Knut Ivar Austvoll

Provides a multi-scalar synthesis of Nordic Bronze Age economies (1800/1700–500 BCE) that is organized around six sections: an introduction to the Nordic Bronze Age, macro-economic perspectives, defining local communities, economic interaction, conflict and alliances, political formations, and encountering Europe. Despite a unifying material culture, the Bronze Age of Scandinavia was complex and multi- layered with constantly shifting and changing networks of competitors and partners. The social structure in this highly mobile and dynamic macroregional setting was affected by subsistence economies based on agropastoralism, maritime sectors, the production of elaborate metal wealth, trade in a wide range of goods, as well as raiding and warfare. For this reason, the focus of this book is on the integration and interaction of subsistence and political economies in a comparative analyses between different local constellations within the macro-economic setting of prehistoric Europe. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

Provides a multi-scalar synthesis of Nordic Bronze Age economies (1800/1700–500 BCE) that is organized around six sections: an introduction to the Nordic Bronze Age, macro-economic perspectives, defining local communities, economic interaction, conflict and alliances, political formations, and encountering Europe. Despite a unifying material culture, the Bronze Age of Scandinavia was complex and multi- layered with constantly shifting and changing networks of competitors and partners. The social structure in this highly mobile and dynamic macroregional setting was affected by subsistence economies based on agropastoralism, maritime sectors, the production of elaborate metal wealth, trade in a wide range of goods, as well as raiding and warfare. For this reason, the focus of this book is on the integration and interaction of subsistence and political economies in a comparative analyses between different local constellations within the macro-economic setting of prehistoric Europe. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

This book focuses on the sociopolitical development and the organisa-tional differences between societies in northwestern Scandinavia in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (2350-1100 BCE). Grounded in a political economy approach, the book presents a theo-retical model that emphases a dialectic negotiation between societies exercising coercive or cooperative strategies through processes of categorisation. Within this theoretical model the archaeological mate-rial is studied using a two-tiered approach. First, an extensive archaeo-logical corpus, consisting of settlement and burial patterns, lithics, metal, and rock art is investigated comparatively for patterns of dia-chronic, regional and societal differences. Second, patterns from the first-tier are scrutinised and three case studies are selected, each ex-pressing different organisational patterns based on local ecological advantages and/or restrictions. These aspects are then discussed on an interregional level, suggesting that utilisation of the seaway was one of the primary movers of increased complexity along the coast. The book presents the first big synthesis of the sociopolitical develop-ment in northwestern Scandinavia and outlines a theoretical model for concurrent but contrasting sociopolitical strategies that can be applied cross-culturally.