Metaphern – Punkte – Linien. Zur sprachlichen und kartographischen Semantik ur- und frühgeschichtlicher Wanderungsnarrative bei Gustaf Kossinna

Abstract

The paper will discuss the presentation of prehistoric migrations by Gustaf Kossinna with the backround of the cartographic traditions and of folkish journalism inside of the German Pre- and Protohistorical archaeology. Kossinna used mostly exclusive linguistic metaphors for such descriptions. Since 1910 Kossinna published maps with the spread of artifacts using definable clouds of different signs. Since the 1920s he finally marked boundaries of archaeological phenomena and depicted also the prehistoric cultural provinces which he had postulated. As he mapped several dateable boundaries he visualized the migrations and sequences of settlements which he formerly only described verbally.

Published In