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Death, exchange and reproduction in the British Bronze Age

Bibliographic Data

ID5774589
AuthorsJoanna Brück (0000-0001-8942-5504, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume9
Issue1
Pages73-101
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1461957107077707
OpenAlexW2023835371
LanguageEN
Citations received50
References cited75

This article examines the character and role of exchange in Bronze Age Britain. It critiques anachronistic models of competitive individualism, arguing instead that the circulation of both artefacts and the remains of the dead constructed the self in terms of enduring interpersonal ties. It is suggested that the conceptual divide between people and things that typifies post-Enlightenment rationalism has resulted in an understanding of Bronze Age exchange that implicitly characterizes objects as commodities. This article re-evaluates the relationship between people and things in Bronze Age Britain. It explores the role of objects as active social agents; the exchange of artefacts and of human remains facilitated the production of the self and the reproduction of society through cyclical processes of fragmentation, dispersal and reincorporation. As such, Bronze Age concepts of personhood were relational, not individual

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Unique citing works50
Citations per year2,63
Citation span2007 - 2026 (20)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 49
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