Między starożytnością a średniowieczem: problem rekonstrukcji struktur społecznych. Na marginesie periodyku „Studia Academica Šumenensia”, t. I-V, 2014-2018

Abstract

The goal of the article is to draw attention to the problem of correlation, to attempts to connect two seemingly very different worlds – namely, Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Included is the problem of reconstructing the social structures functioning in this period in the Balkans in the broad context of southeastern Europe. This problem has been discussed in relation to the area of Dalmatia, and the inspiration to write these comments came from the journal Studia Academica Šumenensia (SA Š) issued by the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Shumen, Bulgaria. One of the articles published in the SA Š is a work by D. Dzino that deals with the problem of reconstructing the social structures of Dalmatia between the 6th and 9th centuries. In this paper we encounter another attempt to adopt the anthropological concept of ‘big man’ by Marshal-Sahlins.

Keywords

• Dalmatia
• Late Antiquity
• early Middle Ages
• the concept of ‘big man’