History of Folk Technology

A fundamental category of historical civilization is the traditional popular civilization. This represents a multi-millenary synthesis, resulting from the grafting, on the ancient autochthonous background, of some elements mediated by ethnic contacts, temporary or long. These were caused by heterogeneous influences, caused by numerous and diverse political, socio-economic or ethno-cultural factors. This crystallized in a long process of ethnocultural osmosis, which generated that “ethnic specificity”, invoked as a defining attribute in the effort to characterize the culture and civilization of peoples. In this chapter, the main folk techniques discovered in Romania starting with the Paleolithic period are reviewed. They are classified based on occupational specialization and are presented in their historical evolution. The most relevant artifacts are described in more detail, including sketches for understanding their operation.