The Archaeology Of Political Organization

Author : Barbara L. Stark
Publisher : Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
Page : 438 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2022-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781950446193

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The Archaeology of Political Organization by Barbara L. Stark Pdf

In this volume, Barbara Stark examines settlement in the coastal plain of lowland Mesoamerica, which was richly endowed with fertile soil and valued tropical resources such as jaguars, cacao, avian species with bright plumage, and cotton. The book provides basic archaeological data about regional settlement from three decades of survey research in south-central Veracruz in the western lower Papaloapan basin, a region with low density urbanism. The data reveals political and social change, with consolidation of wealth by elite families during the Late Classic period. The political analysis considers archaeological evidence related to several organizational principles: collective versus autocratic, corporate versus exclusionary/network, and segmentary (unspecialized versus specialized). Many variables related to these principles used by other scholars are either suited to historically documented states, not archaeological ones, or ambiguous. Many published studies either focus on a particular city or use documents or other evidence drawn from the top of the settlement hierarchy, characterizing the whole society politically from a biased sample. This political analysis is regional in scope and attentive to variation in the settlement hierarchy, providing a guidepost to analysis of political principles with archaeological data.

Author : Andrew M. Bauer,Peter G. Johanson
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2011-05-25
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781443831376

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The Archaeology of Politics by Andrew M. Bauer,Peter G. Johanson Pdf

The Archaeology of Politics is a collection of essays that examines political action and practice in the past through studies and analyses of material culture from the perspective of anthropological archaeology. Contributors to this volume explore a variety of multi-scalar relationships between past peoples, places, objects and environments. At stake in this volume is what it is that constitutes politics, its social and cultural location, fields of analysis, its materiality and sociology and especially its position and possibilities as a conceptual and analytical category in archaeological investigations of past socio-cultural worlds. Our primary goals are twofold: the problematization and re-conceptualization of politics from its understanding as a reified essence or structure of political forms (e.g., a State) to a fluid, dynamic and culturally inflected set of practices; and, second, to consider politics’ entanglement with the materiality of socio-cultural worlds at multiple-scales through the demonstration of innovative analytical approaches to the material record. The volume is a tightly integrated group of essays exploring an assortment of case studies that offer new theoretical insight to archaeological and historical analyses of politics.

Author : Sarah B. Barber,Arthur A. Joyce
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2017-09-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781317440826

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Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas by Sarah B. Barber,Arthur A. Joyce Pdf

This exciting collection explores the interplay of religion and politics in the precolumbian Americas. Each thought-provoking contribution positions religion as a primary factor influencing political innovations in this period, reinterpreting major changes through an examination of how religion both facilitated and constrained transformations in political organization and status relations. Offering unparalleled geographic and temporal coverage of this subject, Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas spans the entire precolumbian period, from Preceramic Peru to the Contact period in eastern North America, with case studies from North, Middle, and South America. Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas considers the ways in which religion itself generated political innovation and thus enabled political centralization to occur. It moves beyond a "Great Tradition" focus on elite religion to understand how local political authority was negotiated, contested, bolstered, and undermined within diverse constituencies, demonstrating how religion has transformed non-Western societies. As well as offering readers fresh perspectives on specific archaeological cases, this book breaks new ground in the archaeological examination of religion and society.

Author : Tamara L. Bray
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2007-05-28
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780306482465

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The Archaeology and Politics of Food and Feasting in Early States and Empires by Tamara L. Bray Pdf

This volume examines the commensal politics of early states and empires and offers a comparative perspective on how food and feasting have figured in the political calculus of archaic states in both the Old and New Worlds. It provides a cross-cultural and comparative analysis for scholars and graduate students concerned with the archaeology of complex societies, the anthropology of food and feasting, ancient statecraft, archaeological approaches to micro-political processes, and the social interpretation of prehistoric pottery.

