Table Of ContentGifts, Goods and Money
Gifts, Goods and Money: Comparing currency and circulation systems in past societies explores B
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the economic and social roles of exchange systems in past societies from a variety of different a
n Comparing currency and circulation systems
perspectives. Based on a broad range of individual case studies, the authors tackle problems d
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surrounding the identification of (premonetary) currencies in the archaeological record. e
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These concern the part played by weight measurement systems in their development, the m in past societies
changing role of objects as they shift between different spheres of exchange, e.g. from gifts , H
to commodities, as well as wider issues regarding the role of exchange networks as agents e
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of social and economic change. Among the specific questions the papers address is what m
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happens when new objects of value are introduced into a system, or when existing objects go n
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out of use, as well as how exchange systems react to events such as crises or the emergence a
of new polities and social constellations. One theme that unites most of the papers is the n
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tension between what is introduced from the outside and changes that are driven by social H
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transformations within a given group. f
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Dirk Brandherm studied Archaeology, Classics and Social Anthropology at the universities of d
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Münster, Edinburgh and Freiburg. Most of his work has been in European Bronze and Iron )
Age archaeology, with one focus on metalwork production and depositional practices. He
currently holds a position of Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Elon Heymans studied archaeology at the University of Amsterdam and at Tel Aviv University.
He completed his PhD in Tel Aviv on the early history of money in the eastern Mediterranean
Iron Age, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University. His focus lies on the
archaeology of Greece and the southern Levant, and he is particularly interested in the social,
political and historical context of early money use.
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Daniela Hofmann has obtained her PhD from Cardiff University and is currently Junior if
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Professor at Hamburg University. She has published extensively on funerary archaeology, as , G
well as the figurines and domestic architecture of the central European Neolithic, but she is o
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also interested in instances of structured deposition and in spheres of exchange. d
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edited by
Archaeopress Archaeology www.archaeopress.com Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann
Hofmann cover.indd 1 12/03/2018 09:49:00
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ISBN 978 1 78491 835 4
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Contents
List of contributors ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������iii
Introduction: comparing currency and circulation systems in past
societies �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1
Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann
Indeterminacy and approximation in Mediterranean weight systems in
the third and second millennia BC �������������������������������������������������������������9
Nicola Ialongo, Agnese Vacca and Alessandro Vanzetti
Fragmentation patterns revisited ritual and recycling in Bronze Age
depositional practice ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������45
Dirk Brandherm
Weight units and the transformation of value: approaching premonetary
currency systems in the Nordic Bronze Age ���������������������������������������������67
Lene Melheim
Heads or tails: metal hoards from the Iron Age southern Levant ������������85
Elon D. Heymans
Weighing premonetary currency in the Iberian Iron Age ����������������������105
Thibaud Poigt
Of warriors, chiefs and gold� Coinage and exchange in the late
pre-Roman Iron Age���������������������������������������������������������������������������������133
David Wigg-Wolf
New wealth from the Old World: glass, jet and mirrors in the late
fifteenth to early sixteenth century indigenous Caribbean �������������������153
Joanna Ostapkowicz
Gifts of the gods objects of foreign origin in traditional exchange systems
in Palau ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������195
Constanze Dupont
i
ii
List of contributors
Dirk Brandherm
Queen’s University Belfast
School of Natural and Built Environment
Archaeology & Palaeoecology Centre
Belfast BT7 1NN
UK
[email protected]
Constanze Dupont
Graduiertenkolleg “Wert und Äquivalent”
Goethe-Universität - Campus Westend
Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, Fach 50
60629 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
[email protected]
Elon D� Heymans
Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures
Tel Aviv University
Israel
[email protected]
Daniela Hofmann
Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie
Universität Hamburg
Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 (West)
20146 Hamburg
Germany
[email protected]
iii
Nicola Ialongo
Georg August Universität Göttingen
Seminar für Ur- und Frühgeschichte
Nikolausberger Weg 15
37073 Göttingen
Germany
[email protected]
Lene Melheim
Universitetet i Oslo
Kulturhistorisk museum
Frederiks gate 2
0164 Oslo
Norway
[email protected]
Joanna Ostapkowicz
Research Associate in Caribbean Archaeology
School of Archaeology
University of Oxford
OX1 2PG
UK
[email protected]
Thibaud Poigt
TRACES, Université Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès
Ausonius, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne
Maison de l’Archéologie
Domaine universitaire
8, esplanade des Antilles
33607 Pessac CEDEX
France
[email protected]
iv
Agnese Vacca
Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità
Piazzale Aldo Moro 5
00185 Rome
Italy
[email protected]
Alessandro Vanzetti
Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità
Piazzale Aldo Moro 5
00185 Rome
Italy
[email protected]
David Wigg-Wolf
Römisch-Germanische Kommission des
Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts
Palmengartenstraße 10–12
60325 Frankfurt a. Main
Germany
[email protected]
v
vi
Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann
Introduction:
comparing currency and circulation systems in
past societies
Dirk Brandherm
Elon Heymans
Daniela Hofmann
Abstract
In this brief introduction, the editors summarise the main themes of the volume and place them
in relation to the wider framework of exchange studies. While the volume makes important
points regarding the introduction of new prestige items, the process of monetisation and the way
societies reacted to periods of rapid and fundamental change in the availability of certain goods,
the next step is to work towards an integrated approach combining both prestige items and bulk
commodities.
