❷ Modern archaeological and anthropological research
evolved in western civilization, which is dominated
by a Christian point of view. Unlike most
other religions, its attitude to dance is negative. In
the New Testament, the term is mentioned only
once, in the extremely dramatic dance of Salome,
which concluded with the beheading of John the
Baptist (Mark 6, 21–26). In contrast, the Old Testament
described dancing dozens of times, using ten
different verbs (Gruber 1981). Indeed, dance is not
part of any official Christian liturgy. The unawareness
of western scholarship of the importance of
ABSTRACT – Indications for dancing activities in prehistoric Europe appeared as early as modern
humans, at the start of the Upper Palaeolithic era. However, only limited data are available for this
stage. In the Neolithic period, evidence for dancing appeared at many more sites, but the territory
is confined to south-eastern Europe. The dancing in this case is probably part of the ‘Neolithic package’,
which diffused from the Near East.
IZVLE∞EK – Prvi indici in omejeni podatki o plesu so v prazgodovinski Evropi povezani s pojavom
modernega ≠loveka v starej∏em paleolitiku. V neolitiku je podatkov mnogo ve≠ in vsi so omejeni na
prostor jugovzhodne Evrope. Ples je bil verjetno del neolitskega paketa, ki se je ∏iril iz Bli∫njega Vzhoda.
KEY WORDS – prehistoric dance; Upper Paleolithic; Neolithic; decorated pottery; figurines
DOI> 10.4312dp.37.18