Wealth Consumption, Sociopolitical Organization, and Change: A Perspective from Burial Analysis on the Middle Bronze Age in the Carpathian Basin

Abstract

Abstract Tracing the patterns of wealth consumption within and between burial communities can reveal different aspects of the sociopolitical and economic abilities of and relations between individuals, groups, and whole communities. For a cross-cultural comparison, burial communities of the cultural groups of the Hungarian Middle Bronze Age Vatya and Füzesabony pottery styles in the Carpathian Basin were chosen. Special emphasis is put on the development of the wealth consumption during the late phase of the Middle Bronze Age. It could be shown that Vatya and Füzesabony communities exhibit very similar patterns of wealth consumption and seemingly sociopolitical organization. In the cemetery of Dunaújváros-Duna-dűlő, a dynamic competition and cooperation between different social segments can be witnessed, representing an arena in which signaling the individual’s and groups’ ability to participate in sociopolitical organization of the burial community took place. The wealth consumption over the whole considered geographical space, and beyond, changes during the late Middle Bronze Age. It can be assumed that during the times of change, cultural convergence increases, as changes in burial rites and wealth consumption suggest. This development is possible because Vatya and Füzesabony shared a very similar sociopolitical organization as well as the perception of wealth and how it should be consumed.