Westermann Male Identity in Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Europe

I. STEPPING FROM THE MALE TO THE WARRIOR IDENTITY MALE IDENTITY IN LATE NEOLITHIC/EARLY Male IdentityNeolithic/Early in Late Europe, Bronze 2800–2300 Age BC BRONZE AGE EUROPE, 2800–2300 BC JAKOB WESTERMANN JAKOB WESTERMANN Abstract A spatial and comparative analysis ��is made of three�� male weapon graves from Bohemia, ��northern Italy and southern England. Consideration is given to the grave goods, their function and symbolic significance, commencing with a discussion of male and warrior identity from 2800 to 2300 BC. Key words: male identity, warriorhood, function, weapon, human body, Corded Ware Culture, Bell Beaker Culture. Introduction variations, but the above-mentioned characteristics are overall and widespread (Vandkilde 2006, p.415). During The third millennium BC, substantial changes In this paper, male identity around 2800 to 2300 BC is in society occurred in several parts of Europe. The discussed. As a case study,�� I have selected three male changes move from egalitarian and group-oriented graves from different parts of Europe. In my analysis, societies with causewayed enclosures and communal the focus will be on the space, especially the relation graves as megaliths, to societies with individual graves between the human body and the grave goods. I will and eventually to elitarian societies (2800–1800 BC) discuss the artefacts, their function, symbolic meaning (Vandkilde 2004, p.75). These processes apparently and placement, and compare the three graves, com- occurred in various areas of time and space, and at dif- mencing with a discussion of male and warrior identity ferent rates. Traditionally, these social developments 2800–2300 BC. are interpreted on the basis of graves, and also, partly, on deposits. During recent years, excavations and stud- ies of settlements have been included. The discussions Theorising include religious, ritual, and more everyday aspects. Here, artefacts and contexts play the central role. Theorising is of course important when you want to discuss graves and male identities. In my discussion of The most visible changes occurred in funerary practice. material culture, I have used primarily Helle Vandkil- With Corded Ware Culture (CWC), the single grave de’s three divisions in analysing function (2000, p.22). is introduced around 2800 BC as the most common She speaks of practical function, social function and grave form in Central and Eastern Europe. The male symbolic meaning. The practical function deals with graves are characterized by a slender corded beaker the utilitarian purposes and potentials of objects. The and a shafthole axe or mace, while the female graves social function is more complex. It deals with the so- are characterized by adornments (eg tooth beads) and cial relations applying to objects: ethnicity, cultural pottery (Vandkilde 2004). identity, status, age, gender, rank, profession, etc. By Around 200 to 300 years later, approximately 2500 BC, virtue of its visual expression, being implemented, ma- Bell Beaker Culture (BBC) arose in Western Europe, terial culture may be used as a manipulating factor. The which is primarily characterized by a bell-shaped bea- symbolic meaning refers to the qualities and properties ker with zone ornamentation. Due to the presence of connected to the objects, which could be a combination beakers and weapons placed around the deceased in the of practical and social function. grave, the BBC graves are apparently associated with Marie Louise Stig Sørensen has analysed and dis- CWC graves. These two dominating culture groups or cussed the rich Early Bronze Age grave from Leubin- macro-regional cultures in Europe have different local 22 gen by dividing the grave and discussing its elements. my choice of graves. In the analysis of the graves, one Julian Thomas has analysed British Bell Beaker graves should involve a whole row of factors in relation to and the placement of the beakers. I will try to use both each grave, eg terrain, topography, surrounding natural of their phenomenological and spatial approaches in a and cultural landscape, a cemetery context, if any, and discussion of social identity, body culture, and gender. a larger comparison of its graves. By choosing to focus only on the grave room as a context, I exclude the When a member of society dies, a social drama takes above-mentioned factors, but including them would go place; there is a rupturing of existing relations (Sø- 8 BALTICA beyond the physical limits of this paper. It might seem rensen 2004, p.168). These relations are renegotiated problematic that the male graves chosen in this study in the burial, so the placement of the grave goods and are very different in their expression. There is a large the body creates an image of the deceased; an image of difference in the degrees of material richness com- the values and ideals of the society (2004, p.168). Ju- pared