Archaeology of prestige

Any discussion on object value has to start with Marcel Mauss's famous dictum: " To give something is to give part of oneself. To give away is to give part of one's nature and substance , to receive something is to receive a part of someone's spiritual essence. " A large bibliography deals with the fusion between subjects and objects in gift exchange or with the simultaneous and mutual definition of the value of things and the prestige of persons. I have argued previously that the conspicuous consumption of objects establishes a different relation between persons and things. While gift exchange brings about a dispersal of personal identity beyond bodily boundaries, through time and across space, consumption allows one to absorb and appropriate transitory gifts, with all their associations of distant places, famous previous owners, and exotic value systems. In this paper I would like to elaborate this point further by discussing the (re)definition of personhood in mortuary ritual and by examining the use of (valuable) objects in bodily practices (such as body modification, adornment, anointment, grooming, arraying, and disarticulating). While conspicuous consumption at death is often discussed as a purely social strategy of display and aggrandizement, or at best as symbolic exchange with the ancestors, I argue that it has a much deeper cultural significance: it is a crucial attempt to contain the drift of meaning and value and to counteract the disintegration of personal identities—during the very process that dissolves persons into ancestors. These ideas will be applied to a specific case study: the grave circles of Mycenae.

As  means  of  locomotion,  mount  animals,  sedan
chairs or chariots are known from ancient Egypt
for overland travel (Köpp, 2008b, 401-412; Köpp-
Junk, 2013: 6-9; 2014: 199-276). The oldest mode
of travel, however, was simply to walk because it
was  the  easiest  and  cheapest  way  to  move,  even
though it was the slowest. The very reverse applies
to  the  chariot.  Compared  to  all  other  means  of
travel, except for horseback riding, the chariot was
the fastest, but also the most expensive one. Be-
sides the chariot, the owner has to purchase horses
as  well  as  have  a  personal  staff  for  maintenance
and care of both. Therefore, at the beginning of the
18th Dynasty, only the king and
a few high officials could afford them (Hofmann,
1989: 33). However, about 2,000 chariots are esti-
mated for the Egyptian army of the 19th Dynasty
(Langenbach, 2009: 347). This figure provides indication of the increasing use of the chariot. How many additional chariots were privately owned is uncertain, but several tomb scenes
as well as textual evidence from the New Kingdom
show them as an obvious component of daily life
as a mode of locomotion.
This contribution discusses the general use of
chariots in civil contexts. Additionally, its radius
of  action  with  regards  to  overland  travel  is  analyzed, as well as how chariots were transported by
water. This is followed by on overview of the traveling speed of the vehicle.

English abstract: Since the discovery in 1860 of La Pastora, one of the most beautiful and outstanding megalithic constructions of Iberia, the Copper Age and Bronze Age site of Valencina de la Concepción – Castilleja de Guzmán has provided an unceasing series of archaeological finds of the utmost significance. Today, a hundred and fifty years after the earliest discoveries, this volume offers an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the research carried out at this site, which underlines, first and foremost, its importance as a scientific and cultural resource. Among the contributions to this volume the reader will find some of the keys to the human occupation of the lower Guadalquivir basin 5000 years ago, the process of social aggregation that gave way to the formation of the city of Seville itself. In addition, this book reflects some of the current discussions that dominate today’s scientific agenda on Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 cal BC), a period of fascinating social and cultural dynamism that laid the basis for the consolidation of social ranking, long-distance contact and exchange, as well as metallurgy and productive specialization.

Spanish abstract: Desde que en 1860 se produjera el descubrimiento de La Pastora, una de las construcciones megalíticas más bellas y singulares de España, el yacimiento de la Edad del Cobre y de la Edad del Bronce de Valencina de la Concepción – Castilleja de Guzmán no ha cesado de deparar hallazgos arqueológicos de la mayor significación. Hoy, 150 años después de los primeros descubrimientos, este volumen ofrece una puesta al día de las investigaciones que están revelando la extraordinaria importancia de este yacimiento como recurso científico y patrimonial. Entre las colaboraciones de esta obra el lector encontrará algunas de las claves de la ocupación de la desembocadura del río Guadalquivir hace 5000 años: el proceso de agregación humana que representa el origen de la misma ciudad de Sevilla. Igualmente, en las páginas de este libro encuentra reflejo el debate que en la actualidad preside el estudio de la Edad del Cobre (c. 3200-2200 antes de nuestra era), un periodo de apasionante dinamismo social y cultural en el que se consolidaron las bases de la jerarquización social, las relaciones comerciales a larga distancia, la metalurgia y la especialización productiva.

