Happy Halloween!

Werewolves and Hanno Wotan

As Halloween approaches, I thought it'd be fun to dig a little deeper into the distant beliefs of European prehistory.  Though only bones and stones, the Bell Beakers appear to have had some recognizable beliefs based on their materials, which I will link in my speculations below.

We know in modern lore that werewolves are normal men who undergo a transformation initiated by the moon.  This unleashes a crazed and uncontrollable blood lust that is merciless.  In various Indo-European languages he could be the "Lunatic" or the "Monetic" (after the moon), also known as "Zănatic" or "Dianaticus" (or madness from moon goddess Selene Artemis, σεληνιάζομαι).  He tears off his clothes running naked through the night like a wildman.  He pants and foams at the mouth.  He is the lycanthrope, λυκάνθρωπος, berserker, ulfhéðinn, wilkołak, vilkatis, lobisomem and about a hundred other terms.

A good place to begin understanding the werewolf phenomenon is to begin with North Sea berserker or ulfhéðinn.  These were the real warriors (shapeshifters*) of Hanno Wotan, otherwise known as Woden, Odin (Apollo, the sun god)  They either wore wolfskins, bearskins or were naked or both.  These wild shock troops were feared in Early Christian Europe because they were nuts. 

We are told by the ancients that the night before a battle, elite Scandinavian warriors began drinking heavily but not any old psychotropic beer at your mother's table.  The gruits of these beers were hotly steeped in hallucinogens such as hene-bane or heng-belle (in Ang-Sax "heng = death"), also Herba Apollinaris cognate in PtG with Henno Wotan (Liberman, 2008), and further PIE bhongo or soma, itself appearing to descend from an even more ancient word related to PtU for mushrooms.

Hanno Wotan and Berserker

The dirty little secret of warfare is that many belligerents typically consumed narcotics before battle.
Zulus, Somalis, Aghans, Apache, Inca, Paupans, suicide-bombers, whatever.  In the professional militaries of Europe, this became less common over time but with notable exceptions.  This is likely the human norm since the Paleolithic.  This is the mostly likely reason Celtic warriors famously doffed their clothing before battle, the intolerance toward clothing often felt by people who are ramped up on mood altering substances.

It's not difficult to understand why men did this and still do this.  One is the performance edge needed in active hand-to-hand combat which rarely lasts longer than a few minutes.  During this time maximum adrenaline, testosterone and metabolic function are exhausting the body.  Water, electrolytes, lactic acid, blood loss, hyperventilation, paralytic fear - all create a dangerous vulnerability in a contest to kill or be killed, with dying itself the least of his problems.

Some performance enhancers may also create inhibition, something important for the one who dons the suicide vest, volunteered for by his nice peers.  Although narcotics can cloud one's clarity and decision-making ability, this may pale in comparison to the paralysis caused by the fog of war.  The psychological effect of substance use may have its greatest impact in the confidence and carefreeness of someone who needs to focus on killing instead of worrying about problems at home.

The last aspect, again varying by the substance, is being able to tolerate pain and to be relentless in the attack.  The inner city crack-heads of the 1980's were notorious for having super-human strength.  Often, this resulted in a cop shooting a charging suspect multiple times, only to be accused of excessive force later.  This has an important psychological on the defender, who not only has less time to react, but also becomes convinced that his best and most lethal efforts are ineffective against a madman.

A lunatic.

 We can see these behaviors seeping into the historical era.  To quote the Yngling Saga via Wiki:

"His (Odin's) men rushed forwards without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild oxen, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon them. This was called Berserkergang."

 And another interesting quote concerning Varangian Goths by Hilda Ellis-Davidson, again via Wiki:

"This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power. This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe. When this condition ceased, a great dulling of the mind and feebleness followed, which could last for one or several days."

There is plenty of evidence that this was excessive henbane in most cases, however I'm not aware of any direct chemical analysis other than residue from pots and beakers.

But let's focus our attention on Bronze Age European warfare.  In both Greek and Germanic languages the hebane plant is known as the herb of the solar deity.  Apollo Helios (a divergent amalgam of the same deity) is associated with fire, fury and death and of course his plant, the death herb.  His crown is the halo.  His opposite is his sister, the moon goddess, who is associated with archery, boars, cornos and cattle.  They alternate rising and setting of the sun and moon via solar boats or chariots.

Hypothetically, if Iron Age berzerkers were hyped up on beverages that included henno-wotan (Herba Apollinaris) then the delicate balance of overdosing or being unable to come of a multiday high would have been a great danger.  So what do you do when you overdose?!






You need an antidote! (Thx)


What is the antidote for a frothing at the mouth warrior?   It would have to be a powerful sedative.
How about Wolfsbane! (aconitum) also (aconitum lycotonum)  It is a convenient choice since this is the traditional antidote for werewolf-ism, along with strenuous exercise, conversion to Catholicism (for Protestant werewolves) or burning at the stake (100% solution!).

Medicinally, wolfsbane is used to treat anxiety or sleeplessness.  It is "the queen of poisons" and like the henebane can be deadly, hence dead in the root.  In small doses though, it may bring our blood-spattered warrior back to Earth.

Here's a previous post about beer gruit [here].  Anyhow, Happy Halloween!
 
* Shapeshifting is also commonly associated with one other mortal, the witch.  I've offered my view on the Indo-European evolution of the witch, [here], and a few other entries.  I find it interesting that the two shapeshifters of lore are those that potentially made the gruits and beer, and those that drank it.

