Some methodological aspects of the reconstruction of the symbolism of iron and its products in traditional culture

Author

Tupchienko Mykola

candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of the Department of social sciences, information and archival affairs of the Central Ukrainian National Technical University.

Some methodological aspects of the reconstruction of the symbolism of iron and its products in traditional culture

Abstract

The article author bases himself on the theoretical treatments of Ukrainian and Russian ethnologists engaged in the introduction of semiotics methods in ethnological studies (Ye. Kaharov, A Baiburin, A. Toporkov, A. Mylnіkov and others). Owing to the linguists V. Toporov and V. Ivanov works attraction, he also shows that all external stimuli on the society are always mediated by its culture. Its significance in traditional societies has been shown in rituals and myths through certain cultural codes (technological, culinary, construction, etc.).

Reconstruction of the mythological and ritual symbols of iron and forged products in traditional culture requires the use of a comprehensive research method. The fragmentation and incompleteness of the written evidence allow to reconstruct the mythological and ritual symbols of iron and forged products of the archaic past only on the basis of comparative-historical analogies and hypothetical modelling. At the same time, for the integral and systematic perception of the object of scientific cognition, the priority should be given to the use of systemic and structural-functional approaches.

The peculiarity of the object of research requires the use of intuitive creation along with logical analysis. It enables the establishment of the organic interconnection of different parts and phenomena of one whole. In order to solve problem of the explanation of metal and the articles of it semiotics in traditional representations it is necessary, in addition to the comparative-historical and genetic methods, to resort also to the method of archeological and ethnographic analogies. It allows to comprehend the symbols of artifacts deeply discovered by archaeologists with fragments of ceremonies with the use of iron, while also involving linguistic, etymological, culturological data.

Thus, the attraction of semiotics methods, in complex combination with the mentioned above, allows to perceive iron and smithery products as cultural signs. It allows to reconstruct the complex models of the archaic world-view, to determine the origins and genetic community of mythological images and cosmogonic systems of the ethnic societies of the past.

Keywords

method, methodology, reconstruction, sacral, myth, ceremony, artefact, iron.

References

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