Zusammenfassung
In dieser kurzen Einleitung erläutern die Herausgeber die Schwerpunkte der verschiedenen
Beiträge und ordnen diese in den weiteren Rahmen der Diskussion um Austauschnetzwerke ein.
Dieser Band bietet vor allem Ansätze zu Themen wie der Einführung neuartiger Prestigegüter,
dem Prozess der Monetisierung und der Art und Weise, wie Gesellschaften auf schnelle und
tiefgreifende Veränderungen in der Verfügbarkeit bestimmter Güter reagierten. Der nächste
Schritt ist eine Integration dieser Überlegungen in weitreichendere Modelle, die sowohl Prestige-
als auch Gebrauchsgüter gemeinsam berücksichtigen.
Résumé
Dans cette brève introduction, les éditeurs résument les principaux thèmes du volume et les
replacent au sein d’un cadre plus large d’études sur les réseaux d’échanges. Alors que le volume
aborde de nombreux aspects concernant l’introduction de nouveaux biens de prestige, le processus
de monétisation et la manière dont les sociétés ont réagi aux périodes de changement rapide et
fondamental dans la disponibilité de certaines marchandises, la prochaine étape est de travailler
vers une approche intégrée considérant à la fois les biens de prestige et les marchandises en vrac.
The present volume brings together the proceedings from two separately
held conference sessions: ‘Premonetary currency systems in past societies’,
organised by Dirk Brandherm and Stefan Wirth as session B22 on the occasion of
the XVII World Congress of the Union Internationale de Sciences Préhistoriques
et Protohistoriques (Burgos, Spain, 1–7 September 2014), and ‘A crystal formed
of necessity — Gifts, goods and money: the role of exchange in processes of
social transformation’, organised by Daniela Hofmann and Nicholas Wells as
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session T05S011 at the 20th Annual Meeting of the European Association of
Archaeologists (Istanbul, Turkey, 10–14 September 2014).
Both sessions fundamentally aimed at exploring the economic and social
roles of exchange systems in past societies, but approached these issues from
slightly different perspectives. The Burgos UISPP session, from which the
first four papers are drawn, focused specifically on questions surrounding
the identification of premonetary currencies in the archaeological record, the
part played by weight measurement systems in their development, the role of
premonetary currencies in the transition from staple to wealth finance systems
(and vice versa), the ideological underpinnings of premonetary currencies and
prestige economies and the interrelationship between socioeconomic change
and premonetary currency systems. The Istanbul EAA session examined the
role of exchange networks as agents of social change in a wider setting, trying to
answer what happens when new objects of value are introduced into a system,
or when existing objects go out of use. This resulted in a focus on the potentially
changing role of objects as they shift between different spheres of exchange, for
instance from commodity to prestige item. In particular, situations of change
and upheaval in general, such as collapses, crises or the emergence of new
polities and social constellations formed a main theme.
As a consequence, the different approaches taken by the two sessions in their
attempt to attain a better understanding of the economic and social roles
played by exchange systems in past societies complement each other rather
well. Not all papers presented at Burgos and Istanbul found their way into the
present volume, and others were added later, but the contributions assembled
here nevertheless offer a broad range of perspectives. Indeed, there are also
productive linkages cross-cutting the contributions that emerged from the two
sessions.
One theme that unites both sets of papers is the tension between what is
introduced from the outside and changes that are driven by social transformations
within a given group. As an absolute contrast, this is likely overdrawn, but it
remains a main focus of research for instance in the Mediterranean, where
various weight systems are used concurrently. Scholars have long worked on
the basis of an attenuated kind of core-periphery model, whereby the ultimate
inspiration for such metrological systems is thought to lie in the proto-urban
societies in the eastern part of the region. In how far the weights attested in
other areas correspond to such standards is thus generally one of the first
questions addressed, thereby perpetuating an inherent normative assumption.
Ialongo and colleagues go furthest in critiquing this basic tenet. They show that
a given weight can quite easily match units within several different systems, so
