In Search of a Theoretical Assessment of Bronze Age Society in the Baltic Countries
Volume 18 (2012): People at the Crossroads of Space and Time (Footmarks of Societies in Ancient Europe) II, pp. 14–27
Pub. online: 30 December 2012
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
23 August 2012
23 August 2012
Revised
14 September 2012
14 September 2012
Accepted
15 December 2012
15 December 2012
Published
30 December 2012
30 December 2012
Abstract
This article surveys tendencies in Bronze Age social research in the Baltic countries. It marks a new departure in archaeological
scholarship in the region, and examines the influence of wider European theories on local Bronze Age research. The most
important issue to be discussed is the uncritical application of theoretical models on east Baltic archaeology, without reference
to the region’s specific culture. Thus, the Bronze Age social structure is reconstructed according to a priori formulated
precepts. The article discusses the possible negative implications of such a transference of foreign theories, which leads to
the prejudgement of results in regional archaeological studies. Special criticism is levelled at the application of the pyramid
social model, which offers a false interpretation of Prehistoric social structures on the basis of recent research. We offer new
alternatives in the sphere of societal studies, which pay most attention to processes whereby people dominate as individual
agents, rather than to the classification of archaeological material according to the nature or implied value of such material.