engleski

Medieval Reality or a Modern Construct? Old Croatian Culture in Medieval Studies Between the 19th and the 21st Century

The terms “Old Croatian” and “Old Croatian (archaeological) culture” have been in use since the late 19th and the middle of the 20th century, respectively. They are deeply rooted in Croatian medieval archaeology and have also been adopted in other related scholarly disciplines. Still, they have never been more closely defined, with occasional attempts at partial critique most often ignored. In this article a detailed critical overview of the evolution of the “Old Croatian culture” is presented, from the first appearances of the expression “Old Croatian” in scholarly literature to the position of this concept in current archaeological and other medievalist literature. As the name itself carries clear ethnic connotations, the composition of this culture is discussed in the light of contemporary criticism of the culture- historical approach in order to examine its place and meaning in contemporary thoughts on ethnic identities on the territory of early medieval Croatia.

Old Croatian culture ; Early Middle Ages ; material culture ; ethnic identities ; archaeological cultures ; culture-historical approach

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