Archaeologists across all fields of research make generous use of the concepts ‘prestige’ and ‘prestige goods.’ In the process, prestige and social status are usually conflated. It follows that discussions of prestige goods solely focus on their active use in the struggle for social dominance. This article will argue, however, that prestige is not equal to social status. Instead, prestige is one of several contributing factors to status. More precisely, prestige is akin to the German noun Ansehen, which expresses the notion of looking up to someone due to certain qualities. This has serious ramifications for the traditional understanding of prestige goods. Fixating on their active role as socially structuring agents misses the point. In order to really grasp genuine prestige goods in the archaeological record, it is necessary to look beyond the motives of individual signalers or signaling groups and instead focus on the responder(s) to whom such behavior was addressed.  Instances of emulation in mortuary contexts reflect the perspective of the recipient(s). Imitations of objects and associated behavior are tangible manifestations of Ansehen / prestige. They convey that the original items were more than luxury products or status symbols. To be sure, such artifacts were most likely of high relative value, but they operated on a deeper social level as they highlight interpersonal relationships rather than general social mechanisms. An in-depth analysis of various silk fabrics and imitations of warp-faced compound tabby weaves (jin 錦) from second to early fifth century CE burials in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, PR China along with a brief survey of Byzantine solidi and their imitations from early sixth to mid-eighth century CE tombs in northern China will serve as the basis on which I develop a method to identify genuine prestige goods.

When Malcolm Wiener stated in his article that “jewelry above all is subject to the dictates of style and to the Versailles effect” (Wiener 1984, 24), he referred to the “Versailles effect” as an effect “most likely to occur where the cultural prestige of one society within an interconnecting set of societies is great” (Wiener 1984, 17). He pointed out that besides pottery ‒ frequently used for tracing movements of goods or even groups of people ‒ jewelry too has a high potential to illustrate intercultural patterns of commercial, political or ideological exchange. In doing so the “Versailles effect” does not implicate the simple imitation of the material culture of another, (dominant) culture by force or political /military domination, but rather describes a voluntary adaption to this culture, mostly expressed through art forms as well as pottery styles, architectural features or even technological inventions (Wiener 2016, 1-2). In this paper the focus will be laid on a quite similar effect here called the “Knossos effect”, made visible by an examination of distribution patterns of golden signets and their chronology. The term is a reference to Wiener’s term and is used here to describe a similar phenomenon “spreading” from the palace of Knossos in LM IA Crete.

Under the paradigms of neoevolutionism and the systemic functionalism of processual archaeology
the study of the social evolution of societies has been enriched with new methodologies and categories
of analysis. Using categories such as ‘social complexity’, or with descriptive classificatory typologies
of this social evolution, ethnographers and archaeologists looked for evidence of ‘Big men’ or ‘chiefs’,
among others, who were associated with certain functions and social behaviours, as well as ‘prestige’.
We will try to provide new perspectives of analysis from historical materialism and feminist studies,
focusing on the concept ‘prestige’, which is understood as a social production.

With the benefit of more than 20 years of hindsight, the time is ripe for a re- examination of Chalcolithic lithic industries of the north-eastern Balkans in the light of newly published data and a more accurate chronology. In this study, we present a detailed examination of the economic and social position of the various blade productions of these hierarchized societies, following the regional chronological sequences and the various cultural groups identified on the basis of ceramics. In fact, the lithic traditions define two areas of domestic production which remained unchanged throughout the period: the first, characterized by indirect percussion, lies broadly to the south of the eastern Danube while the other, involving direct percussion, lies to the north. In addition, there is evidence for parallel specialized productions, intended for export, which comprise blades manufactured by indirect percussion on specialized mining sites, as well as blades manufactured using lever pressure debitage and blades produced using standing pressure debitage. The evolution, position and role of the various lithic productions are examined for the centuries spanning the Early Chalcolithic to the beginning of the Late Chalcolithic.

