Description
Book SynopsisIn this study of craft production and long-distance trade in traditional, nonindustrial societies, Mary W. Helms explores the power attributed to objects that either are produced by skilled artisans and/or come from "afar."
Trade Review"A richly researched and engrossing volume ...a treasure for the scholar." Choice
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. Introduction to the Problem
- Prelude
- The Activities of Gilgamesh
- Professional Perspectives
- Part I: Skilled Crafting
- 2. What Skilled Crafting Means
- Qualities of Skilled Crafting
- Crafting as Transformation
- Crafting and Creation
- 3. Skilled Artisans in Time and Space
- Artisans and the Ancestors
- Artisans and Geographical Distance
- Travelers, Traders, and Artisans
- Traveling as Skilled Craft
- The Authenticity of Distance
- 4. Qualities of Skilled Artisans
- Flawed Creators or the Epitome of Humanness
- Aesthetics
- 5. Skilled Crafting and Political Authority
- Crafting and Politics in Egalitarian Societies
- Power over Things as Power over People
- The Kingly Craft of Building
- Part II: Acquisition
- 6. Exchange, Trade, and Acquisition
- Acquisition Defined
- Acquisition Explored
- 7. Acquisition in Time and Space
- Original Travelers and Original Trade
- Craft and the Conduct of Acquisition
- 8. Qualities of Acquisition
- The Flawed and the Ideal
- The Accumulation of Wealth
- Wealth and the Ancestors
- 9. Naturally Endowed Goods and Skillfully Crafted Goods
- The Tangible and the Material
- Hunting
- The Skillfully Crafted vs. the Naturally Endowed
- 10. Acquisition and Political Authority
- Elites and the Outside
- Elites as Acquirers
- Acquisition and Ancestral Conditions
- Part III: Centers and Origins
- 11. Superordinate Centers
- Outside Centers and Ancestral Powers
- Superordinate Centers
- 12. Acquisitional Polities
- Characteristics of Centers-Out-There
- The Acquisition of “Civilization”
- 13. Conclusions
- Notes
- References
- Index
