fulltext - Simple search

Ground stone hammer axes in Sweden
Looking at the axe materials attributed to context categories in this per
spective (Fig. 11 and 12) one could thus express the economic power relations
in the Earliest Bronze Age in southern and central Sweden: One fourth (1/4)
of the settlement units are inhabited by the third (1/3) of the population that
controls two thirds (2/3) of the wealth. This means that the settlement units
of the economical elite should be relatively large – with large and/or many
houses – settlement clusters and the forming of villages.
Figure 12. The distribution
of wealth expressed in axes
with squared-off cross sec-
Landscape furnishing
put into operation in the mapping of a contextual and social landscape in east
ern central Sweden. Subsequently, in a discussion of the cultural landscape
theory) relating the landscape to the social and political organisation of the
inhabitants of that landscape, I try to explore some of the Earliest Bronze
Age forms of social integration (Lindblom 1991:135; Gansum, Jerpåsen &
Keller 1997:18; Appadurai 1986:38; Welinder 1992:45; Bender 1993:3; Hod
der 1982; Küchler 1993:85ff; Johnston 1998:54; Knapp & Ashmore 1999:1ff;
Schama 1995:35ff, 82f; Tilley 1993:81, 1994:19ff; Donham 1995:53ff, 193f;
Bradley 2000:26ff, 152ff). The aim is to understand the landscape, furnish
ing enough to enable a fruitful discussion about the societal context of such
landscapes. The aim is set on understanding more about the social organi
zation in eastern central Sweden during its Earliest Bronze Age. Two areas
have been studied, one around lake Hjälmaren in central Sweden and one
379