The Forgotten Movement – A (Re)construction of Prehistoric Dances

Abstract

Dancing has always been and still is an integral part of the lives of individuals and communities around the world, and it forms part of the cultural identity of all traditional societies. Unlike the arguably small role it has in modern urban societies, dance had much greater role in the lives of individuals and communities of ancient and recent past (Maletić, 1986, pp.14, 41), as well as it still has in many of contemporary tribal communities (Marshall, 1969, pp.357–358; Biesele, 1978, pp.165–169; Katz, 1982, pp.3, 34; Maletić, 1986; Whitehouse, 1995, pp.21-22). In those contexts, dancing took place in numerous social and individual occasions and it was considered to be not only a form of entertainment but also one of the main means of communication with all aspects of one's outer and inner environment (Lange, 1976, pp.90-91; Maletić, 1986, p. 86; Garfinkel, 2003, p.67). Therefore, dance is an extremely interesting phenomenon, but due to its intangible nature it is still a rare topic in archaeological research.

Keywords

• living history
• theatre
• presentation
• neolithic
• chalcolithic
• bronze age
• croatia