Fragmentation of votive offerings in the sanctuary of Olympia – Research on the background of a ritual practice

人们从奥林匹亚遗址和其他希腊神庙中找到了大量破碎的和被故意破坏的青铜祭品。然而，到目前为止，还没有任何重大的尝试来系统地分析这些物品，以了解破碎和破坏的现象是否是特定仪式的一部分。破碎的青铜器（废金属）在史前考古学的研究和对来自欧洲的青铜器时代藏品的分析中发挥了重要作用，导致了大量方法论和跨学科方法的发展。本项目旨在通过应用不同的研究方法来研究来自奥林匹亚的碎片青铜器，以了解这些物品的意义。特别是，该项目将重点了解它们的功能和意义，这些献祭品是如何以及何时被摧毁的，以及它们被大量恢复的原因。除此之外，该项目还旨在确定选定材料组（例如三脚架、献祭动物、狮鹫头、西西里-意大利物品）的特定破碎和破损模式，根据其尺寸和重量进行统计分析，计算破碎程度，并调查物体的空间分布及其与特定功能区（例如车间、祭坛、寺庙）的关系。此外，从奥林匹亚回收的材料将从更广泛的跨文化角度进行研究。这些碎片不仅将与希腊和西希腊神庙中发现的类似物品进行比较，还将与欧洲各地青铜/铁器时代晚期的废金属进行比较，以确定结构上的异同。这将为了解奥林匹亚和其他希腊神庙中碎片化现象的重要性和广泛性提供新的见解，从而更好地了解用于进行碎片化的技术及其原因，并有助于改进对欧洲青铜/铁器时代晚期宝藏的研究。

Large numbers of fragmented and intentionally destroyed bronze votive offerings have been retrieved from the site of Olympia and from other Greek sanctuaries. However, no significant attempt to systematically analyse these objects in order to understand if the phenomenon of fragmentation and destruction was a part of a specific ritual, has been made so far. Fragmented bronze objects (scrap metal) played an important role in the study of Prehistoric archaeology and in the analysis of Bronze Age hoards from Europe, resulting in the development of a wide number of methodological and cross-disciplinary approaches. The proposed project aims to study the fragmented bronze objects from Olympia by applying different research approaches to understand the significance of these objects. In particular, the project will focus in understanding their function and significance, how and when these votive offerings were destroyed and the reasons why they were recovered in large numbers. In addition to this, the project aims at identifying specific fragmentation and breakage patterns in selected material groups (e.g. tripods, votive animals, griffin heads, Sicilian-Italian objects) to statistically analyse them according to their measurements and weights, to calculate the degree of fragmentation, and to investigate the spatial distribution of the objects and their relation to specific functional areas (e.g. workshops, altars, temples). Furthermore, the material retrieved from Olympia will be studied from a wider transcultural perspective. The fragmented objects will be compared not only to similar objects recovered in Greek and Western Greek sanctuaries, but also to scrap metal retrieved from Late Bronze/Iron Age hoards all over Europe to identify structural similarities and differences. This will provide new insights on the significance and widespread of the phenomenon of fragmentation in Olympia and in other Greek sanctuaries to better understand the techniques employed to perform the fragmentation and their reasons and to contribute to improve the research on Late Bronze/Iron Age hoards in Europe.