Craft and the Kingly Ideal : Art, Trade, and

In ancient Mediterranean cultures, diamonds were thought to endow their owners with invincibility. In contemporary United States culture, a foreign-made luxury car is believed to give its owner status and prestige. Where do these beliefs come from?In 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." She argues that fine artisanship and long-distance trade, both of which are more available to powerful elites than to ordinary people, are means of creating or acquiring tangible objects that embody intangible powers and energies from the cosmological realms of gods, ancestors, or heroes. Through the objects, these qualities become available to human society and confer honor and power on their possessors.Helms' novel approach equates trade with artistry and emphasizes acquisition rather than distribution. She rejects the classic Western separation between economics and aesthetics and offers a new paradigm for understanding traditional societies that will be of interest to all anthropologists and archaeologists.

Preface
Introduction to the Problem	p. 1
Prelude	p. 1
The Activities of Gilgamesh	p. 2
Professional Perspectives	p. 6
Skilled Crafting	p. 11
What Skilled Crafting Means	p. 13
Qualities of Skilled Crafting	p. 13
Crafting as Transformation	p. 18
Crafting and Creation	p. 24
Skilled Artisans in Time and Space	p. 28
Artisans and the Ancestors	p. 28
Artisans and Geographical Distance	p. 32
Travelers, Traders, and Artisans	p. 37
Traveling as Skilled Craft	p. 43
The Authenticity of Distance	p. 46
Qualities of Skilled Artisans	p. 52
Flawed Creators or the Epitome of Humanness	p. 52
Aesthetics	p. 61
Skilled Crafting and Political Authority	p. 69
Crafting and Politics in Egalitarian Societies	p. 69
Power over Things as Power over People	p. 75
The Kingly Craft of Building	p. 77
Acquisition	p. 89
Exchange, Trade, and Acquisition	p. 91
Acquisition Defined	p. 91
Acquisition Explored	p. 100
Acquisition in Time and Space	p. 109
Original Travelers and Original Trade	p. 109
Craft and the Conduct of Acquisition	p. 116
Qualities of Acquisition	p. 128
The Flawed and the Ideal	p. 128
The Accumulation of Wealth	p. 135
Wealth and the Ancestors	p. 140
Naturally Endowed Goods and Skillfully Crafted Goods	p. 146
The Tangible and the Material	p. 146
Hunting	p. 153
The Skillfully Crafted vs. the Naturally Endowed	p. 157
Acquisition and Political Authority	p. 160
Elites and the Outside	p. 160
Elites as Acquirers	p. 163
Acquisition and Ancestral Conditions	p. 167
Centers and Origins	p. 171
Superordinate Centers	p. 173
Outside Centers and Ancestral Powers	p. 173
Superordinate Centers	p. 179
Acquisitional Polities	p. 192
Characteristics of Centers-Out-There	p. 192
The Acquisition of "Civilization"	p. 200
Conclusions	p. 210
Notes	p. 221
References	p. 247
Index	p. 279
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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Craft and the Kingly Ideal : Art, Trade, and Power

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