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The Princely Burials of the Central Balkans in Context
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2024
Abstract
Despite a consensus that the Late Hallstatt ‘princely’ burials heralded the emergence of the earliest complex societies in the central Balkans, there is room for nuance. In this article, the ‘princely’ burial horizon is examined in light of the opposition between group-oriented and individualizing societies, while accepting that burials are as much an ideological statement as a reflection of social structure. On this theoretical basis, the author presents a study of two groups of ‘princely’ burials in North Macedonia and Bosnia in relation to contemporary and later burials, and with reference to settlement size in the Late Hallstatt and Classical–Hellenistic period. His analysis reveals that the inequality in burial assemblages of the Late Hallstatt ‘princely’ burial horizon decreases in the mortuary record of the fifth–fourth century bc, whereas the settlement size in the Classical–Early Hellenistic suggests emerging differentiation.
Même si l'on accepte que les sépultures « princières » du Hallstatt final marquent l’émergence des premières sociétés complexes dans les Balkans du centre, la question mérite un traitement plus nuancé. L'auteur de cet article examine le phénomène des sépultures « princières » dans l'optique d'une opposition entre les sociétés communautaires et les sociétés individualistes tout en reconnaissant que les sépultures sont tout autant une affirmation idéologique qu'un reflet du tissu social. Dans ce cadre théorique, il présente deux groupes de sépultures « princières » situées en Macédoine du Nord et en Bosnie et les compare à d'autres contextes funéraires contemporains et plus récents ainsi qu’à la taille des habitats du Hallstatt final et des époques classiques et hellénistiques. Cette analyse révèle que l'inégalité des ensembles funéraires des sépultures « princières » du Hallstatt final diminue au cours des Ve et IVe siècles av. J.-C. tandis que la surface des habitas des époques classiques et hellénistiques augment, ce qui indiquerait une différenciation croissante. Translation by Madeleine Hummler
Auch wenn allgemein angenommen wird, dass die „Fürstengräber“ die ersten komplexen Gesellschaften im Zentralbalkan ankündigte, kann die Frage auf differenzierter Weise behandelt werden. In diesem Artikel erforscht der Verfasser das „Fürstengräber“-Phänomen angesichts des Gegensatzes zwischen gemeinschaftlichen und individualistischen Gesellschaften, obwohl diese Gräber eindeutig ebenso viel eine ideologische Aussage als eine Widerspiegelung der sozialen Struktur darstellen. Auf dieser theoretischen Grundlage untersucht er zwei Gruppen von „Fürstengräber“ in Nordmazedonien und Bosnien in Zusammenhang mit zeitgenössischen und jüngeren Gräbern und in Bezug auf die Größe der späthallstattzeitlichen und klassischen-hellenistischen Siedlungen. Die Analyse zeigt, dass die Ungleichheit der späthallstattzeitlichen „Fürstengräber“ im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert abnimmt und der Umfang der klassischen-hellenistischen Siedlungen hingegen zunimmt, was auf eine wachsende Differenzierung deutet. Translation by Madeleine Hummler
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