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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.historikertag.de/Leipzig2023/en/programm/sektionen/precarious-prehistory-fragile-knowledge-and-the-emergence-of-deep-time/
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UID:historikertag-2023-2711
DTSTAMP:20230403T081852Z
DTSTART:20230921T110000Z
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SUMMARY:[Historikertag 2023] Precarious Prehistory – Fragile Knowledge and the Emergence of Deep Time
DESCRIPTION:The search for origins became particularly 'topical' in the 19th century: After the destabilization of religious worldviews and the discovery of geological 'deep time', the question of the age and development of the earth, life and mankind before the beginning of written tradition arose. The dimensions of the 'prehistoric deep time' were not yet foreseeable: new disciplines such as paleontology, paleoanthropology, or prehistory and early history had no written documents for this period, which could have given information about 'facts'. These had to be created first but were and are, for this reason alone, 'fragile'. 
Fragile are the sources themselves. Artifacts, finds and findings are sparse, fragmentary, damaged during their recovery or lost again later and must often be reconstructed in a time-consuming process. Above all, however, their interpretation is controversial: authenticity, age and significance were hotly disputed, especially in the 19th century. And yet, on the basis of these sources, theses with far-reaching scientific, political and social implications were and still are formulated. Since then, knowledge about prehistory has served as a normative resource for argumentation about the 'natural' character and the living conditions of man, as a projection surface for current social concepts, or as a demarcation foil between 'culture' and 'nature', 'civilization' and 'primitiveness'. 
The section looks at research and debates on prehistoric pasts from the 1830s to the present: how did contemporaries in different contexts deal with uncertainty, fragility and ambivalence of knowledge about prehistory? What verification strategies, narrative patterns and methods did they develop to create (apparent) unambiguity and stability? And what goals were associated with this?
Der Beitrag Precarious Prehistory – Fragile Knowledge and the Emergence of Deep Time erschien zuerst auf Historikertag 2023.
LOCATION:HS19
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