DET ÄR DE SMÅ TINGEN SOM GÖR DET... Rakknivens respektive pincettens roller och dualism i den nordiska bronsålderns samhälle
Author
Summary, in English
ABSTRACT
The aim of this essay is to analyze and discuss the razors? and tweezers? roles and dualism between them in the Nordic Bronze Age societies. This paper is an attempt to investigate what these little things can tell us about the people that were buried with them. For this purpose I have examined material of burial that consist of finds of razors respective tweezers and their connection with artefacts in the graves. I have done a comparative and contextual study together using quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate their roles and dualism. Burials from Denmark and Scania are used as examples and to illustrate roles and dualism in the study.
My first conclusion is that the tweezer formed a dualism with the razor. The razor shows dualism with the tweezer, but it seems also to have been a complement for several other objects to dualism. The tweezer on other hand seems to create an identity foremost through the razor. My second conclusion is that they have more than one role, which alternate over time. The razor and the tweezer followed the construction of the Bronze Age society and were influenced by the people through their ideology and social values. I discovered that no gravecontext represents one role, instead each grave constructed several roles. Therefore my conclusion is that they have more than a practical function, and through the roles a person got a unique identity and individuality. In my third conclusion I suggest that the shaft of the razor and the neck of the tweezer enabled them to be hung, perhaps on clothing, especially during late Bronze Age. Thus they could have functioned as marks of identity-documents for example a craftsman, tradesman and/or a leader. Finally, they were only found in gravecontext which indicate an identity which was unique.
The aim of this essay is to analyze and discuss the razors? and tweezers? roles and dualism between them in the Nordic Bronze Age societies. This paper is an attempt to investigate what these little things can tell us about the people that were buried with them. For this purpose I have examined material of burial that consist of finds of razors respective tweezers and their connection with artefacts in the graves. I have done a comparative and contextual study together using quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate their roles and dualism. Burials from Denmark and Scania are used as examples and to illustrate roles and dualism in the study.
My first conclusion is that the tweezer formed a dualism with the razor. The razor shows dualism with the tweezer, but it seems also to have been a complement for several other objects to dualism. The tweezer on other hand seems to create an identity foremost through the razor. My second conclusion is that they have more than one role, which alternate over time. The razor and the tweezer followed the construction of the Bronze Age society and were influenced by the people through their ideology and social values. I discovered that no gravecontext represents one role, instead each grave constructed several roles. Therefore my conclusion is that they have more than a practical function, and through the roles a person got a unique identity and individuality. In my third conclusion I suggest that the shaft of the razor and the neck of the tweezer enabled them to be hung, perhaps on clothing, especially during late Bronze Age. Thus they could have functioned as marks of identity-documents for example a craftsman, tradesman and/or a leader. Finally, they were only found in gravecontext which indicate an identity which was unique.
Department/s
Publishing year
2008
Language
Swedish
Full text
Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (one year)
Topic
- History and Archaeology
Keywords
- Bronze Age religion
- Bronze Age iconography
- Denmark
- dualism
- function
- gravecontext
- identity
- Nordic Bronze Age
- razor
- roles
- Scania
- tweezer
- Ancient history
- Antikens och forntidens historia
- Archaeology
- Arkeologi
Supervisor
- Bibbi Storn