Archaeology of prestige

The authors present a remarkable site with a remarkable interpretation: a structured platform of dugong bones, containing skulls laid in parallel and ribs in sets, together with artefacts of the Neolithic period. They propose that the bones have been symbolically arranged and the mound as a whole had a ritual purpose -an interpretation endorsed by analogy with dugong platforms noted in the Torres Strait in recent times.

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.

We present in this work the fortified gate from the settlement of Sant Jaume-Mas d'en Serrà (Alcanar, Montsià, Catalonia). The interpretation of the stratigraphical sequence indicates the existence of two phases, both developed during the first iron age. During both moments that gate has systems of protection of a certain complexity, which could be the result of the contact with the Phoenician world.

"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."

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.

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.

RESUMEN En la bibliografía arqueológica resulta frecuente leer el término prestigio, o expresiones asociadas al mismo tales como objetos de prestigio o personas de prestigio. A su vez observamos que dichas nociones raramente se definen, empleándose de forma acrítica. Sostenemos que conviene analizar las implicaciones epistemológicas e ideológicas de estas categorías en el proceso científico de creación del conocimiento, desde la arqueología prehistórica. Asimismo, trataremos de aportar nuevas perspectivas de análisis desde el materialismo histórico y los estudios feministas, ofreciendo una definición de la categoría prestigio, entendido como una producción social. ABSTRACT In the archaeology bibliography it is common to read the term 'prestige', or related expressions such as 'prestige objects' or 'persons of prestige'. At the same time we observe that these expressions are rarely defined and are employed in a non-critical way. We argue that it is necessary to analyze the epistemological and ideological implications of these categories in the scientific process of knowledge creation from prehistoric archaeology. We will also try to provide new perspectives of analysis from historical materialism and feminist studies, offering a definition for the category 'prestige', understood as being socially produced.

A global view of Campu Stefanu settlement : the shelter 1 and the dwelling 2 Blue glass beads Macro and microscopic view of the beads 26 (up) and 13 (down) underlining their resinous aspects despite their poor conservation state Amber's fragments in contact with the Attenuated Total Re ectance objective for InfraRed analysis: ATR-IR (Bruker Equinox 55) Amber sample during analysis by FT-Raman spectrometry (Bruker RFS/100) with a near infrared Laser at 1064 nm

Ausgehend vom Bild des durch das ihm ins Grab mitgegebene Schwert charakterisierten kämpfenden Mannes (‚Kriegers‘) und Kristiansens Studien zu Abnutzungs- und Nachschärfungsspuren an Schwertklingen der Nordischen Bronzezeit sind im Rahmen dieses Aufsatzes Indizien und Gedanken gesammelt worden, die nach einer Kontinuität sozialer Strukturen und dem Repräsentationsverhalten von Eliten bis in die Jüngere Bronzezeit des nördlichen Mitteleuropa fragen lassen. Veränderung in Grabbrauch und Beigabenregel können mit Durchsetzung der neuen Brandbestattungssitte in Periode III erkannt werden; das Auftreten detaillierter, miniaturisierter Schwerter in Südskandinavien (und auch Norddeutschland) muss im Rahmen dieser Umwälzungen bewertet werden.

"The study is presenting two stone objects belonging to the archaeological collection  of Muzeul Naţional al Unirii in Alba Iulia. The first object is a zoomorphic sceptre discovered in a sand quarry, near the railway station of Vinţu de Jos (fig.I). It has good parallels in the North-Pontic region (Suvorovo), as well as
in Moldavia (Fedeleseni. Fitioneşti). Dobrudja (Casimcea) or Macedonia (Suvodol). The sceptre from Vinţu de Jos is the first of this type in the Transylvanian region and could be dated in the Eneolithic period.
Thesecond find is a stone macehead with four knobs (fig.2), discovered by chance in the village of Şard (com Ighiu. jud. Alba), during the excavation of a fountain. It could belong to a grave of Decea Mureşului type.
Both objects represent  Eastern elements from  the North-Pontic steppic area,  which penetrated inside the Carpathian Basin during the Eneolithic period."