Trade Participation and Funerary Space: A Trade-Constraining Mechanism in Roman-Period Prussian Society — A Case Study of the Western Sambian Peninsula

This paper is based on the archaeological site catalogue of the western Sambian Peninsula and examines the spatial distribution of burial and settlement sites from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. In combination with the phenomenon of Roman coins entering the Prussian burial system, it proposes an interpretive model of social differentiation. In the absence of local non-ferrous metal resources, the acquisition of metal depended on interregional exchange networks. Within this structure, the significance of metal may lie not only in its material properties, but also in the channels through which it was obtained. The deposition of metal objects (including Roman coins) in graves, from this perspective, can be understood as a practice of withdrawing resources from systems of redistribution, and may be interpreted as a social expression of access to such resources. This paper argues that such practices may reflect the control of access points to external resources and their institutionalized social meaning. Rather than explaining social differentiation simply in terms of “wealth inflow,” this study proposes an alternative framework of “access-based differentiation,” in order to provide a new perspective on the formation of social structures in Roman-period Prussian society. This is a working paper. Comments are welcome. English revised working-paper version of the previously uploaded Chinese manuscript.