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For Whom the Bell Tolls: Social Hierarchy vs Social Integration in the Bell Beaker Culture of Southern France (Third Millennium bc)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2006

Marc Vander Linden
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK; [email protected].

Abstract

The development of social hierarchy during the European Late Neolithic and Bronze Age is often taken for granted in the literature. The Bell Beaker culture has been given a primary role in this picture as it would correspond to the large-scale diffusion of prestige goods and associated individualistic values. On the basis of the French Midi sequence, this article seeks to demonstrate that the prestige model rests upon a simplistic and abstract perception of the data. Rather than the climax of social competition, the Bell Beaker culture marks the building of new fluid social networks which allowed better circulation of knowledge and people.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2006 The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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