Hi Mark: In partial exculpation of my unwarranted extrapolation of Engels's quote on ’shamefaced materialism', I was grappling with Graeber and Wengrow. I spent a long friggin day on getting my head around the ramifications of this following set of data as explained below:
"A very recent paper explored an example of how early inequality developed in pre-history, and the social structure of early society. Since it appears to be a genuine advance this study is described in more detail. The study used nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analysis of individuals to build family trees over “several generations”. This study was performed in 4 ancient grave sites in Lech Valley, Germany comprising a total of 192 skeletons. These 4 sites dated from the Corded Ware Complex (~2750 to 2460 BCE), the Bell Beaker Complex (~2480 to 2150 BCE), the Early Bronze Age (~2150 to 1500 BCE), and the Middle Bronze Age (~1700 to 1300 BCE). The genetic analyses assessed the population structure changing over time with the migration of Neolithic farmers from the Anatolian area. Alongside the genetic analysis, they also accounted for “complex households” which equates with measures of wealth. The latter being: “Certain types of grave goods, especially weapons (daggers, axes, chisels, and arrowheads) in male graves and elaborate body adornments in female graves (large headdresses and massive leg rings) as well as pins in graves of both sexes are likely status-associated, according to the dominating view in archeology that rich burial goods indicate the deceased and/or their family’s wealth and status.” Alissa Mittnik, Ken Massy, Corina Knipper et al: “Kinship-based social inequality in Bronze Age Europe”; Science 366, 731–734 (2019) 8 November 2019; What did they find? “We observed a significant accumulation of grave goods among members of (multigenerational) families of both sexes within EBA cemeteries, evidenced by a correlation between the number of grave good types found and the rate of relatives of an individual (P = 0.022; t test for linear regression) (figs. S26 and S27 and table S11). When looking at males and females separately, this correlation remains significant for males (P= 0.012 versus P = 0.064 for females; t test for linear regression). Weapons appear significantly more often in graves of men with relatives than in the graves of men with no close relatives (P = 0.025, Fisher’s exact test)… complex house-holds that consisted of (i) a higher-status core family, passing on wealth and status to descendants; (ii) unrelated, wealthy, and high-status nonlocal women; and (iii) local, low-status individuals…. Only now, the deep history of intrahousehold in-equality has become visible.” Alissa Mittni et al; Ibid. What does all this mean? It means that in more or less ‘normal’ villages of the period, wealth was being accumulated. That was associated with an influx of Neolithic farmers. Within that same village, there were - likely ‘low status” - probably slaves - who were un-related to the families with wealthy grave goods, and who were buried sans wealth. This is unable to be explained by the type of analyses put forward by Graeber D and Wengrow (“The dawn of everything - a new history of humanity”; 2021 Toronto, Canada).” I am - and was earlier today - trying to understand if Graeber was a ’shame-faced materialist’ or an idealist…. There had been a discussion of this book on the list when it came out. But I was too focused on other matters to pay attention then! It is a good read. But flawed in my view. I’ll still take V.Gordon Childe in preference. Be well, and really now, Good night. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40835): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40835 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117988661/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
