Toys as a reflection of player’s social status

• Academia.edu: straipsnio tekstas

ENResearch of historical toys and games looks playful and easy, but is in fact very important and meaningful. entertainment heritage not only reflects daily life, but also serves as a source for discovering the cultural context of a specific country or nation. Research of the heritage of toys and games reveals one more unique feature: toys and games are a universal phenomenon which swiftly and easily overcomes national, linguistic, political and confessional barriers and spreads throughout the world thus creating general cultural features of the humankind. the evolution and development of toys and games helps researchers trace political and trade relationships among countries as well as changes in their geopolitical and even economic situation. in europe, most numerous game-related artefacts originate in the Late Middle Ages and Modern times. this period also provides rather numerous written sources; unfortunately, a closer look at them is somewhat disappointing. Ancient chroniclers paid little attention to such a trivial and negligible phenomenon as games. Most probably, they thought that toys and games should not be mentioned alongside such important matters as royal stories, wars, politics, and court intrigues. ‘nly the items which history spared by covering them with thick layers of soil have survived till our times. this way, at least in northern and eastern europe, archaeology has become one of the most comprehensive sources for the research of entertainment of the Middle Ages and early Modern times. [Extract, p. 137]