Legarra Herrero, Borja; (2023) Interaction, gold and power: Contrasting stories from tombs across the East Mediterranean ca. 2000–1800 BC. In: Wilkinson, Toby and Sherratt, Susan, (eds.) Circuits of Metal Value: Changing Roles of Metals in the Early Aegean and Nearby Lands. (pp. 30-53). Oxbow Books: Oxford, UK.

Text LEgarra Herrero 2023 Interaction Gold.pdf - Other Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 March 2026. Download (944kB)

Abstract

There is little doubt that the desire to acquire gold and silver was one of the factors that fomented connectivity amongst Aegean communities and between the Aegean and surrounding regions during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Perhaps influenced by the better understood Late Bronze Age networks both metals have been mainly considered from a commercial point of view, with analyses interested in the way these metals were exchanged. This article aims to complement the more economically oriented analysis with a more detailed look at the consumption patterns of gold in the Aegean. In particular, I aim to show the problems with the traditional assumption that gold was mainly employed as part of conspicuous consumption mechanisms and to propose a more complex understanding of the relationship between metals, consumption, social organisation, ritual practice, political negotiation and exchange mechanisms.

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