The Destruction of Power and the Power of Destruction: Decommissioning Powerful Artefacts
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2021-02-15

Powerful objects indicate the wealth and status of the prehistoric individuals and communities to whom they belonged and the social situations in which they circulated. We might infer this from various object characteristics, including form, materiality, craftmanship and presumed function, as well as the careful treatment of these objects during deposition. But what about when we encounter conventionally powerful objects that have been decommissioned prior to deposition? Does the removal of the functionality of an object remove its power? And more importantly what does this tell us about the people behind the destructive acts and their changing relationships with these objects over time? The paper will present conventionally ‘powerful’ Bronze Age artefacts from across Britain, including axes, swords, shields and gold objects, that have been manipulated and/or destroyed prior to deposition to explore these questions. It will be demonstrated that we can identify multiple occasions where the destruction of specific objects was intrinsically linked to social concepts of power.

MATTHEW G. KNIGHT, NATIONAL MUSEUMS SCOTLAND