An archaeological approach to the concept of value: Mycenaean pottery at Ugarit (Syria)

Archaeological Dialogues

Volumn 6, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 2-23

  Van Wijngaarden, Gert Jan ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Consumption; Material culture; Mediterranean Bronze Age; Mycenaean pottery; Ugarit; Value

Indexed keywords

EID: 3543065623     PISSN: 13802038     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s1380203800001306     Document Type: Article

References (5)

1. Of course, supply and demand in modern societies are culturally constructed as well, as is shown by Miller (1995), for example. The point made here is that the construction of value in non-monetary situations is carried out through different mechanisms than in modern economies (Appadurai 1986, 31-32).
2. I will use the name Ugarit to indicate both sites, even though it is actually the ancient name of Ras Shamra and the kingdom of which it was the capital. The ancient name of Minet el-Beida was most probably Ma'hadou, which is mentioned in cuneiform tablets from Ras Shamra and Ras Ibn Hani (Astour 1970, 113-127).
3. Until 1969 Claude A. Schaeffer was director of the excavations. Since 1978 the Mission de Ras Shamra has been under the responsibility of Marguerite Yon, who has not only continued the excavations, but also instigated the re-investigation of areas that had been excavated earlier with modern approaches and techniques. Reports of the excavations have appeared regularly in the journal Syria since 1929. Studies of several aspects of the archaeology of Ugarit have appeared in the series Ugaritica (vols I-VII) and, since 1983, in the series Ras Shamra-Ougarit (vols I-XII).
4. Tablet RS 25.460:'...my wives pour (?) fine oil (?) on my (body already) laid out in the tomb (?)'. However, this tablet is presumed to be a copy of a Mesopotamian text. For the possibility of the practice of embalming at Ugarit, see Salles (1995, 176). Libation pits have been found in several tombs (Margueron 1987, 17-19). Libations with wine, oil and water were practised during fertility cults, which were closely related to the cult of the dead (Kinet 1981, 146-147).
5. One of these kraters is the famous Maître des Cheveaux, which depicts a man training or controlling horses (Courtois and Courtois 1978, 346-350).