BAR, International Series 791.
Oxford.
Nikolova, Lolita. (Ed.) (2003). Early Symbolic Systems for Communication in Southeast
Europe. BAR. Oxford. BAR International Series 1139. Vol. 1-2.
Turner, Jonathan. (2000).On the origin of human emotions. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.
International Institute of Anthropology, Salt Lake City, Utah
The book of Douglass W. Bailey “Balkan Prehistory” (2000) bridges for the first time
systematically the prehistoric archaeology and anthropology of this region. Later in
“Prehistoric figurines” (2005) the same author turned to fundamental social-psychological
issues concerning the function of the miniature art in the everydayness, rituals and beliefs
of prehistoric communities. Such social-psychological direction of research takes big step
toward unexplored cultural layers of Prehistory (see also Turner 2000; Matthew 2005, etc.)
that may help to understand profoundly the individual and group prehistoric behaviors and
to update the general interpretation of the prehistoric cultures.
From that perspective, the emotions build the skeleton of the social-psychological
behavior and in many cases they have invertible influence on the social interrelations.
Balkan Prehistory provides a variety of Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age evidence from
later 7th – 2nd millennium cal BCE (e.g. Nikolova 1999, 2003; Bailey 2000, 2005) that in turn
stimulates fruitful theoretical insights into the prehistoric emotions and connectivity. The
miniature prehistoric art in particular can be tested against the contemporary psychological
theories and classifications of emotions in order to understand better in depth the
prehistoric everydayness, the processes of enculturation and socialization, as well as of
the attachment theory, and how the emotions connected people to each other.
References:
Bailey, Douglass W. (2000). Balkan Prehistory. Exclusion, Incorporation and Identity. London
& New York: Routledge.
Bailey, Douglass W. (2005) Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and corporeality in the
Neolithic. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Matthews, Steven (2005). The materiality of gesture: Intimacy, emotion and technique in the
archaeological study of bodily communication. http://www.semioticon.
com/virtuals/archaeology/materiality.pdf
Nikolova, Lolita. (1999). The Balkans in Later Prehistory. BAR, International Series 791.
Oxford.
Nikolova, Lolita. (Ed.) (2003). Early Symbolic Systems for Communication in Southeast
Europe. BAR. Oxford. BAR International Series 1139. Vol. 1-2.
Turner, Jonathan. (2000).On the origin of human emotions. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.
Towards emotions in Prehistory
(Balkan context)
(Balkan context)
