Prestige goods, in various combinations and permutations, feature prominently in anthropological and archaeological templates of the emergence of social inequality and early state formation in premodern societies. In Africa, discussion of the contribution of prestige goods to the evolution of cultural behaviours such as class distinction and statehood has been conducted primarily through theoretical lenses that allocate significant weight to the proceeds of external long distance trade. The major outcome is that archaeologists have rarely paused to evaluate not just the definition of prestige goods but also the congruity between global ‘universals’ and African ‘particularities’. Using empirical evidence from the southern African historical and archaeological records, this paper seeks to evaluate the concept of prestige goods and to assess their contribution to the evolution of Iron Age (AD 200–1900) communities of different time periods, from locally centred positions. It reveals that the distribution, use and deposition of exotic imports in southern Africa is not compatible with the pattern suggested by the prestige goods model, and points towards their valuation as embedded within situational contexts of meaning. In fact, hinterland elites controlled neither the source nor the distribution of exotic goods from producer regions, making them a volatile source of power and prestige. While local elites used exotic imports when available, and imposed taxes on their citizens—payable in both local and external goods—land, cattle, religion and individual entrepreneurship were far more predictable and stable sources of prestige, wealth and power. This provides the basis for reassessing the development of complexity in the region and potentially contributes towards global debates on the impact of long-distance trade in the development of complex states.

中文翻译：

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语境中的异国情调：重构南部非洲铁器时代的声望，权力和财富

在前现代社会中社会不平等现象的出现和早期国家形成的人类学和考古学模板中，各种组合和排列的珍贵商品占有重要地位。在非洲，主要是通过理论上的角度来讨论声望商品对诸如阶级区分和国家地位之类的文化行为演变的贡献，这些理论将大量的权重分配给外部长途贸易的收益。主要的结果是，考古学家很少停下来评估不仅要评估声望商品的定义，而且要评估全球“普遍性”与非洲“特殊性”之间的一致性。利用来自南部非洲历史和考古记录的经验证据，本文旨在评估声望商品的概念，并从本地中心位置评估声望商品对不同时期铁器时代（公元200-1900年）社区演变的贡献。它揭示了南部非洲外来进口商品的分布，使用和沉积与信誉商品模型所建议的模式不符，并指出了其在价值情景环境中的价值。实际上，内地精英既没有控制生产地的外来商品的来源也没有对其进行分配，这使他们成为权力和声望的不稳定来源。虽然当地精英会在可能的情况下使用外来进口商品，并对他们的公民征收税款（以本地和外部商品支付），但土地，牲畜，宗教和个人企业家精神是可预测的，稳定的信誉，财富和权力来源。这为重新评估该地区复杂性的发展提供了基础，并有可能促进有关长途贸易对复杂国家发展的影响的全球辩论。