Balancing the scales: archaeological approaches to social inequality

Beck, Jess; Quinn, Colin P.

doi:10.1080/00438243.2023.2169341

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Disparities in mortuary display reflect relational differences between the deceased. Once buried, differences in grave goods (if outside domestic spaces) are less enduring than material wealth such as houses, which can be inherited and persist across generations, even if modified and rebuilt (10,(17)(18)(19). If we were to expect incremental increases in inequality the longer agriculture has been established in the region, we would see it over this 5000-year span.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Five Thousand Years of Inequality in the Carpathian Basin

Duffy,

Wilkes,

Skorna

et al. 2024

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The emergence of sedentary farming economies, especially in contexts intensified by plow agriculture, has been argued to underpin marked increases in economic inequality and its intergenerational transmission across Eurasia. To assess this presumed causal relationship, we examine relational (burials) and material (house sizes) inequalities in the Carpathian Basin, a large region in central Europe, from the time the first farmers arrived in southeastern Europe through the next five millennia to the Bronze Age. We find that although farming did increase the potentials for both relational and material inequalities that potential was rarely reached, and then only for short durations. A series of leveling mechanisms, which shifted over time, are identified including the removal of material wealth from circulation, community fission, and investments of surplus labor in infrastructural investments. In the Carpathian Basin, only after at least five thousand years were the intergenerational potentials of material wealth transmissions more broadly realized.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Five Thousand Years of Inequality in the Carpathian Basin

Duffy,

Wilkes,

Skorna

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…With new forms of sedentism and aggregation came new institutions to foster interaction and decision-making (Holland-Lulewicz et al, 2020). These institutions often have consequences for the distribution of socioeconomic resources and political power within a society (Beck and Quinn, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Settlement ecology of Bronze Age Transylvania

Quinn

2024

Front. Hum. Dyn.

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The Bronze Age was a time of technological, socioeconomic, and political transformation in Europe. Since Bronze Age socioeconomic institutions were rooted in the landscape, they can be investigated using a settlement ecology approach to how people positioned themselves relative to the environment and each other. Transylvania is home to a rare combination of mineral resources, trade infrastructures, and productive agropastoral land, all of which were critical to Bronze Age societies. This study combines size-and rank-size analyses to suggest that there were several shifts in how people positioned themselves across settlements in Transylvania during the Bronze Age. This research contributes to a broader understanding of the factors that inform where people choose to settle down and the consequences those decisions have on the development of social, economic, and political institutions.

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“…Inequality is complex and multifaceted, relating to social, political, ideological, economic, ethnic, gender, age, spatial, and other factors (e.g., Feinman 2013; Hutson and Welch 2021). Teasing out this complexity is challenging, particularly in archaeological contexts; however, archaeological research in many areas of the world has provided insights into inequality based on various lines of contextualized evidence (e.g., Beck and Quinn 2022). The majority of research employs excavation, pedestrian survey, or a combination using various lines of evidence (e.g., osteological, artifact, architectural, fauna) as proxies of wealth or socioeconomic class for investigating inequality.…”

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confidence: 99%

Exploring inequality at Copan, Honduras: A 2D and 3D geospatial comparison of household wealth

Richards-Rissetto

2023

Ancient Mesoam

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The archaeological site of Copan was a cultural and commercial crossroads at the southeastern Maya frontier. Research indicates that the demographics and sociopolitical circumstances of the city of Copan and its location within a circumscribed pocket (24 km2) of the larger Copan Valley varied through time. These circumstances not only influenced its social, political, and economic interactions, but likely the size, construction, and organization of households, specifically plazuelas. Copan's plazuelas differ from those located in other Maya regions because they often have smaller house platforms, comprise more than a single patio, and exhibit a larger than normal proportion of informal groups. Gini coefficients, to investigate wealth inequality based on household size using area, volume, and a modified volume, were calculated for Late Classic Copan to allow for comparisons to Gini coefficients from other Maya regions. While the Gini coefficients suggest that wealth inequality at Copan is much higher than in other Maya regions, deeper interpretations of inequality based solely on the Gini coefficients are limited, requiring not only additional geospatial analysis employing a multi-proxy Gini coefficient, but, importantly, a comparison to and a deeper reflection on previous research at Copan.

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Balancing the scales: archaeological approaches to social inequality

Cited by 9 publications

References 40 publications

Five Thousand Years of Inequality in the Carpathian Basin

Five Thousand Years of Inequality in the Carpathian Basin

Settlement ecology of Bronze Age Transylvania

Exploring inequality at Copan, Honduras: A 2D and 3D geospatial comparison of household wealth

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