to their surrounding contemporary graves and lian Thomas sees the grave as a text, where the objects cemeteries. Their similarities are the fact that they are are signifiers (1991, p.38). The grave must eventually ARCHAEOLOGIA male graves with weapons and pottery, they are with be seen as a potential semiotic room and the objects preserved skeletons, and they are clearly positioned in must be seen as an extension of the body and body- the graves. related actions, for example, cooking, eating, drinking, dressing, hunting and fighting (Thomas 1991, p.38; Sørensen 2004, p.173; Vandkilde 2006, p.394). Spatial analysis of grave rooms The main pillar for theorising identity and gender is I The spatial analysis is simply made by dividing the social anthropology. It is used within archaeology to grave room to see if there are any clusterings or regular- STEPPING add an extra dimension to the archaeological mate- FROM ities in the position of the different artefacts in connec- rial proposing a “more balanced view” of a possible THE MALE tion with the body and the grave room. I have chosen to TO THE structure of prehistoric society (eg Apel 2001; or Wier- WARRIOR divide the grave into squares using the body as a start- IDENTITY mann 1998, p.131). Social identity and gender denote ing point. The mid-axis goes along the spine, cross- the individual’s perception of the self and the affilia- ing the skull, pelvis and feet, while the cross-axis goes tion in society, and are also a way societies categorise across the mid-axis across the pelvis (Fig. 1). Starting individuals using sex, age, profession, rank and status from the objects in these four squares, I will describe, (Eriksen 1998; Vandkilde 2006). Status may be added and to some extent compare, the three graves. I have or achieved and different kinds of status may vary in chosen to divide the grave goods into four groupings: meaning in different contexts. pottery, dress equipment (eg bone pins) and adornment In her work “Warriors and Warrior Institutions in (eg tooth beads or gold jewellery), weapon-related Copper Age Europe”, H. Vandkilde (2006) theorises objects, and craft-related objects. It may very well be on warriors and warriorhood using ethno-historical debatable whether such a division in weapon and craft- perspectives. Warriorhood must be seen as a second- related objects can be legitimized. It is a discussion of ary status; a group identity added to the male gender. weapon-tools and tool-weapons (cf Vandkilde 2006, It may work ad hoc or be institutionalised in soci- p.404). In my opinion, the division is made from their ety (Vandkilde 2006, p.397). She puts up three eth- everyday context. For example, the working axe from nographic models for institutionalised warriorhood, the Vikletice grave is determined to be a craft-related where access is regulated through: 1) age, possibly by object. Vikletice is a CWC cemetery in the northwest of initiation rites; 2) personal qualities, where the warrior the Czech Republic. Due to the chalky subsoil, bones is more independent; and 3) distinctions of rank, where are well preserved. The cemetery is made up of a total the warriors form a kind of warrior elite (Vandkilde of 179 graves, of which the majority date from CWC 2006, pp.399-403). (Buchvaldek, Koutecký et al. 1970). Grave 58, which was excavated in 1964 (Fig. 1a), is Source criticism determined to be a male grave according to the grave goods and the position of the body. The skeleton is de- Within source criticism, there are several factors to termined to be of a juvenile. The grave is orientated mention. The more elementary ones are the states of approximately east-west, measures 156 by 120 centi- preservation. One has to bear in mind that artefacts metres, and has a rectangular shape with rounded cor- of organic material, such as leather, wood or textiles, ners. The body is centrally placed in the grave with may have played a role in the material expression of the left arm resting across the stomach region and the the grave, but are most often not preserved. However, right arm resting along the side of the body. The body the greatest source criticism should be pointed toward is surrounded by objects on all four sides, and several 23 Male IdentityNeolithic/Early in Late Europe, Bronze 2800–2300 Age BC JAKOB WESTERMANN Fig. 1. ��Model for spatial analysis of grave goods: a Vikletice grave 58 (Bohemia, Czech Republic) (no scale); b the Spil- amberto grave (northern Italy) (no scale); c the Amesbury grave (southern England) (no scale). The objects are numbered according to their metonymical aspect: 1 weapon-related objects; 2 craft-related objects; 3 pottery; 4 dress equipment/ adornments (rearranged after Buchvaldek, Koutecký 1970, p.169, Abb. 107; Barfield 1997, p.117, Fig. 9; Wessex Archaeol- ogy 2002). of them seem to have had a direct connection to the ing beaker is placed on the side.

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