Objects in action: Towards the anthropology of exchange of Roman bronze vessels in the middle Danube region (original) (raw)
AI-generated Abstract
This paper explores the dynamics of the exchange of Roman bronze vessels in the middle Danube region through an anthropological lens. It challenges conventional views of trade by emphasizing the symbolic meanings and social contexts that these objects held during their transitions between cultures. The study highlights how the significance of bronze vessels evolved from commodities to symbols of identity and social relationships, particularly in funerary practices, and considers the broader implications of these changes within the political and social settings of the Roman Empire.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Related papers
Unity and diversity in the European Iron Age: out of the mists, some clarity?
Journal of Archaeological Research , 2009
While some researchers continue to focus fruitfully on traditional issues, in recent years new perspectives, some strongly revisionist, have developed within European Iron Age archaeology, moving it from a long-static state into a rapidly changing milieu. Studies of colonialism, imperialism, and interaction have undergone sequential shifts into new territory, while topics related to sacred activity, political apparatuses, and the ruler-subject relationship have undergone substantial reworking. Perspectives absent from earlier literature have emerged: gender, age, ethnicity, and identity, and interpretations employing theories of practice, agency, landscape, and embodiment have emerged, mirroring broader disciplinary shifts. An overarching trend sees Iron Age Europe as a series of interactive societies with both broad similarities and sharp regional, even local, differences, moving through time and ever-changing relationships, influences, and trajectories. The collision of traditional and revisionist scholarship has produced debate, some heated, but has improved and invigorated the field.
Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity Introduction
2009
Introduction 2 Ethnicity and the Roman frontier 3 Ethnic identity and recruitment for the Roman auxilia 4 Batavi in the epigraphic record 5 Contexts of ethnic consciousness 6 Formulaic expressions of origin 7 Power, tradition and origin myths 8 Conclusions Abbreviations References The Roman antiquities from the Netherlands show that the masters of the world did not live there with the same splendour and luxury as they did in neighbouring Gaul, Britain and the Rhine area. No colonies were founded on the poor heathlands and moors; no high rank official brought the magnificence and richness from the south. Remains of splendid villae, mosaic floors, marble cornices, columns and images have not been found here. The Batavian territory, too poor to produce tributes and taxes, was left to its own devices. But the sons of this unruly soil, hardened by the continuous struggle with an ungrateful nature and unfavourable climate, were fit for military service. Thus the Batavian territory was considered a breeding ground for soldiers of the Roman army (…). Van Schevichaven 1881, i-ii (author's translation) 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n The impact of empires on their colonial subjects is manifold and often reaches far beyond the visible material conditions of life that are the focus of much archaeological research. 1 Colonisers usually take control not just of the conquered land and its natural resources, but also of the people who inhabit it. 1 This paper springs from a research project entitled The Batavians: ethnic identity in a frontier situation (360-60-000) funded by the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and VU University Amsterdam. The article is the expanded text of a lecture read at the Valkhof Museum at Nijmegen in December 2004 and a reworked version of a contribution originally published in Dutch as Derks 2004. I am grateful to the audience at Nijmegen and to Nico Roymans for their valuable comments, to Bert Brouwenstijn for drawing the maps of fig. 2 and 9, to Annette Visser for correcting my English.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
Related papers
S. Berecki, A. Rustoiu, M. Egri (eds.), Iron Age Connectivity, Proceedings of the International Colloquium from Targu Mures 13–15 October 2017, Cluj 2018, 39-50., 2018