The development of hierarchical political systems, such as chiefdoms and states, has received much attention by archaeologists in recent decades. Critical to this discussion is the emergence of political economies that finance elites and their institutions. Unfortunately, in many regions their development is poorly understood. This is true for Bronze Age temperate Europe, where the study of long-distance trade in prestige goods, especially spectacular metalwork, has largely overshadowed investigation of production strategies at the village and household level. This has often led to premature identification of complex polities when organizational variability within autonomous (or non-hierarchical) villages is not yet fully understood.
Under the supervision of Dr. John O'Shea, Amy Nicodemus will address this important problem, using the Maros culture of the central Hungarian Plain as a case study (Early-Middle Bronze Age, c. 2700-1500 cal. BC). This research examines variability in economic organization both within and between Maros settlements to test whether patterns are consistent with the increasing centralization of emerging political economies, or whether differences fall within the range of expected variability for autonomous settlements in contrasting geographic and ecological settings. Production strategies and consumption patterns will be assessed for three important and inter-related spheres: agriculture, local craft manufacture, and long-distance trade. Special attention will be paid to the degree of (1) elite control over local and foreign prestige goods economies and (2) intensification and/or specialization of farming systems through time. Intra-site variability will be explored through excavations of the outer settlement at a major Maros settlement, Pecica ªanþul Mare, which will complement (and contrast against) previous work within central habitation areas, thought to correspond to non-elite and elite residences respectively. Inter-site differentiation will be assessed for neighboring settlements through museum study of excavated materials and review of published site reports. Currently, little is known about organization of craft manufacture and even less about farming systems in the Carpathian Basin. This study will also provide important information about how these economic spheres are structured and how they interact with better-understood trade networks.
This project will make valuable contributions to issues of broad interest within the anthropological community and beyond as the origins of political complexity and its economic foundations are relevant to diverse social sciences. Additionally, this research will foster international collaboration and promote future generations of Romanian archeologists. It will form the basis of the author's dissertation and subsequent publications. Summary reports translated into Romanian and Hungarian will be made available to the wider community, encouraging intellectual exchange and dialogue between international researchers and the public. Further, archaeology is a rapidly shrinking field in Romania as job prospects and funding sources are increasingly limited. The author is dedicated to countering this trend by training Romanian students in modern excavation and analytical techniques and encouraging independent research projects. This will provide much needed opportunities for developing practical and theoretical skills, as well as experience with international projects, making students attractive in a competitive job market and encouraging continued collaboration.
One of the most important cultural transformations in human history was the emergence of organizational systems in which one’s social status was determined by birth and political power was held in the hands of a few. These features mark a fundamental shift from egalitarianism to more complex social forms, setting the foundation for the development of the world’s major civilizations and our modern nation-states. My research questions how these novel institutions came to be by examining critical economic changes necessary their development. I use the Bronze Age of the Carpathian Basin as a case study, focusing on the major Maros culture settlement of Pecica Santul Mare, Romania (Figure 1). New excavations at Pecica allowed a detailed assessment of the specific economic changes that were instrumental in its establishment as a regional political center. Specifically, the NSF grant permitted me to conduct excavations in the peripheral area of the settlement, beyond the fortification ditches, in the spring of 2011 (Figure 2). Comparison of the architecture (Figure 3), artifacts (Figure 4), and food remains from the peripheral and the previously excavated central occupation showed substantial differences. These demonstrated unequal access to locally produced and imported prestige goods among the peripheral inhabitants. In addition, the high level of economic asymmetry found within this settlement is paralleled by changes occurring regionally over the course of several centuries (c. 2000-1600 BC). The production and distribution of high value goods, especially metalwork and horses, becomes centralized at Pecica at the expense of other villages, being a critical factor in its rise to regional dominance. This research makes valuable contributions to issues of broad interest within the anthropological community and beyond as the origins of political complexity and its economic underpinnings are relevant to diverse social sciences. The emphasis on plant and animal remains in this study fills in conspicuous gaps in our knowledge of subsistence organization in emerging polities, particularly for animal production systems. Unexpectedly, this research provided exciting new evidence for specialized horse breeding at Pecica, which was a major component of elite production systems at this settlement. I am the first to examine economic differentiation both within a major settlement and between regional communities in the Carpathian Basin. While my study provides novel data within the study area, more importantly, the relationships examined contribute to a better understanding of emerging political economies, the variability of their developmental trajectories, and the importance of agro-pastoral production systems.
