Craft Specialisation and its Relation with Social Organisation in the Late 6th to Early 4th Millennium BCE of the Southern Levant

Abstract

Economic, social and political organisation in the Southern Levant are often stated, but seldom defined or explained. Craft specialization and social complexity are connected. After a definition of craft specialisation and an attempt to define archaeologically recognizable evidence for it, a brief discussion of the different conditions of production for consumer goods and prestige goods follows. The concrete situation in the Southern Levant from the Late Neolithic to the Late Chalcolithic is studied with pottery and metal as the main materials. The standardisation of pottery through time is presented. Metal production follows different rules than pottery, as most of it has played a different role in the social structure and creation of identity. The political complexity of the Southern Levant at the end of the period can be described in terms of chiefdoms, although the individual form of social organisation in the various regions will have differed.