Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1994 - 128

rules- rules determining such things
as who may drink together; when
and where drinking takes place;
what vessels are used when drinking
in different contexts; and how people behave when they drink.
Drinking is also a prime political
and economic tool. Hosting drinking events is an important means of
establishing informal leadership and
of maintaining political authority.
Chiefs, for example, often have a
responsibility to dispense generous
amounts of drink as a matter of
Among the
public hospitality.
Azande of Africa it is said that "A
chief must know how to drink; he
must get drunk often and thoroughly." In societies without chiefs, individuals may compete for prestige
and political influence by this
means. The Tarahumara of Mexico, for example, measure the prestige of a man by his ability to get as
many people as possible drunk for
as long as possible. Moreover, in
societies with social classes, elite
groups often distinguish themselves
from others by drinking different
beverages or using different drinking equipment.
Drinking also plays an important
role in the economic sphere, especially in the mobilization of group
labor through the institution of
work-party feasts. This practice, of
which the traditional American
barn raising is a familiar example,
is a common means of organizing
work groups for agricultural labor,
housebuilding, trade expeditions,
and other such things in societies
without wage labor. Volunteer workers are treated to a feast of drink
and food in return for their help
with a specific project.
If we return to our Early Iron
Age case with these features in
mind, it becomes easier to approach
Celtic drinking practices and the
wine trade without the parochial
prejudices of ancient Greek and
Roman commentators and to understand them as normal social phenomena. The archaeological record
for this period indicates that we
have to talk about at least two different regions when we discuss native

May/June

1994

drinking. The first, known as the
Western Hallstatt Zone, consistsof eastern France, southwestern Germany,
and Switzerland. The second consists
of the lower Rhône basin of France
(Provence and Eastern Languedoc),
and is often called the "Ligurian" or
"Celto-Ligurian" region. This latter
area is much closer to the wine-producing regions from which imports
were obtained; but it also differed
markedly from the Hallstatt zone in
terms of the political system that
developed there.
In the Hallstatt zone one finds evidence of a markedly stratified social
system with a developed form of
political centralization what is often
called a "complex chiefdom" or an
"early state." Large, fortified hilltop
settlements, presumed to have been
centers of political control, were surrounded by huge, elaborate, and
extremely wealthy tumulus burials
containing highly ornamented wagons, imported and native drinking
and feasting equipment, gold jewelry, and, other such things. The number of imported wine amphoras
found in this region is extremely
small in comparison to contemporary sites in southern France (and
even more so in comparison to Late
Iron Age sites in the same northern
region). Imported Mediterranean
drinking implements (especially pottery from Athens) are more numerous, but still relatively few. However,
among those items that are found,
particularly in the tumulus burials,
are a number of spectacular pieces.
The most famous example is perB.C. Vix
haps the sixth-century
known
bronze
vesthe
crater,
largest
sel from the ancient world. This
enormous and beautiful vessel, of a
type used for mixing wine and water
in Greek contexts, stands well over
five feet tall and has a capacity of
almost 300 gallons. It was found 40
years ago in a lavish tumulus burial
in Burgundy. A Greek bronze dinos
(also used for wine-mixing by the
Greeks) with cast bronze lions
adorning the rim was found more
recendy in an even richer tumulus
at Hochdorf, near Stuttgart (see
November/DecemArchaeology,

Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1994

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1994