Event

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12/12/2023 - 12/12/2023 | Kiel

Social Inequality Forum: Sven Brummack (Freie Universität Berlin)

Sven Brummack (Freie Universität Berlin) : “Principles of Inequality in 5th millennium calBC burial sites of the south-eastern European Copper Age”

Keywords: Burials, Copper Age, Inequality, Late Neolithic, Social Archaeology

How funerary assemblages inform our understanding of Inequality depends - among other things - on the presumptions we attribute to Inequality in the mortuary domain. If we assume that funerary assemblages are proxies for the Inequality within this specific social subfield, then they may provide insights into communally shared conceptions expressed through this domain and ultimately, help to constrain our social interpretations. It is no surprise then, that a majority of studies employed discrete methods utilizing the archaeological record´s ability to provide evidence for patterns of differentiation, such as variances in burial practices or architectural forms. In this context, south-eastern European Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic burial sites are of considerable interest for the discussion. In particular, a small fraction of metal rich and elaborate chalcolithic burials from the mid-5th mill. calBC Varna-I site have been drawn upon to form thought-provoking social interpretations regarding the state of Inequality in the Copper Age (RENFREW 1986, LICHARDUS 1988, DEMOULE 2007, BARTELHEIM/ KRAUß 2012, CHAPMAN 2013) and their respective anti-positions (WHITTLE 1996, BAILEY 2000, KIENLIN 2008). More recently, quantitative methods derived from Economic Sciences, such as Lorenz-curves and Gini-indices have been included to expose finely graduated differences in relative concentration of funerary assemblages (SCHULTING 1995, PORČIĆ 2012, WINDLER et al. 2012, JANßEN 2015, GROSSMAN 2021). Because the Lorenz-curve in its essence is a cumulative graph (the Gini-coefficient is a function derived from it), it naturally relates to the cumulative character of burial sites. These, too, cannot be considered as mere cross-sections of prehistoric communities at one specific point in time, but rather, are the often imperfect and taphonomically transformed outcomes of essentially cumulative practices, which performed inhumations and symbolic depositions over a protracted time period framed by a specific social context.

Inequality axioms are deeply rooted in frameworks developed by Economic Sciences. While relative concentration measures do not depend upon complete samples, it is understood that the information improves with enhanced data resolution as well as deeper understanding of the data structure. Differences in source quality compound to the complexity of the problem at hand. Yet, up until recently, information from relative Inequality of South-Eastern European burial sites within the period ca. 4800‒3800 calBC was limited to case studies (i.e. Gomolava: PORČIĆ 2012, 2019 and Durankulak: WINDLER et al. 2012). Considering their limited scope, Inequality could not be characterized in general and had to be discussed case by case, permitting only cautionary observations directed to the general. On the other hand, Inequality studies from the North-American school approached the topic from a diametrically opposite end of the source spectrum by applying a decidedly macro-level, global perspective with the intent to identify continental differences and temporal trends in longue-durée without taking into account regional variances (KOHLER et al. 2017; FOCCHESATO et al. 2019; BOGAARD et al. 2019). Therefrom, the concept of increasing Inequality has been cast and eventually, became somewhat of a generalized paradigm in the social discussion since (SCHEIDEL 2018). While these macro-level studies provide valuable insights into global trends, they also obscure important nuances and differences present within each region. Problems arise from the proxies employed and the collapse of data from different social fields (i.e. mortuary domain and house size) into one value. Finally, the macro-level orientation fails to account for communities or even smaller social subgroups, which may have their own different priorities and value systems, driving their perception of Inequality in the mortuary domain. Thus, requiring importance directed to the specificity, constraints, and the social context of the sites.

This field of research is still new and to assess the limits and prospects of relative Inequality research within Archaeology would require to explore the variances encountered. Standardization, trend and regional scope represent complex relations that correlate with different outcomes. Therefore, the missing level between case study and macro-level research has been utilized for this research. Funerary assemblages from 60 south-eastern European burial site-units conforming to five time-domains, ca. 5000‒3800 calBC have been studied and demonstrate convincingly that Inequality in the mortuary domain is not a universal phenomenon but possesses different degrees of conformity and autonomy. Particularly strict expressions with markedly low variances of Inequality have been recorded for KGK-VI cemeteries of north-eastern Bulgaria and the Lower Danube. Low to moderate Inequality from Kodžadermen sites contrast sharply with very high Inequalities recorded for contemporary Gumelniţa sites located only a short distance further to the north. These also correspond to different choices in selection and location of objects within the burial pit. The high degree of conformity is an indication of the existence of effective social institutions governing their reproduction in these two regions. In the eastern Carpathian Basin, on the other hand, a noticeably larger heterogeneity between individual sites was recognized. Furthermore, Inequality in the mortuary domain appears to show a tendency of reduction in grand scale across south-eastern Europe during the transition from the Late Neolithic to the Copper Age, which bears a counter notion to the paradigm that Inequality is a phenomenon that generally increases. More precisely, the regions studied here exhibit vastly different characteristics in terms of trend direction and rate of change with only one region exhibiting a dynamically increasing Inequality while other regions show either a static or, more frequently, a decrease in mortuary Inequality. Understanding of the dynamics of Inequality through the identification of several trend reversal points helps expanding the concept to also acknowledge the existence of breaks, and fluctuations. Pronounced regional variance in the outcomes of mortuary Inequality underlines how necessary it is to go into the regions and to fundamentally align research across multiple fields to account for Inequality in the socially constructed mortuary domain. Last but not least, an outlook is provided how to develop methods to understand and include Inequality in the social space within the frame of social practice.

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