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"Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying a range of inter-disciplinary and cuttingedge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution"--
List of contents
1. New perspectives on long-distance trade and social complexity Johan Ling, Richard J. Chacon, and Kristian Kristiansen; Part I. Exchange and Social Evolution: Forms of Trade in Egalitarian, Transegalitarian, and Chiefdom Societies: 2. Funnel beaker societies and long-distance trade Johannes Müller; 3. Stonehenge: Long-distance exchange in Late Neolithic Britain c.3000-2450 BC Michael Parker Pearson; 4. Secret societies, rock art, and long-distance exchange in the Nordic Bronze Age: The supra-regional interaction hypothesis Johan Ling, Richard J. Chacon, and Yamilette Chacon; 5. Trade, exchange, and the workings of a "prestige" economy in contact-era New Guinea Paul Roscoe; Part II. The Role That Specific Institutions and Agents Played in Long-Distance Exchange: 6. Middle Bronze Age long-distance exchange: amber, early glass, and guest friendship, xenia Flemming Kaul; 7. Culture heroes, inalienable goods, and religious sodalities: long distance exchange in eastern North America at European contact David Dye; 8. Trade and Calusa complexity: achieving resilience in a changing environment William Marquardt; Part III. The Role of Political Economy and Elite Control in Long-Distance Exchange: 9. Lapita long-distance interactions in the Western Pacific: from prestige goods to prestige practices Matthew Spriggs; 10. Trade and the Hillfort chiefdoms of Bronze Age Ireland William O'Brien; 11. Long-distance exchange between the Eastern Mediterranean and Central and Northern Europe in the Bronze Age: social, political and religious background Rudiger Krause; 12. The Turquoise Corridor: Mesoamerican prestige technologies and social complexity in the Greater Southwest Rubén Mendoza; Part IV. Marxian and Postcolonial Approaches as Well as World System Theory in Relation to Gift Exchange, and Macro-Regional Exchange: 13. Accumulation and the articulation of modes of re-production Michael Rowlands; 14. Scandinavia and Europe in the Earliest Bronze Age: metals, trade, and change Helle Vandkilde; 15. Long-distance interaction in fourth-millennium BCE Eurasia Svend Hansen; 16. Following the breadcrumbs: epistemological and methodological issues in the interpretations of long-distance trade in the Caribbean Antonio Curet and Jose R. Oliver; Part V. Commentary on Contributions to This Volume: 17. Political economy perspectives in trade before and beyond civilizations Brian Hayden and Timothy Earle.
About the author
Johan Ling is a Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg. He is also Director of the Rock Art Research Archives (SHFA). His research interests include Bronze Age rock art, warfare, long distance exchange, secret societies, and the rise of social complexity. He has conducted archaeological excavations throughout Scandinavia.Richard J. Chacon is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Winthrop University. His research interests include indigenous peoples, warfare, long distance exchange, secret societies, and the rise of social complexity. He has conducted ethnographic fieldwork among the following indigenous groups: Yora, Yanomamö, Achuar, Cotacachi, Otavalo, and Haida.Kristian Kristiansen is a Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg. His research interests include the Bronze Age, archaeological theory and archaeological heritage. He has also explored the movement of people, things, animals, and ideas in antiquity. He has conducted archaeological excavations in Sicily, Hungary, Denmark, and Sweden.
Summary
This volume explores how the transformation from an egalitarian setting to a non-egalitarian setting took place. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between long distance exchange and the rise of inequality and social complexity. This publication will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, historians, and economists.
