Archeological Explorations of Magic and Witchcraft in Iron Age Transylvania by Aurel Rustoiu - NEW BOOK (MEGA Publishing House, Cluj‑Napoca, Romania, 2019).
Description: 301 text pages (of which 38 are Bibliography) including 61 figures (mostly b/w but a few in color). Size: 16.5 cm x 23.5 cm. HARDCOVER.
A very interesting book covering a somehow tabu or little explored area of interest (in a vastly Christian Orthodox Romania) and bringing a fresh approach in Romanian archaeological literature, with also the intent to stir curiosity and the impulse to further develop this kind of studies. Might as well be useful in the wider European context, not only the Eastern European one, considering the references to the material or spiritual culture of various people of the past (Thracians, Dacians or Getae, Greeks, Celts, Scythians, Romans, Avars, etc). The author, dr. Aurel Rustoiu, is a senior researcher and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Archaeology and Art History of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca branch. He has a long-standing interest in the field of Iron Age history and archaeology, with over 20 books and 200 scientific articles published on this topic (see photo with last cover), many identified in the ‘Bibliography’ section of this book.
DISCLAIMER: the offered book is an academical work that only presents the author’s opinion as an essay and does not endorse the reader to follow any of the presumed/hypothetical ancient practices, to consume any vegetal or animal parts or involve in any real-life action that could pose any danger or damage to himself or the society as it is.
Will send the book well protected, by registered priority mail. For any extra book purchased please add $5 to the total order (packing&shipping). Thank you!
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Extracted from Foreword: ‘Magic and witchcraft were part of the life of all communities throughout the entire human history. Besides modern theoretical approaches, which first appeared in the Victorian times and continued until today, magical practices are still considered useful means through which people could communicate with the supernatural beings, and sorcerers and witches are the intermediaries of this dialogue through their knowledge and abilities. Ethnographic studies have provided numerous examples of magical rituals, illustrating the huge variety and complexity of the gestures and actions required by the aforementioned dialogue with the supernatural world. Likewise, ancient literary sources can help unveiling similar information regarding some of the past societies. However, this is not the case for many areas from temperate Europe and elsewhere during most of the ancient times. As a consequence, the archaeologists are called to provide at least partial reconstructions of the magical practices and their practitioners from the regions in question using the evidence they have uncovered.
It has to be noted that the archaeology of magic and witchcraft is not a new subject. There are several important contributions published around the world, which have proposed several methods of analysing and interpreting relevant archaeological evidence; many are mentioned in the introductive chapter. At the same time, a series of recent theoretical approaches taken over from cultural anthropology, for example those related to the “cultural” or “social life of things”, could offer useful instruments for interpreting archaeological data from the perspective of magic and witchcraft in past societies.
In Romania, the approach regarding the archaeological evidence of magical practices is less convincing. In general, any archaeological feature that is not conforming to the expected interpretative model has been ascribed to the domain of “ritual”, without much clarification about the exact meanings of this term. Consequently, a pit containing more-or-less complete ceramic vessels, or a group of pits located outside the settlement, or objects having apparently unknown functions or meanings, are all attached the “ritual” tag. Nearly all archaeological monographs dedicated to various sites contain chapters dealing with the so-called spiritual, ritual or magical practices, though no methodological or theoretical arguments are provided for these identifications. These chapters usually include contexts and artefacts which are not fitting easily into the other chapters dealing with the presumed “profane” life of the respective communities.
In most cases, the anthropomorphic figurines made of clay, which resemble the so-called “voodoo dolls” from the Mediterranean area, are those artefacts that are regularly classified as belonging to the domain of “magical practices”. However, one has to start from the observation that the existence of archaic or traditional communities was always defines by a constant negotiation between the profane and the sacred, both concepts being quite fluid and often overlapping, not only during various ceremonies, but also in the daily life. For this reason, one could reasonably expect to find material traces of the rituals of all kind among the wide variety of archaeological evidence from a given site.
Nevertheless, many objects which were commonly used in profane contexts to accomplish various practical tasks were sometimes taken over to be reused in various rituals, including the magical ones. At the same time, an entire range of material culture was exclusively created for and within the magical practices. In all cases, their meanings and functions can only be understood if their contexts of “consumption” are properly interpreted.
This book aims to discuss certain aspects regarding the archaeology of magic and witchcraft in Iron Age Transylvania. The reason for choosing this period stems from my longstanding interest in the Iron Age archaeology in general. Likewise, Transylvania has been chosen as the main target due to the fact that archaeological investigations of the last few decades, based on both traditional fieldwork and more modern interdisciplinary approaches, allowed the accumulation of an important body of evidence regarding the proposed subject, which is facilitating the elaboration of a coherent synthesis.’
Table of Contents
FOREWORD
Acknowledgements
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Archaeology of magic and witchcraft
1.2. Magic and witchcraft, sorcerers and witches: short terminological observations
1.3. The geographic, cultural and chronological framework
2. SORCERERS AND WITCHES
2.1. Deceneus (Dekinais): “a man wizard (andra góeta) who wandered through Egypt” [Strabo VII. 3. 11 (C. 303)]
2.2. The witch from Remetea Mare
2.3. A female shaman of the Scythian age from Transylvania
3. SHAMANIC TRANCE AND THE ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
3.1. Consumption of psychoactive plants
3.2. Ritual consumption of alcoholic beverages and its instruments. Vessels with anthropomorphic handles from the Late Iron Age (4th–3rd centuries BC) in the eastern Carpathian Basin
4. OTHER MASTERS OF MAGIC: BESIDES WIZZARDS, ONE BLACKSMITH
4.1. Craftsmanship and identity in the 4th–3rd centuries BC
4.2. Metallurgy and magic
5. APOTROPAIA: PREVENTIVE MAGIC
5.1. Physicians, healers and empirical cures
5.1.1. The grave of a “Celtic” physician from Galații Bistriței (Bistrița-Năsăud County)
5.1.2. Greek and Roman physicians in pre-Roman Dacia
5.1.3. Healing herbs and magical remedies
5.2. Amulets – weapons against the evil beings
5.2.1. Glass, bronze, amber and coral: protective beads and necklaces
5.2.2. The hidden magical power of some amulets
5.2.3. The magical power of sounds
5.2.4. Shooting the evil
6. FUNERARIA MAGICA: MAGICAL PRACTICES IN FUNERARY CONTEXTS
6.1. Pars pro toto or another magical practice? Grave no. 49 with a linchpin from the Late Iron Age cemetery at Fântânele-Dâmbu Popii
6.2. The magic of rings
6.2.1. Lords and ladies of the rings
6.2.2. Magical bracelets
6.2.3. Nodus Herculeus: annular ornaments and magical knots
7. VOODOO DOLLS: THE DARK SIDE OF MAGIC
8. CLOSING REMARKS
BIBLIOGRAPHY