The Politics of Storage: Storage and Sociopolitical Complexity in Neopalatial Crete

Description

The storage of staples and its importance for the functioning of Cretan Bronze Age society has become an active topic of debate. This study reassesses the intrinsic relationship between storage and sociopolitical complexity by combining testimonies on the storage of staples from palatial, nonpalatial elite, and ordinary domestic contexts dated to the LM I period. The main goals are (1) to examine a wide range of information concerned with the storage of staples; (2) to develop a comprehensive model to explain how storage strategies operate within LM I societies; and (3) to infer sociopolitical and socio-economic levels of interaction among the different social sectors operating within LM I societies (mainly LM IB societies).

Contents: Introduction; 1. From Storage Implements to Subsistence Autarkies: A Framework for Interpreting the Archaeological Record; 2. Palatial Storage Practices; 3. Domestic and Nonpalatial Elite Storerooms Described; 4. Storage Behaviors and Subsistence Autarkies in the Nonpalatial Sector of LM I Societies; 5. Storage and Sociopolitical Dynamics in LM I State Societies.

Hardback: 256 pp., 10 tbs, 36 b/w figs.
(Prehistory Monographs 25, INSTAP Academic Press, 2008)

ISBN-10: 1-931534-50-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-931534-50-5