Some Are More Equal Than Others: Intrasettlement Social Organization in Spišský Štvrtok (EBA/MBA, Slovakia)

Abstract

Heterarchical or hierarchical? Egalitarian or unequal? Segmented or complex? Tribe, chiefdom, middle range? All these questions have been vividly discussed in an effort to reconstruct Bronze Age society within a wider area of central Europe. The extensive spectrum of published literature offers varied and often contradictory theoretical models, but we still know very little about the organization of particular social units, especially in the context of settlements. The morphological, technological and spatial analysis of movable and immovable sources from the fortified settlement in Spišský Štvrtok contributes in many respects to solution of the discussed problem in the northeastern Carpathian region. In the case of the Spišský Štvrtok locality, we can interpret the degree of social complexity on the basis of qualitative and quantitative parameters of material culture, evidence of production activities and their specialization level in correlation with spatial distribution of intra-site activity areas. Moreover, the detected tendencies are independently confirmed by the morpho-typological differences between gold and bronze artefacts contained in hoards, by architectonic details and by the presence of regular ritual activities. The achieved results thus indicate possible horizontal and vertical ranking, which was adapted to the local community.