Great or Lost Minds!

I almost fell out of my chair, when I read this:

"Bell Beakers have actually been compared to Coca-Cola as a well known symbol which helped to open up a continent of diverse but fairly self-contained communities [Fagan 1996]."  (Dopson, 2006)

I may have read Fagan (1996) at some point then forgot about it, but I honestly think I made a similar comparison independently at a later time(!?).
 
Coca-Cola also offers a way to understand the beaker pottery phenomenon in a number of ways:  Red background with white stylization, a highly recognizable motif that is both conservative and suggestive of certain cultural values.  You could call Coke emblematic of the "Coca Cola Culture" which suggests certain music, clothing and social values.

When people think of Coca-Cola, they don't think of polygamy, gulags, theocrats, goose-steppers or slums. 

Instead, a different social order comes to mind: monogamy, mobility, laissez-faire, prosperity.  Maybe that culture is viewed differently in some areas, but I think you can see how an object can exude certain cultural meaning.

Upcoming Lectures in France and Spain

For those of you near the Provence area of France, there is a free upcoming museum lecture on the Bell Beaker phenomenon by Oliver Lemercier on the 18th of November.  [Link]

On Thursday the 5th of November, Antonio Valera will lecture on the Enclosures Phenomenon of Southern Portugal at the University of Seville.  You'll have to email for specifics.  [Link] 

Re-writing Early Bronze Age [Radio Dates]

This paper reorders some of the chronology of the Bronze Age and pokes another hole in a long-held paradigm of European prehistory.  I'll give you some of the big take-away's:

There appears to be little or no overlap between the end of the Beaker period and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (Central Europe), although some stylistic and sentimental materials seem to continue in conservative circles.  This transition occurred in the 21st century.

The Early Bronze Age of Central Europe has traditionally been divided into two phases A1 and A2 after German prehistorian Paul Reinecke, representing linear progress in technology and fashion.  The A1 EBA is the era of bone pins and hammered metal trinkets.  A2 EBA is true bronze with cast pins and tin bronzing.  The two now overlap significantly, meaning some areas were more conservative than others.


The Middle Bronze Age may have started almost two hundred years earlier than previously believed.  That would put its beginning in the ballpark of 1700 B.C., settling the Nebra hoard of Northern Germany in place that makes better sense.  By moving most of the metal age to the left, especially the Early Bronze Age, the entire scheme fits better for technological developments in Britain.

Nebra Sky Disk (1700 B.C.) - Commons

One quote of interest from the paper:

"It seems that Bz A2a objects, most of which are related to the Únětice culture, should be interpreted as the appropriation of foreign influences and objects in southern Germany, which basically “stayed Bz A1” during the complete EBA. The Bz A2a Únětice bronzes could rather be seen as supplement to the local inventory of the material culture."

"Moreover, it is most likely that Bz A2 in the area of the Únětice culture started considerably earlier than in the Augsburg region. An early start for Bz A2a already in the late 3rd millennium or at least around 2000 BC is indicated by Quenstedt, grave 34, a grave from Feuersbrunn and possibly also hoard II of Melz"

"Bz A2 finds in southern Germany and Bz A1 finds in the area of the Únětice culture should be explained as the local appropriation of foreign objects rather than autonomous chronological phases."

This partly confirms that Unetice should not be considered as a strictly chronological development radiating outwards, but more reflects social groups, possibly peculiar social groups.

I don't know if these dates were used in the Allentoft et al, 2015 paper or if these will be used in Allentoft 2.0.  Since isotopes were collected on many of these remains, there will probably be another large paper on mobility in the near future.

Rewriting the Central European Early Bronze Age Chronology: Evidence from Large-Scale Radiocarbon Dating

Philipp W. Stockhammer, Ken Massy, Corina Knipper, Ronny Friedrich, Bernd Kromer, Susanne Lindauer, Jelena Radosavljević, Fabian Wittenborn, Johannes Krause.  Published: October 21, 2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.013970  [Link]

Abstract

The transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe has often been considered as a supra-regional uniform process, which led to the growing mastery of the new bronze technology. Since the 1920s, archaeologists have divided the Early Bronze Age into two chronological phases (Bronze A1 and A2), which were also seen as stages of technical progress. On the basis of the early radiocarbon dates from the cemetery of Singen, southern Germany, the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe was originally dated around 2300/2200 BC and the transition to more complex casting techniques (i.e., Bronze A2) around 2000 BC. On the basis of 140 newly radiocarbon dated human remains from Final Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age cemeteries south of Augsburg (Bavaria) and a re-dating of ten graves from the cemetery of Singen, we propose a significantly different dating range, which forces us to re-think the traditional relative and absolute chronologies as well as the narrative of technical development. We are now able to date the beginning of the Early Bronze Age to around 2150 BC and its end to around 1700 BC. Moreover, there is no transition between Bronze (Bz) A1 and Bronze (Bz) A2, but a complete overlap between the type objects of the two phases from 1900–1700 BC. We thus present a revised chronology of the assumed diagnostic type objects of the Early Bronze Age and recommend a radiocarbon-based view on the development of the material culture. Finally, we propose that the traditional phases Bz A1 and Bz A2 do not represent a chronological sequence, but regionally different social phenomena connected to the willingness of local actors to appropriate the new bronze technology.