Published: 2022-12-29

In Roofs, Walls and Towers

Tomasz Kurasiński
Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae
Section: Articles
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/FAH35.2022.008

Abstract

This article deals with prehistoric stone objects called ‘thunderstones,’ which in the Middle Ages through modern times were
often placed at the border points of houses and farm buildings (e.g., roofs, chimneys, walls, thresholds), as well as in town walls and other defence walls. It should be assumed that they were used as a magical means to protect areas considered to be controlled by humans (orbis interior) from threats posed by the outside world (orbis exterior). The clearly marked repetition of the same types of places in which these prehistoric stone objects were deposited (in areas places inhabited and used by humans) in many European regions indicates that this was a chronologically and territorially widespread phenomenon.

Keywords:

prehistoric stones products, thunderstones, apotropaic meaning, Middle Ages, Modern Times

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Kurasiński, T. (2022). In Roofs, Walls and Towers: About the Apotropaic Properties Attributes in the Middle Ages and Modern Times, the so called Thunderstones (Magic-Spatial Aspects). Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae, 35, 109–129. https://doi.org/10.23858/FAH35.2022.008

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