Search results

The paper presents the results of the survey carried out by the authors of this paper, the subject of which was experimental archaeology. We asked a group of artisans that deal with historical reconstruction a set of questions about the difficulties they encounter during their reconstruction work. What is their biggest problem? Where do the craftsmen derive information about the ancient technology from? How are their products received by recipients? The chronological framework of the reconstruction industry was narrowed down to one historical period (the time of the Przeworsk culture, that is the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period). This clearly showed some connections between a small group of craftsmen using ancient methods in their work and the academic world, and how important it is to acquire historical and archaeological knowledge and to find ethnographic inspirations in order to solve the problems of craft techniques. The survey covered artisans practising various crafts, from metalwork to pottery, which added a broader perspective to the issues studied.

"City of modernity" consists of 33 essays about Lódz, a city that started out as an agricultural settlement and became a metropolis within a single generation, all thanks to technological progress. Its population of 767 in 1820, it had grown to 767,000 by 1939. At the turn of the century, it emblematized modernization and industrialization, and was a symbol of industrial-era modernity. It was often compared to Manchester and its truly American pace of development was admired. The city's rapid economic career was impressive, but it also exacted a high social cost. The authors, representing a variety of fields (history, sociology, literary, theatre and film studies, cultural anthropology) analyze many aspects of Lódz's economic, social and cultural life before the outbreak of World War II. In reference to Lódz modernism, they explore notions like modernity, metropolitanism and peripherality, multi-culturalism and multi-ethnicity (Lódz was a labor destination for German settlers, Polish peasants, Jews, as well as newcomers from the Russian interior), the phenomenon of workers' movements which peaked during the revolution of 1905, and the expansion of mass entertainment. The publication also looks at issues linked to urban infrastructure, animators of cultural life, and the emergence of new religious, political, and emancipation movements