no man is an island

This project explores alternative perspectives to a power and prestige paradigm inspired by an accumulated detector material that has been uncovered in the last decades. 

Hitherto unpopulated areas come to light thanks to enthusiastic detectorists and artefacts formerly regarded as rare or rich become increasingly common. Likewise, there is an increased acknowledgement, development, and exploration of social anthropological approaches offering a bottom-up perspective to social organisation. This thesis offers an alternative interpretative framework as well as a comparative regional analysis of the detector material from the Late Iron Age to the Middle Age with a focus on Western Zealand. 29 detector sites around the Tissø-complex and 15 around Ringsted have been thoroughly scrutinized showing signs of trade and handicraft, rich and imported artefacts, weapons and riding gear. 

The results question a predominant notion of a hierarchically structured society as a prerequisite for power and prestige. An anarchistic theoretical approach as an alternative way to understand social complexity is explored seeing autonomy and self-government as primary ambitions for human aspirations. 

The project is financed by Beckett Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Kulturministeriets Forskningspulje og Etatsraad Georg Bestle og Hustrus Mindelegat