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Pagan idols and rolled-up dragons at Stradonice in 1877. On archaeology of fakes

Publikace na Filozofická fakulta |
2021

Tento text není v aktuálním jazyce dostupný. Zobrazuje se verze "en".Abstrakt

This paper presents the topic of fake 'archeological artefacts' produced and sold on large scale during the clandestine excavations of the oppidum of Stradonice in late 1870s. Such objects were part of all the collections ofStradonice finds; those published in the present paper are partly kept in the Křivoklát castle and partly were documented in the Lehmann collection, now lost, but documented by photographs.

The fake objects can be subdivided into three categories: a) reproductions of original objects; b) statuettes unrelated to the finds and used primarily for creative playground of counterfeiters; c) pitch slabs imitating coins and medals but bearing depictions of various objects. Regardless of their primitive character, the fakes - as a matter of fact the earliest graphic documentation of the Stradonice discoveries - provide a curious insight into the oppidum finds, making it often possible to distinguish specific types of objects, such as brooches and coins, some of which are not actually documented at the oppidum.

Even if no artefact had had survived from Stradonice, the fakes would still enable us to date the site with precision of a few decades.