Gifts, Goods and Money Gifts, Goods and Money: Comparing currency and circulation systems in past societies explores and Hofmann (eds) Brandherm, Heymans the economic and social roles of exchange systems in past societies from a variety of different perspectives. Based on a broad range of individual case studies, the authors tackle problems Comparing currency and circulation systems surrounding the identification of (premonetary) currencies in the archaeological record. These concern the part played by weight measurement systems in their development, the changing role of objects as they shift between different spheres of exchange, e.g. from gifts in past societies to commodities, as well as wider issues regarding the role of exchange networks as agents of social and economic change. Among the specific questions the papers address is what happens when new objects of value are introduced into a system, or when existing objects go out of use, as well as how exchange systems react to events such as crises or the emergence of new polities and social constellations. One theme that unites most of the papers is the tension between what is introduced from the outside and changes that are driven by social transformations within a given group. Dirk Brandherm studied Archaeology, Classics and Social Anthropology at the universities of Münster, Edinburgh and Freiburg. Most of his work has been in European Bronze and Iron Age archaeology, with one focus on metalwork production and depositional practices. He currently holds a position of Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Elon Heymans studied archaeology at the University of Amsterdam and at Tel Aviv University. He completed his PhD in Tel Aviv on the early history of money in the eastern Mediterranean Iron Age, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University. His focus lies on the archaeology of Greece and the southern Levant, and he is particularly interested in the social, political and historical context of early money use. Gifts, Goods and Money Gifts, Daniela Hofmann has obtained her PhD from Cardiff University and is currently Junior Professor at Hamburg University. She has published extensively on funerary archaeology, as well as the figurines and domestic architecture of the central European Neolithic, but she is also interested in instances of structured deposition and in spheres of exchange. edited by Archaeopress Archaeology www.archaeopress.com Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann Hofmann cover.indd 1 12/03/2018 09:49:00 Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978 1 78491 835 4 ISBN 978 1 78491 836 1 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the authors 2018 Cover image courtesy of the Megiddo Expedition, Tel Aviv University All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. Printed in England by Oxuniprint, Oxford This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Contents List of contributors ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������iii Introduction: comparing currency and circulation systems in past societies ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1 Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann Indeterminacy and approximation in Mediterranean weight systems in the third and second millennia BC ������������������������������������������������������������� 9 Nicola Ialongo, Agnese Vacca and Alessandro Vanzetti Fragmentation patterns revisited ritual and recycling in Bronze Age depositional practice ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������45 Dirk Brandherm Weight units and the transformation of value: approaching premonetary currency systems in the Nordic Bronze Age ���������������������������������������������67 Lene Melheim Heads or tails: metal hoards from the Iron Age southern Levant ������������85 Elon D. Heymans Weighing premonetary currency in the Iberian Iron Age ����������������������105 Thibaud Poigt Of warriors, chiefs and gold� Coinage and exchange in the late pre-Roman Iron Age���������������������������������������������������������������������������������133 David Wigg-Wolf New wealth from the Old World: glass, jet and mirrors in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth century indigenous Caribbean �������������������153 Joanna Ostapkowicz Gifts of the gods objects of foreign origin in traditional exchange systems in Palau ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������195 Constanze Dupont i ii List of contributors Dirk Brandherm Queen’s University Belfast School of Natural and Built Environment Archaeology & Palaeoecology Centre Belfast BT7 1NN UK [email protected] Constanze Dupont Graduiertenkolleg “Wert und Äquivalent” Goethe-Universität - Campus Westend Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, Fach 50 60629 Frankfurt am Main Germany [email protected] Elon D� Heymans Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures Tel Aviv University Israel [email protected] Daniela Hofmann Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie Universität Hamburg Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 (West) 20146 Hamburg Germany [email protected] iii Nicola Ialongo Georg August Universität Göttingen Seminar für Ur- und Frühgeschichte Nikolausberger Weg 15 37073 Göttingen Germany [email protected] Lene Melheim Universitetet i Oslo Kulturhistorisk museum Frederiks gate 2 0164 Oslo Norway [email protected] Joanna Ostapkowicz Research Associate in Caribbean Archaeology School of Archaeology University of Oxford OX1 2PG UK [email protected] Thibaud Poigt TRACES, Université Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès Ausonius, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne Maison de l’Archéologie Domaine universitaire 8, esplanade des Antilles 33607 Pessac CEDEX France [email protected] iv Agnese Vacca Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità Piazzale Aldo Moro 5 00185 Rome Italy [email protected] Alessandro Vanzetti Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità Piazzale Aldo Moro 5 00185 Rome Italy [email protected] David Wigg-Wolf Römisch-Germanische Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Palmengartenstraße 10–12 60325 Frankfurt a. Main Germany [email protected] v vi Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann Introduction: comparing currency and circulation systems in past societies Dirk Brandherm Elon Heymans Daniela Hofmann Abstract In this brief introduction, the editors summarise the main themes of the volume and place them in relation to the wider framework of exchange studies. While the volume makes important points regarding the introduction of new prestige items, the process of monetisation and the way societies reacted to periods of rapid and fundamental change in the availability of certain goods, the next step is to work towards an integrated approach combining both prestige items and bulk commodities. Zusammenfassung In dieser kurzen Einleitung erläutern die Herausgeber die Schwerpunkte der verschiedenen Beiträge und ordnen diese in den weiteren Rahmen der Diskussion um Austauschnetzwerke ein. Dieser Band bietet vor allem Ansätze zu Themen wie der Einführung neuartiger Prestigegüter, dem Prozess der Monetisierung und der Art und Weise, wie Gesellschaften auf schnelle und tiefgreifende Veränderungen in der Verfügbarkeit bestimmter Güter reagierten. Der nächste Schritt ist eine Integration dieser Überlegungen in weitreichendere Modelle, die sowohl Prestige- als auch Gebrauchsgüter gemeinsam berücksichtigen. Résumé Dans cette brève introduction, les éditeurs résument les principaux thèmes du volume et les replacent au sein d’un cadre plus large d’études sur les réseaux d’échanges. Alors que le volume aborde de nombreux aspects concernant l’introduction de nouveaux biens de prestige, le processus de monétisation et la manière dont les sociétés ont réagi aux périodes de changement rapide et fondamental dans la disponibilité de certaines marchandises, la prochaine étape est de travailler vers une approche intégrée considérant à la fois les biens de prestige et les marchandises en vrac. The present volume brings together the proceedings from two separately held conference sessions: ‘Premonetary currency systems in past societies’, organised by Dirk Brandherm and Stefan Wirth as session B22 on the occasion of the XVII World Congress of the Union Internationale de Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques (Burgos, Spain, 1–7 September 2014), and ‘A crystal formed of necessity — Gifts, goods and money: the role of exchange in processes of social transformation’, organised by Daniela Hofmann and Nicholas Wells as 1 2 session T05S011 at the 20th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (Istanbul, Turkey, 10–14 September 2014). Both sessions fundamentally aimed at exploring the economic and social roles of exchange systems in past societies, but approached these issues from slightly different perspectives. The Burgos UISPP session, from which the first four papers are drawn, focused specifically on questions surrounding the identification