Working With Prehistoric Wealth and Inequality
From The Observatory
Date
February 27, 2026
Location
South Campus, Saxo Institute
Area
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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.Agenda
No registration required, everyone is welcome. Questions? Contact Henriette Lyngstrøm at lyngst@hum.ku.dk.
Key Speaker: Mikkel Nørtoft
Participants
The Saxo Institute
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Research and teaching at the Saxo Institute cover the subject areas of classical and prehistoric archaeology, European ethnology, Greek & Latin, and history. Within these areas, the institute offers six bachelor's and master's degree programs, two minor subject programs, two English-language master's programs, and numerous English-language courses for international students.
The institute is home to several research centers, research clusters, networks, and externally funded projects, all contributing to a dynamic, engaged, and interdisciplinary research environment. Generosity, curiosity, and respect for diversity in perspectives, theories, and methods are core values in the institute's work.