Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
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Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#2> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second.
> Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option
One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons.
For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happened, and all the street vendors' stalls were abandoned, it's almost certain that archaeologists of a thousands years in the future would conclude that it was a major religious pilgrimage site, of a culture obsessed with miniature pyramids, obsidian miniatures, marble chess sets, and brightly glazed ceramic skulls. What they would make of the multitude of ceramic phallic hash pipes, I'm not sure I want to speculate about...
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#3> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
For sure there are great difficulties in understanding what has passed when primary sources är long gone and we only have silent artefacts. But don't you think the remains of today, compared to the now considered ancient, due to todays obsession with and more long lasting documentation?
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#4> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
It seems natural for any worldview examining another to see as ritualized emotional cultivation the actions and objects that to the older were part of the daily acknowledgement of reality.
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#5> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
In your example, the activities are not religious.
However, to me, the tiny pyramids and other trinkets are a kind of modern day ritual - if something that has no clear explanation or practical purpose can be called a ritual.
Let's take a moment and think: why do we carry those items home after journeys? I've observed most of the time we toss them in a drawer and smile aftre discovering them 5 years later. We place them on the shelves. Do we use them to signal social status? Not really, they can usually be readily bought locally. When we gift them, do we expect the other person to remember what they meant 2 years later?
Or do we do it because "this is what people do"?
Of course, maybe there is a different answer, but to me, it looks like we produce these things to fulfill some irrational, ritualistic? need. If we do that now so often, then people in the past most likely did that too.
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#6> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
One example I heard was that, in 1000 years, people may discover strange yellow arches and assume that they had religious significance. But what kind of significance _does_ McDonalds have in today’s society? Is going to the pub followed by burger and chips an important ritual followed by many in modern society?
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#7As kids growing up in a village, my friends and I played with button whirligigs and we made them out of broken pieces of clay pots discarded by our parents: Take a piece, rub its boundary on a hard irregular surface until it is smooth and discoid, make a hole in the center (take care not to break the object), pass a thread through this hole and keep the thing at the midpoint of the thread. Hold the two ends of the thread with your hands, spin it for a while and stop, and then immediately start whirling the thing by alternately pulling and releasing the tension on the thread.
Here’s a wiki with some nice drawings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirligig#Button_whirligigs
We also made ropes with jute, spinning tops of wood with an iron tip etc. We could not afford to buy things such as these. It was fun :)
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#8> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
In your example, the activities are not religious. However, to me, the tiny pyramids and other trinkets are a kind of modern day ritual - if something that has no clear explanation or practical purpose can be called a ritual. Let's take a moment and think: why do we carry those items home after journeys? I've observed most of the time we toss them in a drawer and smile aftre discovering them 5 years later. We place t…
It’s to have a present symbol to remind us of our past. It’s reflective of emotional attachment to who we are through where we were.
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#9> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
The same thing happened with the ancient Venus statues being considered fertility objects. The truth is your guess is as good as anyone's.
Re: Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
#10> “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second. > Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option One of the many reasons archaeology frustrates me. If you can't figure out why somebody built something in the past, its always for ritual reasons, rather than more mundane reasons. For example, I went to Chichen-Itza last week. If something happen…
One example I heard was that, in 1000 years, people may discover strange yellow arches and assume that they had religious significance. But what kind of significance _does_ McDonalds have in today’s society? Is going to the pub followed by burger and chips an important ritual followed by many in modern society?
Going to McDonald's was certainly an important ritual for my dad and I.