The paper reviews the history of research of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of Scania with special focus on settlement archaeology and social organization. In the end a number of "hot spots" are identified as areas which need special attention in future research. The paper is a chapter in the research policy declaration of the Scanian division of Swedish Heritage.

Having contributed to early definitions of chiefdoms, the pre-Columbian societies that developed in the Central Region of Panama during the last millennium before Spanish contact in A.D. 1515 have been considered by many specialists in cultural evolution to be archetypes of ranked societies. This investigation was designed to examine the emergence of chiefly societies and evaluate current models used for interpreting the development of social complexity in Panama. It was necessary, first, to determine when social ranking emerged and then to explore how specific sociopolitical and economic factors influenced the development and operation of pre-Columbian chiefly societies up to the time of European contact. The strategy adopted in this study focused on a regional settlement survey, documenting 1700 years of social change in a 104 km2 area of the Río Parita Valley of central Panama.
At no time during the pre-Columbian occupation in the valley did population levels come even close to carrying capacity, so demographic stress on subsistence resources, or leading to conflict, does not appear to have been an important factor in chiefly emergence. Although the presence of warfare could not be substantiated from the survey data, status rivalry and warfare is mentioned with some regularity in the ethnohistoric accounts and was most likely present during the pre-Columbian period. The location of the main chiefly center 14 km from the coast in low fertility land does not support the idea that controlling subsistence production was crucial to elite power. On the other hand, ethnohistoric accounts describe chiefly larders full of subsistence goods, suggesting that mobilizing these goods was important to the development of social ranking. By A.D. 550, the standardization of craft goods and their wide distribution throughout the Central Region implies the existence of macro-regional exchange networks. Settlement changes in the Río Parita Valley at the same time suggest that local, regional, and macro-regional exchange was most likely involved in the emergence of chiefly societies; however, the lack of long-distance trade goods found in the Río Parita and other valleys in the Central Region does not indicate that long-distance trading was a foundation of elite power.

This draft paper also was a philosophy statement of Steven Hackenberger and my computer simulation models of ancient economic decision-making based on catchment and archaeological data of the Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex.  Actual published papers resulting from this approach are included under papers here: 1988 Hoko River Archaeological Complex: Modeling Prehistoric Northwest Coast Economic Evolution and 1989 Coastal Resource Management in a Clam Shell.  This draft paper contrasts evolutionary processes with mechanisms and explore the genetic mechanism in biological evolution with the shared ideas mechanisms in cultural transmission. Though never published as presented, it does lead the way into our explorations into Northwest Coast economic evolution, with reference to aspects of the division of labor, prestige, and use of plant foods.

Paper Abstract:  Using computer simulation techniques, 9,000 years of economic patterns have been modeled concerning the southern Northwest Coast of North America. In preliminary efforts to consider new aspects affecting decision-making by prehistoric Northwest Coast groups, the emphasis on division of labor, increased consideration of prestige and ownership, and the role of plant foods in the overall diet have been added to the programming. The early results provide interesting hypotheses involving the influence of these added modeling criteria. For example, plant food use probably decreased in emphasis through time.

En este estudio se analiza el modelo de economía de bienes de prestigio. Se realiza una revisión de la literatura dedicada al problema del intercambio visto sobre todo como un problema antropológico, ofreciendo por un lado, una visión histórica de la evolución que ha sufrido la antropología económica y, por otro, una síntesis de las contribuciones académicas que desde distintos ámbitos se han ido produciendo hasta concluir en la formulación del modelo. Se pretende contrastar el modelo con las corrientes metodológicas existentes en la actualidad en la arqueología con el objetivo de detectar sus posibles ventajas e inconvenientes.

