Over its history, archaeology has seen a varied set of uses made of philosophy and philosophical concepts. A persistent critique has been that too often philosophical or more generally theoretical debates have made little difference in terms of empirical archaeological work and interpretation. Now, archaeologists and philosophers at Kiel University have carried out an interdisciplinary study on the operationalization of the so-called ‘capability approach’ in archaeology. They’ve applied their approach to the giant-settlements of the Trypillia culture (5050 to 2950 BCE).
Reconstruction of a Trypillia house. Image credit: Susanne Beyer, Kiel University.
The Trypillia culture is a Neolithic European culture that arose in Ukraine between the Seret and Bug rivers, with extensions south into modern-day Romania and Moldova and east to the Dnieper River, in the 5th millennium BCE.
Also known as the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, it is renowned for its large, ring-shaped settlements, which covered up to 320 ha and contained up to almost 3,000 dwellings, with populations ranging from a probable 6,000 to a maximum of 17,000 inhabitants in the largest site.
Notable characteristics include the high quality of painted ceramics, figurative art, and a longstanding tradition of burning dwellings.
Trypillian society was matriarchal, with women heading the household, doing agricultural work, and manufacturing pottery, textiles and clothing. Hunting, keeping domestic animals and making tools were the responsibilities of the men.
“For the first time, we were ultimately able to relate archaeological categories to those of the United Nations Human Development Index,” said Kiel University’s Dr. Vesa Arponen, lead author of the study.
“Thus, the presented approach also enables links to be made between the distant past and the present.”
“The ‘capability approach’ is a philosophical concept that goes back to the work of the Indian philosopher and economist Amartya Sen in the 1970s and 1980s.”
“The approach assumes that human well-being is not only measured by material possessions but also by other means that enable and facilitate action, as well as by the capabilities for groups and individuals to lead an active life.”
“Today, this concept of human well-being serves as the theoretical basis for the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI).”
“However, applying it to human communities in the distant past poses a major challenge.”
“How can we use the static remains of material culture to reconstruct dimensions of the dynamic activity behind it?” said Dr. René Ohlrau, co-author of the study.
The researchers developed an analytic scheme that relates archaeological categories to those of the United Nation’s Human Development Index.
“One of these categories, for example, is the standard of living, which is also reflected at a societal level in the capacity for innovation,” said Kiel University’s Professor Tim Kerig, co-author of the study.
“Technical innovations can indeed be traced in archaeological finds, for example, when a certain shape of plough or new looms appear in the archaeological record.”
They then applied the newly-developed scheme to the Trypillia giant-settlements.
“The application of our analysis tool confirms previous studies,” Dr. Arponen said.
“They maintain that these settlements were characterized by great social equality in their blossoming phase and that people had extensive opportunities to be active themselves.”
“However, our results point to different explanations for this than before.”
“Until now, climate change and population growth have often been seen as triggers to which people reacted with innovations in politics and technology.”
“Our analytical approach opens up the possibility of interpreting the developments in the Cucuteni-Trypillia societies the other way around.”
“It could have been the expanded opportunities for people and their chance of realization that attracted more people, which then led to population growth and innovation.”
The team’s paper was published in the journal Open Archaeology.
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V. Arponen et al. 2024. The Capability Approach and Archaeological Interpretation of Transformations: On the Role of Philosophy for Archaeology. Open Archaeology 10 (1): 20240013; doi: 10.1515/opar-2024-0013