Redistribution in Aegean Palatial Societies. Redistribution and Political Economies in Bronze Age Crete

Palatial authorities in Bronze Age Crete traditionally are thought to have functioned as centralized redistributive agents, reallocating wealth to the community as a whole and providing security in times of crisis. These institutions were gradually transformed, however, into mobilizers of wealth, re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of archaeology 2011-04, Vol.115 (2), p.197-205
Main Author: Christakis, Kostis S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Bronze age
Commercial production
Correlation analysis
Economic systems
Excavations
FORUM
Goods
Grain storage
Palaces
Political economy
Social security
Society
Storage containers
Wealth
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Summary:Palatial authorities in Bronze Age Crete traditionally are thought to have functioned as centralized redistributive agents, reallocating wealth to the community as a whole and providing security in times of crisis. These institutions were gradually transformed, however, into mobilizers of wealth, rendering support exclusively to the elite and their associates. The present article explores this narrative; it reassesses the assumed impact of redistribution on the economy of Cretan states by studying the archaeological correlates of staple storage. It adopts a bottom-up perspective: besides data from palatial contexts, it incorporates evidence from ordinary domestic units. It argues that the impact of redistribution, as envisioned by neo-evolutionists, is highly questionable. Palatial institutions in Crete did not distribute goods to members of all social strata. Nor did they provide social security. Rather, they mobilized wealth meant to serve the exclusive needs of the elite. Join the discussion onAJA Online.
ISSN:0002-9114
1939-828X
DOI:10.3764/aja.115.2.0197