La néolithisation proche-orientale est une longue période qui s’amorce vers 12 000 cal. BC et s’achève vers 7 000 cal. BC. Caractérisée par de profondes mutations, elle marque une étape déterminante dans l’évolution du mode de vie des populations. L’apparition puis le développement des expériences agricoles et de la domestication ainsi que l’avènement des villages et de l’architecture pérenne en sont les principales manifestations. Les transformations du mode de vie ne vont pas sans une réorganisation et une redéfinition des liens sociaux à l’échelle des communautés et à l’échelle interrégionale. Le rapport de l’être humain à son environnement naturel et à son environnement construit se modifie durablement. Plus difficilement perceptible dans la culture matérielle, une mutation des mentalités accompagne la néolithisation. Les populations élaborent alors des systèmes de symboles qui manifestent ces nouvelles formes de spiritualité. Dans ce contexte de bouleversements matériels et immatériels, d’ordre à la fois socio-économique et spirituel, les bâtiments « exceptionnels » mis au jour sur plusieurs sites proche-orientaux du PPNA/PPNB posent de nombreuses questions relatives à leur interprétation. Leur rôle en matière de spiritualité et d’organisation sociale est déterminant dans la vie de ces communautés. La compréhension de ces édifices et des enjeux qu’ils représentent est abordée à travers un examen de la documentation archéologique disponible et de l’ensemble de la bibliographie sur le sujet. Cette étude amène à explorer plusieurs voies d’interprétation sur la base d’une approche transdisciplinaire dévoilant les différentes facettes des mutations en cours au PPNA/PPNB.

„Kulturelle Kohärenz“ und „Prestige“ – diese scheinbar gegensätzlichen Begriffe stehen in Wirklichkeit in enger Beziehung zueinander. Ohne gemeinsame gesellschaftliche Werte gäbe es keine Zuschreibung von Prestige, durch die sich Individuen von ihrer Mitwelt abheben könnten. Fundiert und anschaulich werfen die Beiträge dieses dritten Sammelbands des Münchner Graduiertenkollegs „Formen von Prestige in Kulturen des Altertums“ Schlaglichter auf die mannigfaltigen Aspekte des Begriffspaars. Neben den unterschiedliche Kulturen und Zeiträumen – von der europäischen Urgeschichte über den Alten Orient und die Klassische Antike bis ins Alte China – ist auch die Spannbreite der herangezogenen Quellen und Methoden beträchtlich. Im Fokus stehen so unterschiedliche Aspekte wie die Verwaltung von Kultangelegenheiten, Feste, Zeugnisse zur Königsnähe oder Prestigeobjekte. Auch linguistische Befunde, Werke der bildenden Kunst sowie literarische und funeräre Texte werden für die Thematik erschlossen.

Abstract
Architecture in the the Dacian Kingdom time is a subject that concerned the scientific community especially in the 1970s and 1980s of the last century. Two monographs (Glodariu 1983; Antonescu 1984) represent the expression of this interest.
Perhaps the most obvious picture of the contrast between the position of society members in pre-Roman Dacia, aristocrats and ordinary people is reflected through the characteristics of the dweelings (Glodariu 1983, 25). Because of these considerations, Ioan Glodariu argued that we can think that we are dealing with true “palaces” for those times (Glodariu 1983, 25). Also for such a term opt other researchers. And we believe that the term is appropriate to describe the monumentality of such buildings.
One of the types of palace specific to the Age of the Dacian Kingdom it was the one named by historians by the phrase “tower-dwelling”. The
buildings designated by this term are often associated with the fortresses (Glodariu 1983, 26; Antonescu 1984, 33). Between the characteristics of “tower-dwellings”, we will mention the rectangular plan of two levels: ground and floor and one room at each level. To these will be added the special construction materials mentioned above and the rich inventory (Glodariu 1983, 117; Antonescu 1984, 33) and last but not
least the dimensions. The construction system is unitary, as well as the location, expressing a well-defined conception and constructive system
(Antonescu 1984, 36).
Such a construction was identified at Ardeu. Analyzing the surface of a hammok located in the northern part of the upper plateau, the traces of some arrangements have been observed, which allowed us to issue the
hypothesis regarding the presence of a monumental building, interpreted as a tower-dwelling (Bodó, Ferencz 2004, 150).
Both the position and the manner of execution and the monumentality argue the idea that it is the most demanding construction inside the fortress. His presence communicated to the members of society a message of power and wealth.

