Fluid communities: Interaction and emergence in the Bronze Age Black Sea

Trade, exchange and other forms of social interaction have long been recognized as important mechanisms for the development of communities and the maintenance of social bonds. How and under what circumstances these networks of communication develop into communities with a shared identity is a question that archaeology, with its perspective over the long-term, may be prepared to explore, but to do so requires that we rethink current approaches to the study of social interaction and trade. This study revisits concepts of trade and interaction in archaeology and examines how decentralized, networks of interaction connecting people across long distances may themselves develop into new social formations, taking the Bronze Age Black Sea region as a case study. As part of its reassessment of trade studies, it introduces a new semiotic-based model for interpreting material culture as a mechanism for communication and cultural motion. Drawing inspiration from recent cultural and linguistic anthropological studies which highlight how communities are maintained through the circulation of culture in social interaction and discourse, the 'cultural pragmatics' approach presented here builds upon Peircean semiotic theory to explore the multivalent nature of material signs (in this case, pottery) as mediative vehicles for connecting people and expressing a community identity. Through the examination and comparison of pottery technology traditions from the Turkish coastal region of Sinop and elsewhere around the Black Sea, it is possible to identify the development of shared material practices across the region during the Early Bronze Age, and it is suggested that a new "Black Sea" community identity emerges at this time, possibly as a result of the regions role as a network between the complex societies of greater Mesopotamia and Europe. This case serves to illustrate how interaction networks may themselves develop into new social forms, and how material practices may index the development of new identities among dispersed communities. Finally, it illustrates that archaeology can contribute to current understandings of how decentralized communities develop and provides new perspectives on the interpretation of 'trade' in material signs.