Archaeology and quality of life in Central-European, pre-industrial towns (fourteenth to eighteenth centuries)

0562342 - ARÚ 2023 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Piekalski, J. - Sawicki, Jakub - Duma, P.
Archaeology and quality of life in Central-European, pre-industrial towns (fourteenth to eighteenth centuries).
International Journal of Historical Archaeology. Roč. 26, č. 4 (2022), s. 1132-1158. ISSN 1092-7697. E-ISSN 1573-7748
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA18-26503S
Grant - others:Polish National Science Centre(PL) 2019/35/B/HS3/00088
Institutional support: RVO:67985912
Keywords : urban archaeology * material culture * economic inequalities * dress accessories * quality of life * Early modern Europe
OECD category: Archaeology
Impact factor: 0.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10761-022-00654-7.pdf

Diversification of standards of living in modern societies is one of the main research topics for economists and sociologists. Usually, economic inequalities are considered to be a natural phenomenon which trigger further progress and, in moderate amounts, are socially acceptable. However, deep inequalities are unjust and destructive and lead to conflicts. The research of contemporary inequalities in living standards mainly focuses on defining their source and their social and economic implications. The issue of social inequalities in pre-industrial societies is researched in a similar way, but requires different methods and data sources. The purpose of this paper is to determine the usefulness of archaeology in the research of diversification of living standards in Central-European cities at the end of Middle Ages and in the Early Modern era. As a case study we discuss the consumption strategies of Late Medieval and Early Modern dress accessories from different burgher plots in Prague (modern Czech Republic) and Wrocław (modern Poland) as an introduction for broader research.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0334683