This paper introduces some of the invaluable aspects of, and new perspectives arising in, the field of zooarchaeology. Studying archaeological animal remains provides clear evidence of past human diet, but the contributions zooarchaeology can make to archaeological research have a much broader scope. Zooarchaeological research provides an interesting insight into the study of past environments, animal domestication, biostratigraphy, the social side of food, animal remains as clothing or even as building materials and art manifestations, amongst others. Zooarchaeology is subdivided here into environmental or physical zooarchaeology, which mainly deals with climate, seasonality and dating of a site, and social zooarchaeology, which deals with hunting techniques, animal management, social hierarchy and symbolism. This array of possibilities is illustrated through examples drawn from diverse periods and places. Some of the issues concerning zooarchaeology are analysed in more depth through the site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain). This case study provides a practical application of zooarchaeological perspectives in the study of human evolution.

The field of zooarchaeology is therefore not limited to the study of past dietary habits. Rather the study of animal remains allows a deeper understanding of complex human-animal interactions and a greater comprehension of archaeological societies and cultures.

"This article presents the data obtained from the latest studies carried out in the territory consisting
of the counties of the lower reaches of the River Ebro, the lands of the River Sénia and the
regions of Terra Alta, Lower Aragon and Matarraña, with particular reference to the examples
of prestige architecture datable to between the Early Iron Age and the beginning of the Iberianisation
processes. It is hypothesised that these differentiated architectural structures may be
indications of an attempt to consolidate political models linked to the affirmation of elites. An
examination is made of the functional question of these architecturally differentiated buildings,
as well as the question of the chronologies, both relative and absolute, in which to place this
phenomenon. Based on the analysis of the prestige architecture, an attempt is made to present a
sequencing of the different formal types, as well as to determine possible phases in the social and
political process they were part of."

Whilst excavating Mycenae Grave Circle A, a unique gold cup was unearthed that Schliemann himself described as “vividly reminiscent” of the Iliad’ s famed Cup of Nestor. Since then, scholars have argued over the degree of resemblance between them, despite the impossibility of reconstructing the appearance of the Cup of Nestor from Homer’ s description. This disagreement has eclipsed the study of the cup from Mycenae in its own right. Its many idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies as well as the inspiration behind its creation have remained unexplored. One possibility, which would also account for the minor similarities between the Mycenae cup and the Cup of Nestor as well as the lack of archaeological parallels for the former, is that they were linked by a common ancestor from mythology. Materialising mythological motifs into a physical reality may have been intended to associate the owners and users of such objects with the social messages present within a shared mythical past.

Travaux du mémoire de DEA sous la direction conjointe du Prof. Xavier Barral i Altet, Université de Rennes 2 - Haute Bretagne et du Prof. Constantinos Charlambidis, Université Aristote de Thessalonique, avec une bourse d'échanges interculturels de l'Etat grec (1989-1991)

El llegat de Roma forma part del nostre paisatge habitual i més proper. Els monuments i les restes de la civilització romana són encara ara ben presents, no sols en l’antiga capital provincial, Tarraco, sino tambié en indrets com Vic, antiga Auso, amb el emblemàtic temple. Ja com aleshores, tots ells ens recorden la grandesa de Roma i l’impacte de la seva presència. Sovint, però, ens oblidem que tots ells foren elaborats amb un ventall de materials l’estudi detallat dels quals ens permet anar més enllá en la comprensió del per què, com i on foren elaborats o mitjançant quins processos foren construits.
En aquest sentit, l’aportació de l’arqueometria (aplicació de tècniques pròpies de les ciències pures) es essencial per identificar la procedència dels marbres i altres roques, establir xarxes comercials i entendre les implicacions simbòliques de la seva elecció.