What Does Bronze Do? Part II: Economics

Abstract

The metal-based economy of Bronze Age Europe is a remarkable mixture of familiar (“rational”) and seemingly “irrational” features. Its most puzzling and “un-economic” aspect is a ubiquitous long-term practice in which communities deliberately destroyed part of the valuable, scarce, and potentially recyclable metalwork. We argue that archaeological evidence shows that this happened in a systematic and selective way. This implies that it was an integral element of the economic system. Value was created by destroying valuables. We argue that this is not unique, but just one specific case of how economies, including modern ones, operate.