Original scientific paper
Learning through Play - Pottery and the Making of Toys in Prehistoric Pula
Lidija Balj
; Museum of Vojvodina, Dunavska 35 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Abstract
The paper analyzes the small vessels from the Iron Age period,
which were discovered in the course of 2007, as part of an
investigation of statics in the building housing the Archaeological
Museum of Istria. An emphasis was placed on the importance
of the context of the discovery of these small vessels, given
that miniature vessels are often found at prehistoric sites in
southeastern Europe, but usually a precise context of the finds
is missing, which is necessary for their proper interpretation.
In this case, a group of 21 miniature vessels were found in a
house, among ash in a stove that served for the preparation of
food. A detailed analysis of the ways in which they were made
revealed that not all of these vessels were made by one and the
same person. All are of approximately equal size, featuring
simple forms, but the observed differences in the quality of their
manufacture indicate that some of them were produced by a more
experienced person, while the others were made by someone less
skilled, who was trying to imitate the experienced individual
and thus achieve a similar quality. It therefore appears that they
were toys made at home, those of inferior manufacture being
the work of a child at play, but we should not forget that an
important part of this process was certainly getting acquainted
with the properties of clay and pottery making in general.
Keywords
miniature vessels; archaeology of childhood; the context of a find; learning crafts; prehistoric toys
Hrčak ID:
159901
URI
Publication date:
12.11.2015.
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