Author : Randall H. McGuire
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2008-04-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780520254916

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Archaeology as Political Action by Randall H. McGuire Pdf

“It is rare to read an archaeological book that has the capacity to inspire, as this one has.”—Mark P. Leone, author of The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital “Archaeology as Political Action is a highly original work that will be important for archaeologists and others concerned with processes of social change in the world today and, more importantly, with making a difference.”—Thomas C. Patterson, coeditor of Foundations of Social Archaeology “This powerful statement by a leading archaeological thinker has profound implications for rigorous archaeological interpretation, community collaboration, and political intervention.”—Stephen W. Silliman, coeditor of Historical Archaeology

Author : Jonathan Haas
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781461512974

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From Leaders to Rulers by Jonathan Haas Pdf

What is the role of leadership in society? Why do people surrender their political autonomy to the decision-making authority of leaders and rulers? Why do people follow the commands of their leaders? Who gets to be king/chief/emperor and why? Why are some societies centralized while others are not? The papers in this volume draw on the archaeological record of societies from around the world to address these critical issues in contemporary social science.

Author : Robert L. Carneiro,Leonid E. Grinin,Andrey V Korotayev
Publisher : Eliot Werner Publications
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2017-12-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781733376952

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Chiefdoms by Robert L. Carneiro,Leonid E. Grinin,Andrey V Korotayev Pdf

What many anthropologists regard as the major step in political development occurred when, for the first time in history, previously autonomous villages gave up their individual sovereignties and were brought together into a multi-village political unit--the chiefdom. Though long neglected as a major stage in history, recent years have seen the chiefdom come in for increased attention. As its importance has been more fully recognized, it has become the object of serious scholarly analysis and interpretation. In this volume specialists in political evolution draw on data from ethnography, archaeology, and history and apply fresh insights to enhance the study of the chiefdom. The papers present penetrating analyses of many aspects of the chiefdom, from how this form of political organization first arose to the role it played in giving rise to the next major stage in the development of human society--the state.

Author : Lisa J. LeCount,Jason Yaeger
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
Page : 465 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2010-09-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780816528844

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Classic Maya Provincial Politics by Lisa J. LeCount,Jason Yaeger Pdf

Most treatments of large Classic Maya sites such as Caracol and Tikal regard Maya political organization as highly centralized. Because investigations have focused on civic buildings and elite palaces, however, a critical part of the picture of Classic Maya political organization has been missing. The contributors to this volume chart the rise and fall of the Classic Maya center of Xunantunich, paying special attention to its changing relationships with the communities that comprised its hinterlands. They examine how the changing relationships between Xunantunich and the larger kingdom of Naranjo affected the local population, the location of their farms and houses, and the range of economic and subsistence activities in which both elites and commoners engaged. They also examine the ways common people seized opportunities and met challenges offered by a changing political landscape. The rich archaeological data in this book show that incorporating subject communities and people—and keeping them incorporated—was an on-going challenge to ancient Maya rulers. Until now, archaeologists have lacked integrated regional data and a fine-grained chronology in which to document short-term shifts in site occupations, subsistence strategies, and other important practices of the daily life of the Maya. This book provides a revised picture of Maya politics—one of different ways of governing and alliance formation among dominant centers, provincial polities, and hinterland communities.

Author : T. L. Thurston,Manuel Fernández-Götz
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2021-10-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9781316515396

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Power from Below in Premodern Societies by T. L. Thurston,Manuel Fernández-Götz Pdf

This volume challenges traditional narratives on power, moving away from elite-centered models and focusing instead on the archaeology of commoners.

Author : James Koranyi,Emily Hanscam
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2022-12-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110697445

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Digging Politics by James Koranyi,Emily Hanscam Pdf

Digging Politics explores uses of the ancient past in east-central Europe spanning the fascist, communist and post-communist period. Contributions range from East Germany to Poland to Romania to the Balkans. The volume addresses two central questions: Why then and why there. Without arguing for an east-central European exceptionalism, Digging Politics uncovers transnational phenomena across the region that have characterized political wrangling over ancient pasts. Contributions include the biographies of famous archaeologists during the Cold War, the wrought history of organizational politics of archaeology in Romania and the Balkans, politically charged Cold War exhibitions of the Thracians, the historical re-enactment of supposed ancient Central tribes in Hungary, and the virtual archaeology of Game of Thrones in Croatia. Digging Politics charts the extraordinary story of ancient pasts in modern east-central Europe.

