Bronze Age Acrobats: Denmark, Egypt, Crete

Rune Iversen

Bronze Age Acrobats: Denmark, Egypt, Crete

Saxo-Instituttet - Arkæologi, Etnologi, Historie og Græsk og Latin

4 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

A Danish eighteenth-century find of some bronze figurines tells the story of the practising of similar ritual
performances across Bronze Age Europe from Egypt to Scandinavia. The Danish figurines, as well as Swedish
rock carvings, show backwards-bending female acrobats doing backward handsprings. The exact same appearance
is found on Egyptian depictions related to ceremonies and festivals.OnMinoan Crete backwards-bent acrobats are
related to bull leaping and bull ceremonies. Despite local variations, backwards-bent acrobatic performances
carried out by topless female actorswere part of the immaterial, ritual and cosmological exchange that characterized
the second and early firstmillennium BC.Beliefs and ritual practices went hand in hand with the adoption of a series
of elite items and an aristocratic lifestyle, thereby creating a unique and fascinating European Bronze Age.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	World Archaeology
Vol/bind	46
Udgave nummer	2
Sider (fra-til)	242-255
Antal sider	14
ISSN	0043-8243
Status	Udgivet - mar. 2014

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Det Humanistiske Fakultet

Citationsformater

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AB - A Danish eighteenth-century find of some bronze figurines tells the story of the practising of similar ritualperformances across Bronze Age Europe from Egypt to Scandinavia. The Danish figurines, as well as Swedishrock carvings, show backwards-bending female acrobats doing backward handsprings. The exact same appearanceis found on Egyptian depictions related to ceremonies and festivals.OnMinoan Crete backwards-bent acrobats arerelated to bull leaping and bull ceremonies. Despite local variations, backwards-bent acrobatic performancescarried out by topless female actorswere part of the immaterial, ritual and cosmological exchange that characterizedthe second and early firstmillennium BC.Beliefs and ritual practices went hand in hand with the adoption of a seriesof elite items and an aristocratic lifestyle, thereby creating a unique and fascinating European Bronze Age.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

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KW - figurines

KW - Scandinavia

KW - the Aegean

KW - Egypt

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EP - 255

JO - World Archaeology

JF - World Archaeology

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Bronze Age Acrobats: Denmark, Egypt, Crete

Abstract

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