5.1 Archaeology of Later Prehistoric Europe: State Societies in Bronze Age Spain & Crete

Dr.. Roberto Risch, Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

https://www.uab.cat/web/qui-som/roberto-risch/english-1345812342658.html

http://www.la-bastida.com/inicio/index.html

Publications:

Vicente Lull, Cristina Rihuete-Herrada , Roberto Risch, Bárbara Bonora, Eva Celdrán-Beltrán, Maria Inés Fregeiro, Claudia Molero, Adrià Moreno, Camila Oliart, Carlos Velasco-Felipe , Lourdes Andúgar, Wolfgang Haak , Vanessa Villalba-Mouco & Rafael Micó. 2021. “Emblems and spaces of power during the Argaric Bronze Age at La Almoloya, Murcia”. Antiquity 2021 Vol. 95 (380): 329–348.

The recent discovery of an exceptionally rich grave at La Almoloya in south-eastern Spain illuminates the

political context of Early Bronze Age El Argar society. The quantity, variety and opulence of the grave goods

emphasise the technological, economic and social dimensions of this unique culture. The assemblage

includes politically and ideologically emblematic objects, among which a silver diadem stands out.

Of equally exceptional character is the building under which the grave was found—possibly one of

the first Bronze Age palaces identified in Western Europe. The architecture and artefacts from La Almoloya

provide new insight into emblematic individuals and the exercise of power in societies of marked

economic asymmetry.

Roberto Risch, Harald Meller, Selina Delgado-Raack, and Torsten Schunke. 2.21. “The Bornhöck Burial Mound and the Political Economy of an Únˇetice Ruler”, in S. Gimatzidis and R. Jung (eds.), The Critique of Archaeological Economy, Frontiers in Economic History, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72539-6_6.

Beyond the teleological meaning that the different state theories have attached to this historical category, most of them probably coincide in relating the appearance of the state to the existence of stratified or class societies, in which individuals and social groups can clearly be distinguished in terms of their asymmetric access to

wealth and power.2 These privileges are warranted and legitimised in space and time through different mechanisms and institutions. Legally, this requires the imposition of some form of permanent, usually hereditary, property rights and the establishment of territorial limits, within which these privileges are imposed. The dynastic rule is

another institution by which economic and political privileges are often fixed in time. Effectively, the enforcement of law and domination demands the existence of specific mechanisms of coercion and the concentration of means of violence in

the hands of a dominant class. Apart from the violent imposition of privileges and rights, states always develop their own mechanism of psychological coercion, for example through rituals and imagery of violence, in order to give rise to individual fear and obedience, which form the subjective fabric of domination and hegemony. In general, the ideological and ceremonial paraphernalia of the state are essential to its legitimation.

Prof. Jan Driessen, UC Louvain.

https://uclouvain.be/fr/repertoires/jan.driessen

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan-Driessen-2/5

https://sarpedon.be/

Publications:

Jan Driessen. 2021. "Revisiting the Minoan palaces: ritual commensality at Sissi". Antiquity 2021 Vol. 95 (381): 686–704.

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