Author : Olivier de Montmollin
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2004-01-22
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0521548020

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The Archaeology of Political Structure by Olivier de Montmollin Pdf

This innovative analysis of archaeological settlement patterns as a guide to ancient political structure focuses on the Maya of Southeastern Mexico. Working principally with data from the Classic Period in the Rosario Valley, Dr de Montmollin relates problem orientation and theory to themes with wide currency in political anthropolgy. For archaeologists interested in complex societies, the handling of the settlement evidence and the close attention paid to bridging arguments provide valuable guidance on analysing a multiscale settlement record when reconstructing political structure. For Mayanists, the characterization of settlement and political structure is unprecedented in its rigour and scope. The Archaeology of Political Structure thus blends the particular fascination of Maya archaeology with developments of more general interest in anthropological archaeology to make a substantial contribution to the practice and theory of settlement studies within complex societies.

Author : Steadman Upham
Publisher : CUP Archive
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 1990-09-20
Category : History
ISBN : 0521382521

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The Evolution of Political Systems by Steadman Upham Pdf

Author : Jeffrey Quilter,Luis Jaime Castillo,Luis Jaime Castillo B.
Publisher : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Mochica Indians
ISBN : 0884023621

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New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization by Jeffrey Quilter,Luis Jaime Castillo,Luis Jaime Castillo B. Pdf

Based on a set of papers presented by sixteen international scholars at the Dumbarton Oaks Pre-Columbian Studies symposium held in Lima, Peru, in 2004, this volume brings together essays on the nature of political organization of the Moche, a complex pre-Inca society that existed on the north coast of Peru from c. 100 to 800 CE.

Author : Sarah Kurnick,Joanne Baron
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2016-03-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781607324164

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Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica by Sarah Kurnick,Joanne Baron Pdf

Political authority contains an inherent contradiction. Rulers must reinforce social inequality and bolster their own unique position at the top of the sociopolitical hierarchy, yet simultaneously emphasize social similarities and the commonalities shared by all. Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica explores the different and complex ways that those who exercised authority in the region confronted this contradiction. New data from a variety of well-known scholars in Mesoamerican archaeology reveal the creation, perpetuation, and contestation of politically authoritative relationships between rulers and subjects and between nobles and commoners. The contributions span the geographic breadth and temporal extent of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica—from Preclassic Oaxaca to the Classic Petén region of Guatemala to the Postclassic Michoacán—and the contributors weave together archaeological, epigraphic, and ethnohistoric data. Grappling with the questions of how those exercising authority convince others to follow and why individuals often choose to recognize and comply with authority, Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica discusses why the study of political authority is both timely and significant, reviews how scholars have historically understood the operation of political authority, and proposes a new analytical framework to understand how rulers rule. Contributors include Sarah B. Barber, Joanne Baron, Christopher S. Beekman, Jeffrey Brzezinski, Bryce Davenport, Charles Golden, Takeshi Inomata, Arthur A. Joyce, Sarah Kurnick, Carlo J. Lucido, Simon Martin, Tatsuya Murakami, Helen Perlstein Pollard, and Víctor Salazar Chávez.

Author : Margarita Díaz-Andreu,Timothy Champion
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2014-10-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781317605140

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Nationalism and Archaeology in Europe by Margarita Díaz-Andreu,Timothy Champion Pdf

Archaeologists from many different European countries here explore the very varied relationship between nationalistic ideas and archaeological activity through the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The resurgence of nationalism was one of the most prominent features of the European political scene in the 1990s, when this book was originally published. The past provides a large supply of ideas and images to support the claims of national identity deeply rooted in remote generations. The remote past revealed by archaeology also plays a part – heroes, heroines, golden ages long disappeared, objects to admire, and sites to provoke the memory, all called on to further the cause of nationalism. Drawing on the authoritative insights of the indigenous contributors, this book examines the issues throughout modern Europe. All of the chapters share a concern to see archaeology and the study of the past as intimately related to contemporary social and political questions. The present shapes the way we think about the past but the past also provides us with evidence for thinking about the present. These issues are timeless and this comprehensive examination of a host of issues remains important for historians and those pursuing nationalistic politics.