Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic
Over the last half century, the dominant view in European archaeology has been that Upper Paleolithic societies were highly mobile egalitarian groups. While this model may be accurate for resource poor areas, it is increasingly evident that in some rich refugia like the Dordogne and Charente, more c...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/paleo, |
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| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
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Paleo
2022
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:paleo_6607 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:paleo_6607 https://doi.org/10.4000/paleo.6607 urn:doi:10.4000/paleo.6607 en https://journals.openedition.org/paleo/6607 2022-08-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/itq1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic Paleo Musée national de Préhistoire info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2101-0420 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1145-3370 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/paleo Hayden, Brian Paléolithique supérieur objets de prestige chasseurs/cueilleurs inégalité sociétés transégalitaires Upper Paleolithic prestige items hunter/gatherers inequality transegalitarian societies Over the last half century, the dominant view in European archaeology has been that Upper Paleolithic societies were highly mobile egalitarian groups. While this model may be accurate for resource poor areas, it is increasingly evident that in some rich refugia like the Dordogne and Charente, more complex societies existed that exhibited transegalitarian types of characteristics including socioeconomic inequalities. Ethnographically, it is in the context of transegalitarian types of societies that unique features occur such as rich burials, prestige items, feasting, complex astronomical observations, elaborate numbering systems, rituals in deep caves, and other special features of the French Southwest Upper Paleolithic. Indeed, due to the socioeconomic dynamics involved, these features make the most sense as part of transegalitarian societies, whereas both the dynamics and these features are rare or are completely lacking among ethnographic egalitarian foragers. This paper re-assesses the status of Upper Paleolithic hunter/gatherers from the transegalitarian perspective. It focuses particular attention on the role and importance of prestige items making the important distinction between communal ritual prestige items and individual status prestige items. Ten other key features are discussed briefly that indicate the existence of complex hunter/gatherers in the Upper Paleolithic. Depuis un demi-siècle, le point de vue dominant de l’archéologie européenne est de considérer que les groupes humains du Paléolithique supérieur vivaient dans des sociétés égalitaires très mobiles. Bien que ce modèle puisse être exact pour les régions pauvres en ressources, il apparaît probable que dans certains refuges riches en ressources comme en Dordogne et en Charente, des sociétés de type transégalitaire marquées par des inégalités socio-économiques aient existé.D'un point de vue ethnographique, c'est préférentiellement dans ce type de dynamique socio-économique que naissent les sépultures, les objets de prestige, les festins, les observations astronomiques complexes, les systèmes de numérotation élaborés, les rituels dans les grottes profondes, autant d’aspects que l’on rencontre dans le Paléolithique supérieur du Sud-Ouest français et qui n’existent pas, ou de manière erratique, parmi les nomades égalitaires.Cet article se propose de réévaluer le statut des chasseurs-cueilleurs du Paléolithique supérieur dans une perspective sociale transégalitaire. Il porte une attention particulière au rôle et à l'importance des objets de prestige en établissant une distinction entre les objets de prestige destinés aux rituels communautaires et ceux qui ont pour vocation de marquer le rang élevé des individus. Dix autres caractéristiques clés sont brièvement abordées qui plaident pour l'existence de sociétés complexes de chasseurs-cueilleurs au Paléolithique supérieur. |
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OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
Paléolithique supérieur objets de prestige chasseurs/cueilleurs inégalité sociétés transégalitaires Upper Paleolithic prestige items hunter/gatherers inequality transegalitarian societies |
| spellingShingle |
Paléolithique supérieur objets de prestige chasseurs/cueilleurs inégalité sociétés transégalitaires Upper Paleolithic prestige items hunter/gatherers inequality transegalitarian societies Hayden, Brian Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic |
| description |
Over the last half century, the dominant view in European archaeology has been that Upper Paleolithic societies were highly mobile egalitarian groups. While this model may be accurate for resource poor areas, it is increasingly evident that in some rich refugia like the Dordogne and Charente, more complex societies existed that exhibited transegalitarian types of characteristics including socioeconomic inequalities. Ethnographically, it is in the context of transegalitarian types of societies that unique features occur such as rich burials, prestige items, feasting, complex astronomical observations, elaborate numbering systems, rituals in deep caves, and other special features of the French Southwest Upper Paleolithic. Indeed, due to the socioeconomic dynamics involved, these features make the most sense as part of transegalitarian societies, whereas both the dynamics and these features are rare or are completely lacking among ethnographic egalitarian foragers. This paper re-assesses the status of Upper Paleolithic hunter/gatherers from the transegalitarian perspective. It focuses particular attention on the role and importance of prestige items making the important distinction between communal ritual prestige items and individual status prestige items. Ten other key features are discussed briefly that indicate the existence of complex hunter/gatherers in the Upper Paleolithic. |
| author |
Hayden, Brian |
| author_facet |
Hayden, Brian |
| author_sort |
Hayden, Brian |
| title |
Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_short |
Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_full |
Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_fullStr |
Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_sort |
foragers or « feasters ? » inequalities in the upper palaeolithic |
| publisher |
Paleo |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/paleo |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/paleo.6607 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/paleo/6607 |
| _version_ |
1877293098370859008 |