Over half a century ago, in a seminal work, Marshal Sahlins advanced his definition of an "original affluent society" introducing the concept of “affluence” and challenging well-established views on the recurrent association between complexity, progress, and prosperity. Since then, the relationship between the availability of resources and social organisation has been recognised as a fundamental issue for the study of pre-modern societies, a debate that has now re-emerged and has been strengthened in the aftermath of the publication of the Dawn of Everything. Such debate is yet to make a substantial impact in the study of political organisation in early polities, particularly in Western Asia, the Aegean and the circum-Mediterranean Area, a region that has experienced the earliest, fastest, and most striking social transformations worldwide. This conference sets to trigger the beginning of such a debate in the archeology of pre-modern societies (from the Neolithic period through to the early Archaic period), exploring this complex conundrum through all its possible facets, looking at topics such as:
•The relationship between affluence and technology: What were the means through which affluence was achieved and regenerated over time? (e.g., exploiting wetlands, farming practices, animal husbandry, metal mining, staple storage, special textile techniques, trade relationships) What are its traces in the archaeological record (e.g., architectural monumentality, dining sets in precious metals, clay skeuomorphs, iconography)?
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