Archaic States (School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0933452993 ISBN 13: 9780933452992

Publisher: School for Advanced Research Press, 1998

Synopsis

One of the most challenging problems facing contemporary archaeology concerns the operation and diversity of ancient states. This volume addresses how ancient states were structured and how they operated, an understanding of which is key to our ability to interpret a state's rise or fall. Archaic States presents new comparative studies of early states in the Old and New Worlds and identifies important avenues for research and discussion in the decades ahead. Among the themes addressed are the scale, size, and organization of ancient states; state typologies and corporate political economy; the ground plans of buildings in archaic states; strategies of state expansion; the incorporation of autonomous polities in the state and their subsequent governance; evidence of order, legitimacy, and wealth; warfare and status rivalry; and the political and social complexity of states. With essays on the Near East, India and Pakistan, Egypt, Mesoamerica, and the Andes.

About this title

About the Author:

Contributors are John Baines, Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Kent V. Flannery, Joyce Marcus, Craig Morris, Gregory L. Possehl, David Webster, Henry T. Wright, and Norman Yoffee. This book is the result of the seminar The Archaic State, held at the School of American Research in November 1992.

Review:

Archaic States is rich in its theoretical dimensions.... [T]he challenge of applying the concepts and theories laid out in this volume and integrating them with agency, factionalism, households, and gender will occupy a generation of scholars. --Deborah Nichols, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 27 (2000)

The impressive breadth of the volume leaves the reader with a clear impression of the diversitiy and complexity of ancient states. --Science Books and Films

About this edition

• Publisher: School for Advanced Research Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0933452993
• ISBN 13: 9780933452992
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Feinman Gary M., Marcus Joyce