The Construction of Value in the Ancient World

Cover
Half Title
Recent Cotsen Advanced Seminar
Title
copyright
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables
List of Color Plates
List of Tables
Contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgments
A Note on Orthography
Introduction
Part 1: Place Value
Chapter 1: Significant Stones, Significant Places
Abstract
Places in Prehistory
Marking Rocks, Marking Places
Living Among the Stones
Places of Power and Shrines of the Land
Acknowledgments
Chapter 2: The Negotiation of Place Value in Landscape
Abstract
Introduction
What Time is This Place?
Settlement Nucleation, Abandonment, and Reoccupation
A Clash of Lifestyles
Filtering our Views of Places
Discussion and Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 3: Spare Values
Abstract
Chapter 4: Emplacing Value, Cultivating Order
Abstract
Introduction
Process of Valuation, Places of Conversion
Rebuilding Place, Building the Inka State
Advent of the Inka Rule in the Ollantaytambo Area
Concealing the Past, Constructing the Present
Discussion
Becoming Inka... Subjects
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 5: The Revaluation of Landscapes in the Inca Empire as Peircean Replication
Abstract
Introduction
Peircean Replication
Inca Creation of Valued Space
Solar Worship in the Inca Empire
The Island of the Sun Solstice Ceremony
Replicating an Ideal
Notes
Part II: Body Value
Chapter 6: Objectifying the Body
Abstract
Introduction
Funerary Crisis and Reactions by the Theban Elite
The Development of Defensive Funerary Practices
The Twenty-First Dynasty Mummy as Part of a Defensive Funerary Ensemble
The End of Intensified Mummification
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 7: From Value to Meaning, from Things to Persons
Abstract
Introduction
The Problem
Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Chapter 8: Dressing the Body in Splendor
Abstract
Introduction
Nose Ornaments
Necklaces
Backflaps and Bells
Bracelets
Pectorals
Headdress Ornaments
Ear Ornaments
Garments Covered with Metal Platelets
The Full Ensemble
Expression of Value
Notes
Chapter 9: Interpreting the Paracas Body and its Value in Ancient Peru
Abstract
Introduction
The Paracas Body
Corporeal Bodies
The Body and Identity
The Appropriated Body
Embodied Value
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 10: The Value of the Chorality in Ancient Greece
Abstract
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 11: Bodies and their Values in the Early Medieval West
Abstract
Notes
Part III: Object Value
Chapter 12: Systems of Value Among Material Things
Abstract
Introduction
The Substance of Inequality
The Foundations of Fungibility
A Cautionary Note on the Distinction between "Values" and "Value"
The Rise of Universal Fungibility
Why Did the Mercantile Economic System of Europe and Western Asia Prevail
Acknowledgment
Chapter 13: Money, Art, and the Construction of Value in the Ancient Mediterranean
Abstract
Introduction
Weighed Silver and the Precursors to Coinage
The Earliest Coins
The Physicality of Coinage and the Efficacy of Prehistoric Items of Value
Payment to the Gods
Eliding the Heroic and the Historic
Back to Basics
Coda
Notes
Chapter 14: The Construction of Values During the Peruvian Formative
Abstract
Introduction
Values and Social Valuables
Changing Values and the Emergence of Social Valuables
Concluding Thoughts
Acknowledgments
Chapter 15: Bronze, Jade, Gold, and Ivory
Abstract
Introduction
The Archaeological Investigation of Object Value
The Chengdu Plain: Sanxingdui and Jinsha
Bronze, Jade, and Gold, and Ivory in Pre-Qin Sichuan
Discussion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 16: The Value of Aesthetic Value
Abstract
Introduction
Acts of Attention and the Creation of Value
Value in Ancient Greece
Notes
Chapter 17: Light and the Precious Object, or Value in the Eyes of the Byzantines
Abstract
Notes
Chapter 18: Figurine Fashions in Formative Mesoamerica
Abstract
Introduction
Formative Figurines
Cases Considered
Understanding Variation in Formative Figurines
Stylistic Variation as Fashion
Conclusions
Notes
Chapter 19: From Rational to Relational
Abstract
Introduction
Ontology of Value
Comparative and Embodied Nature of Value
The Inca Empire
Incaic Objects of Value
Conclusions
Chapter 20: Competing and Commensurate Values in Colonial Conditions
Abstract
Vale un Peru
Values
Notes
Part IV: Number Value
Chapter 21: Equivalency Values and the Command Economy of the UR III Period in Mesopotamia
Abstract
Introduction
The UR III Economy and Wage Structure
Tracking Equivalency Values
The Trade Agent Accounts and Silver Equivalencies
An Overview of Silver Equivalencies
Beyond Silver Equivalencies
Piecework Equivalencies
Chapter 22: Constructing Value with Instruments Versus Constructing Equivalence with Mathematics
Abstract
Introduction
Sources and Preliminary Remarks on Measuring Units in Han China
Expressing a Value with a Measuring Unit
More Practices
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 23: Recording Values in the Inka Empire
Abstract
Introduction
The Language of Values in the Khipus
Quechua Concepts of Value
The Khipu
Registering Number and Value in a Khipu from Nazca
Contexts and Practices of the Construction of Value in the Inka Empire
Constructions of the Intrinsic Value of Wakas
Elaboration of "Place" in the Landscape and in Numerical Formulations
Acknowledgments
Notes
Chapter 24: The Varieties of Ancient Maya Numeration and Value
Abstract
Introduction
Bundles of Value
Speaking and Writing Basic Numbers
Time and Value
Big Numbers
The Two Computational Systems
Notes
Chapter 25: Calculative Objects
Abstract
Introduction
Community and its Discontents
Validation at the Local Level
Conclusions
Notes
Consolidated Bibliography
Index
Plates