Theoretical concepts and an easy practical tool for working with prehistoric wealth and inequality
Friday lecture by postdoc Mikkel Nørtoft, Saxo Institute.
In this talk, I will touch upon a few theoretical concepts and mechanisms for understanding different types of wealth accumulation today and in the past. I will also show how wealth display can be quantified in practice from grave data, or house size data, and what these can (and cannot) tell us about wealth and (in)equality in prehistory.
I will also give a few tips to make inequality measures (such as the popular, but debated, Gini coefficient, ranging 0 to 1) more useful in archaeology. Finally, I will show my new online wealth/inequality app “QuantWealth” in which anyone can input their grave and/or house size data, applying some of the above tips, and how this app can help build our empirical understanding of prehistoric wealth and inequality.
No registration required, everyone is welcome. Questions? Contact Henriette Lyngstrøm at lyngst@hum.ku.dk.
About the series
See all Friday lectures in the series
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6 February 2026: En verden uden billeder: Hvorfor holdt neolitiske samfund op med at lave figuriner? by Valeska Becker (in Danish)
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13 February 2026: Osseous industries in southern Scandinavia before and after Neolithisation (5400–2600 BC): Traditions, ruptures, & interactions by Solveig Chaudesaigues-Clausen
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20 February 2026: Penge og/eller mønter by Helle Horsnæs (in Danish)
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27 February 2026: Theoretical concepts and an easy practical tool for working with prehistoric wealth and inequality by Mikkel Nørtoft
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6 March 2026: Mønter – arkæologens bedste ven by Gitte Ingvardson (in Danish)
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13 March 2026: Vi ta'r rygmærket på – vi bliver arkæologer. Men hvordan? by Henriette Lyngstrøm and more (in Danish)
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20 March 2026: Den samfundsmæssige udvikling i Jylland i førromersk jernalder (500-1 f.v.t.) by Per Ole Rindel (in Danish)
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27 March 2026: Frisurer fra jernalderen by Charlotte Rimstad (in Danish)
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10 April 2026: FORTIS - et projekt om jernalderens befæstninger på Bornholm by Laurine Albris (in Danish)
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17 April 2026: Moselig – mænd, kvinder og unisex by Ulla Mannering (in Danish)
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24 April 2026: In saxo simul et in fonte: Græsk-romerske konstellationer af natur, billedkunst og arkitektur by Wolfgang Filser (in Danish)
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1 May 2026: All quiet on the Western front? The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of Greece as seen from its Western mainland by Joos Melander
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8 May 2026: Haithabu som et nationalt projekt by Carsten Jahnke (in Danish)
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