resources were manipulated to these ends and how the material world
was conceived as a canvas for imaginative possibilities. Gold was one
example of a raw material that acquired special meaning. For the herds-
men who fattened their cows, sheep, and horses in the well-watered
valleys of the south-east Balkans dressed their distinguished dead with
gold leaf-like sheets. Indeed, gold is one of the examples of metal
consumption that has a significant role in the economic history of this
region. It had a social value in this context quite different from the one it
later acquired when the same metal was converted into minted coins.
This social value needs to be understood and explained, using
approaches other than exclusively (or primarily) political ones.
A historical balance sheetAt the same time, it would be a mistake to imagine that we can draw up
some kind of balance sheet of assets for a representative number of states
in the north Aegean and use it as the primary basis for considering the
economies of the region. Early modern and modern economies have
usually been examined through the prism of the nation state. Assess-
ments of revenue and expenditure are based on measurable income and
taxes (expressed as GDP), with rather rough estimates for what cannot
be measured. This is a good enough strategy forfiscal purposes, but fails
to capture the wellsprings of individual economic motivation alongside
behaviour. More significantly, perhaps, the pragmaticfiscal approach
fails to capture the real wealth value of certain social and cultural assets,
because we have no way of accounting for these in monetary terms.
A contemporary analogy might illustrate the nature of the problem.
There has been an attempt during the last decade to include heritage
assets in the United Kingdom’s overall state balance sheet. Titian’s
magnificent paintingDiana and Actaeonwas purchased in 2009 by the
National Gallery, London, and the National Galleries of Scotland, on
behalf of the British people, from the Duke of Sutherland, for the sum of
£50 million.^5 The main reason for the inclusion of this picture in the
‘national’balance sheet, drawn up for the UK’s Treasury, seems to have
been the ready availability of thefigure for the picture’s valuation and
sale. As a report published in theFinancial Timesmakes clear, the
exclusion of many other material assets from the balance sheet, despite
their considerable historical value, is a function of the cost of conducting
(^5) ‘Public sector accounting: How to treat treasures’by Adam Jones,Financial Times,
8 March 2012.
40 Herdsmen with golden leaves—narratives and spaces