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Paper Information:
This paper may be of particular interest to:  Practicing and Applied Anthropologists     Teachers of Anthropology in Community Colleges     Students
Type: Paper
Paper Title: THE LONG-HOUSE AS A TRANSFORMING AGENT. EMERGENT COMPLEXITY IN BRONZE AGE SOUTHERN SCANDINAVIA 2300-1300 BC
Author: MAGNUS ARTURSSON (SwedishNational Heritage Board)   
Date/Time: Sat., 11:45 AM
Co-Author(s): MAGNUS ARTURSSON (SwedishNational Heritage Board) 
Abstract: The importance of the long-house in southern Scandinavia increased during the transition between the Middle Neolithic B and the Late Neolithic, 2500-2200 BC. The general change in architecture and the gradually increased range in sizes show that the long-house in itself received a number of new symbolic and ideological meanings, closely connected with the establishment of a marked settlement hierarchy and a more stratified society. The investment in large long-houses during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age indicates that these buildings received several new economic and social functions and became an important symbol for the gradual establishment and strengthening of chiefly power. The large long-house became a symbol for this new social and political order, and most likely it was transformed into a differentiating corporate body for the developing chiefly power. This might imply the introduction of a “house-based society”, where the large long-house worked as a transforming agent for society. In societies developing towards a greater concentration of power and social stratification, the long-house as symbol and institution offered opportunities for ideological, social and political manipulation. The establishment of a “house-based society” made it easier for aspiring chiefs and rising aristocratic families to break away from the old, more egalitarian and kin-based society, and by establishing new long-distance networks with other aristocratic “houses”, alternative social structures and ideological systems could be constructed.

Program Number: 4-0445
Session Title: POLITICAL ECONOMIES: THE LEGACY OF TIMOTHY K. EARLE, PART 1
Session Sponsor: Archaeology Division
Session Date/Time: Sat., 10:15 AM-12:00 PM
Organizer(s): LISA LUCERO (University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign), CATHY COSTIN (California State University-Northridge) 
Chair(s): LISA LUCERO (University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign)  
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