Stone Products of Prestigious Technologies on the Sites of the Stone and Bronze Age of the Urals

Abstract

Prestigious technologies are focused on the manufacture of products for public display. Their purpose is not to solve practical problems but to demonstrate wealth, prestige, status, and power. Prestigious products may include tools or jewelry made with extraordinary skills, having an unusual shape and large dimensions. They were often made from rare and spectacular types of mineral raw materials. The complexity in the manufacture of such items was important. From the Upper Paleolithic to the Early Iron Age, stone products of prestigious technologies were used in all archaeological periods. In the Urals, shaped hammers, maces, “ironings,” flint sculpture, jade, and rock crystal products are considered prestigious. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.