I'm late to the party, but I would assume that the amount of non-useful items owned by a person can be a heuristic for the amount of respect/power/influence tha

I'm late to the party, but I would assume that the amount of non-useful items owned by a person can be a heuristic for the amount of respect/power/influence that person would have. How that influence is manifested could well be through religious (shamanism) means, but it could also signify a great warrior, or the dominant member of a family/tribe/etc.