Taste for Green

"Often along vast expanses, ancient societies traded certain commodities that were considered valuable either for functional or symbolic reasons or, rather, a mixture of both factors.This book addresses the state of the art with regard to the acquisition of jade, turquoise, variscite, or prase quartz, all of which share a characteristic greenish colour and an engaging appearance once they are polished in the shape of axes or assorted adornments. The works in this book explore how, in addition to constituting economic transactions, the transfers of these materials were also statements of social liaisons, personal capacities, and relation to places or to unseen forces. The papers included in the volume centre on two study areas, Western Europe and Mexico/the American Southwest, which are far apart not just in geographical terms but also with regard to their chronology and socioeconomic features: while some North and Mesoamerican groups range from relatively complex farming societies up to state-like organisations during the 1st and 2nd millennia AD, the European counterparts are comparatively simpler polities spanning the 5th/3rd millennia BC. By contrasting the archaeological evidence from diverse areas we may gain insights into the role that production or movement of these green stones played in their respective political and ritual economies." --