Reciprocity and symbolic exchange are of considerable importance to understanding the Mycenaean political economy at Pylos. Thus, while wealth finance is a useful heuristic concept for making sense of Mycenaean political economy, it does not do an adequate job of describing or explaining that economy, which would be better characterized as a "prestige economy." Unlike the well-known prestige goods model, the Mycenaean economy uses both staples in feasts and non-staples in symbolic exchanges to

more »

... romote solidarity and ensure allegiance. At Mycenaean Pylos, the goal of most distributions seems aimed at the direct accumulation of symbolic profit.