Warrior graves reconsidered

Metal, power and identity in Copper Age Italy

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3919703
AutoresAndrea Dolfini (0000-0002-9199-093X, Newcastle University, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume53
Fascículo5
Páginas809-833
Data de publicação2021-10-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438243.2021.2013307
OpenAlexW3162040354
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas54

The article proposes a new interpretation of Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age warrior graves grounded in the 'Rinaldone' burial tradition of central Italy, 4th and 3rd millennia BC. In European archaeology, warrior graves are frequently thought to signal the rise of sociopolitical inequality rooted in metal wealth. The work questions the empirical and conceptual foundations of this reading, arguing that, in early Europe, copper was not as rare and valuable as it is often presumed to be; that metalworking did not demand uniquely complex skills; and that metal-rich burials cannot be interpreted in light of modernising ideas of identity. It is argued instead that the key to decoding prehistoric warrior graves lies in context-specific notions of gender, age, and the life course. In particular, life and death circumstances including violence (both inflicted and suffered) would determine why certain individuals were laid to rest with lavish weapon assemblages

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Bronze Age · Chalcolithic · Context (archaeology · Ethnology · Identity (music · Inequality · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Power (physics · Prehistory · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Gender Studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Philosophy