Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 49 (3) 2021   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.3.101-111

Annotation:  First Evidence of Pleistocene Archaeology on the Neyshabur Plain and its Role in Reconstructing the Materials from Dwelling 2 on Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (1977 Season, Excavation III) Results of Radiocarbon Dating of Early Burials in the Firsovo Archaeological Area, Barnaul Stretch o A Mortuary Complex with Animal Skulls at Khankarinsky Dol, a Scythian Age Cemetery in the Northweste A Monumental Horse Burial in the Armenian Highlands Scarab Amulet-Beads from 1st–2nd Century Children’s Burials at a Necropolis on the Iluraton Plateau, Traces of the Dahaean and Sarmatian Cultural Legacy in Ancient Turan and Old Rus Shovels Used by Russians in 17th–18th Century Siberia Hunting Equipment of Russians Living near Tara on the Irtysh in the 17th and 18th Centuries Location of Tatar Settlements in the Middle and Lower Tara Region According to 18th Century Maps From the Serbian Fair to the Russian Museum: On the Ethnographic Relevance of the Gingerbread Collec Tungus-Manchu Traditional Beliefs. Part 1: Fertility Cult and Images of Divine Ancestresses Urbanization Processes in the Indigenous Population of the Altai Republic: Stages, Factors, Prospect The Ratio of Indigenous to Immigrant Populations in the Western Steppe During the Bronze Age (Based A Digital X-Ray Analysis of Middle Bronze Age Skeletal Samples from the Baraba Forest-Steppe Cranial Traumas in a Sample from the Pucara de Tilcara Fortress (Jujuy Province, Argentina)   

From the Serbian Fair to the Russian Museum:
On the Ethnographic Relevance
of the Gingerbread Collection from 1902

A.A. Mikhaylova

Russian Museum of Ethnography, Inzhenernaya 4/1, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia

Serbian figured gingerbreads owned by the Russian Museum of Ethnography are described, the history of the collection is provided, and its cultural meaning is evaluated. Ethnographic parallels are analyzed, and archaic examples are cited. The custom of baking gingerbread results from the commercialization of the agricultural tradition of baking ritual bread. In terms of cultural anthropology, the question may be raised whether the replacement of destroyed originals by plaster replicas preserves the information potential and ethnographic value of the collection. Its interpretation is relevant to national identity in new Balkan nations such as Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Another problem is if and how a craft shared by several peoples can be an ethnic marker. In terms of ethnographic museology in the globalizing world, the prospects of acquiring recent collections are discussed. The role of such collections in constructing new national identities may be considerable.

Keywords: Exhibit, craft, identity, replica, fair, Balkans, tradition