Ólafía : rit Fornleifafræðingafélags Íslands. - 01.05.2007, Page 109

crafted products, imported goods and
the diffusion of thoughts from the high
cultures developing within the core
(McNiell, W. H. 2000). In some cases
there might even be a sub peripheral
area to conduct the trade and
communication between the core and
the periphery. The sub periphery also
partakes in crafting certain products in
order to increase its value before
reselling it to the core/cities and they
possibly also, to a higher degree than
the periphery, enjoy the living style of
the core area. This will be exemplified
within the following case study.
However, there are problems when
trying to apply WST to archaeological
data. The most influential group that
developed around Wallerstein (1974)
believe that it is not possible to talk
about world systems before the
sixteenth century and the development
of modern capitalism. Other scholars
such as the historian Janet Abu-Lughod
do, in her major work; Before European
Hegemony – The World Systems A.D.
1250-1350 argue that world systems did
in fact exist as early as the 13th century
(1989). She even suggests that since
World Systems can be proved to exist
in the 13th century it is likely to have
existed before this period as well,
though not yet proved. Yet other
scholars believe that the complex
trading patterns in prehistory should be
recognised as world systems as well
(Sherratt, A. 1997).
Defining how broadly world system
actually can be used is an ongoing and
probably the major debate within world
system theorists. In this article though,
world systems will simply be defined as
an area within which people are aware
of each other from the one to the other
end of the system. This is probably the
most useful way to use WST in an
archaeological context as our find
material is potentially able to define
such areas.
What WST in particular can contri-
bute is its broad perspectives and in
some sense it forces one to consider the
larger contexts of the individual
archaeological investigations. There
are, as mentioned, several factors in
defining world systems and numerous
ways of approaching the theory but it is
not the intention to apply all of these to
each individual study. It is a definite
danger getting too consumed with
trying to apply all concepts from the
WST. They might not all be useful or
possible to use and may even create
false results if the aim becomes a search
for material that fits the theory.
We should not attempt to be “WST
archaeologists” but simply consider the
possibilities that lie within other
approaches to the traditional studies;
likewise, world system thinkers cannot
be expected to do all the detail studies,
but need to be supplied with high
quality information to build their theses
on. And that is exactly where the
strength of archaeology lies! In general,
WST seems more useful than accurate
as the case study in this paper will
illustrate. It nevertheless enables us to
liberate ourselves from the small
academic cubicles we tend to get
involved in – which also is a problem
within the studies of walrus tusk trade.

The case study

The intention was to explore the
practical use of WST by applying it to a
recently finished course project on
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Sigrid Cecilie Juel Hansen