The Bornhöck Burial Mound and the Political Economy of an Únětice Ruler

Risch, Roberto; Meller, Harald; Delgado-Raack, Selina; Schunke, Torsten

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-72539-6_6

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…During the Early Bronze Age, identified with the circum-Harz U ´ne ˇtice group (UC), a much more complex form of social organisation emerged. Evidence of marked social differences, probably hereditary, labour specialisation, mainly in the realm of metallurgy and gold working, settlement aggregation and surplus production through a dependant work force are recognised as traits of early state formation [44][45][46]. These political and economic changes could have influenced diets and pottery-based foodways, as suggested by the appearance of a new, rather standardised and undecorated set of vessel types.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pottery spilled the beans: Patterns in the processing and consumption of dietary lipids in Central Germany from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age

Breu,

Risch,

Molina

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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The need to better understand economic change and the social uses of long-ago established pottery types to prepare and consume food has led to the study of 124 distinct ceramic vessels from 17 settlement and funerary sites in Central Germany (present day Saxony-Anhalt). These, dated from the Early Neolithic (from 5450 cal. BCE onwards) to the Late Bronze Age (1300–750 cal. BCE; youngest sample ca. 1000 BCE), include vessels from the Linear Pottery (LBK), Schiepzig/Schöningen groups (SCHIP), Baalberge (BAC), Corded Ware (CWC), Bell Beaker (BBC), and Únětice (UC) archaeological cultures. Organic residue analyses performed on this assemblage determined the presence of vessel contents surviving as lipid residues in 109 cases. These were studied in relation to the changing use of settlement and funerary pottery types and, in the case of burials, to the funerary contexts in which the vessels had been placed. The obtained results confirmed a marked increase in the consumption of dairy products linked to innovations in pottery types (e.g., small cups) during the Funnel Beaker related Baalberge Culture of the 4th millennium BCE. Although the intensive use of dairy products may have continued into the 3rd millennium BCE, especially amongst Bell Beaker populations, Corded Ware vessels found in funerary contexts suggest an increase in the importance of non-ruminant products, which may be linked to the production of specific vessel shapes and decoration. In the Early Bronze Age circum-Harz Únětice group (ca. 2200–1550 BCE), which saw the emergence of a highly hierarchical society, a greater variety of animal and plant derived products was detected in a much more standardised but, surprisingly, more multifunctional pottery assemblage. This long-term study of lipid residues from a concise region in Central Europe thus reveals the complex relationships that prehistoric populations established between food resources and the main means to prepare, store, and consume them.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pottery spilled the beans: Patterns in the processing and consumption of dietary lipids in Central Germany from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age

Breu,

Risch,

Molina

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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The Strength of Diversity: Macrolithic Artefacts and Productive Forces During the Chalcolithic of Southern Iberia

Eguíluz,

Delgado-Raack,

Risch

2023

J World Prehist

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Any approach to the economic organization of a society depends on our knowledge of the productive forces and relations of production involved. In archaeology, this line of research requires an analysis of the technical quality and quantity of the means of production, as well as their spatial distribution and contextualisation. Macrolithic artefacts constituted the means of production in many of the productive processes of past communities, from the Neolithic period to the end of prehistory. This article seeks to utilize macrolithic data to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the economic organisation of the Chalcolithic communities in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula between c. 3100 and 2200 cal BC. These communities produced one of the most outstanding, but at the same time puzzling archaeological records known in later prehistory. The main aim of this exploratory approach, the first of its kind, is to determine if the different forms of occupation of the Chalcolithic, namely monumental, ditched enclosures, fortified and unfortified hill-top settlements, and simple, open settlements were distinguished by specific modes of production. This issue is crucial to the on-going debate about the meaning and relevance of the notion of social complexity in the context of Chalcolithic societies and their political organisation. Our study describes the productive forces of the Chalcolithic settlements as highly variable, both in the type of productive tasks performed and in their intensity, and such variability is not explained by aspects like geographic location, form of occupation, or monumentality. The observed wealth and productive diversity, without signs of marked social hierarchies, emerge as a characteristic feature of what can be defined as cooperative affluent societies.

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