Abstract
AbstractThis paper discusses how coastal societies in northwestern Scandinavia were able to rise in power by strategically utilizing the natural ecology and landscape in which they were situated. From two case studies (the Norwegian regions of Lista and Tananger), it is shown that it was possible to control the flow of goods up and down the coast at certain bottlenecks but that this also created an unstable society in which conflict between neighboring groups occurred often. More specifically the paper outlines an organizational strategy that may be applicable cross-culturally.
Highlights
The turn to the Late Neolithic (c. 2350 BCE) brought with it major changes along the coast of northwestern Scandinavia, evident by a homogenous material culture, and through a new kind of social organization (e.g. Prescott, 2012a, 2014)
Even though few seafaring boats are preserved in Scandinavia from the Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age (c. 2350–1100 BCE), the Hjortspring boat from the transition to the Pre-Roman Iron Age (CrumlinPedersen, 2003), and thousands of ships depicted on rock art help support our understanding of the Nordic Bronze Age as a an age of skillful maritime voyagers
This paper has focused on a coercive strategy
Summary
The turn to the Late Neolithic (c. 2350 BCE) brought with it major changes along the coast of northwestern Scandinavia, evident by a homogenous material culture, and through a new kind of social organization (e.g. Prescott, 2012a, 2014). 2350–1100 BCE), the Hjortspring boat from the transition to the Pre-Roman Iron Age (CrumlinPedersen, 2003), and thousands of ships depicted on rock art help support our understanding of the Nordic Bronze Age as a an age of skillful maritime voyagers This helped connect the region of Scandinavia into a homogenous region – at least based on the material assemblage. This paper will discuss the ecological potential and political circumstances that enabled a handful of coastal societies to develop a new political economy through distinctive strategies, referred to in this paper as coercive This type of strategy helped northwestern Scandinavia to connect with the Continent though trade networks and alliance ties, and helped create efficient nodal points locally which controlled the flow of commodities along the coast. In order to concertize this paper, two case studies will be presented: the Norwegian regions of Lista and Tananger (see Figure 1), which illustrate wealthaccumulation through coercion
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