Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Timothy Earle is Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University. He has conducted major archaeological field projects in Hawaii, Peru, Argentina, Denmark and Hungary; he believes that anthropological archaeology is a potent tool for investigating history in ways directly relevant to the modern world. His books on political economy include How Chiefs Come to Power and Bronze Age Economics.
<p>Earle expertly summarizes a career's worth of knowledge on the political and economic underpinnings of early complex societies. . . . as a primer on current social evolutionary thinking it is a highly accessible volume for interested scholars working in California, North America, and beyond. <br /> <strong>--Mikael Fauvelle</strong>, <em>Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology</em> | Vol. 41, No. 2 (2021)</p> <p>Given the scope and depth of Earle's work, this book can justifiably be described as a tour de force . . . Earle's comprehensive and well-researched work should be considered essential reading for those interested in understanding the processes that resulted in the advent of chiefdoms around the world." --<strong>Richard J. Chacon</strong>, Winthrop University, <em>Latin American Antiquity</em>, vol. 32, no. 4, 2021</p>
Anthropological archaeology is well suited to pursue the study of chiefs, their leadership institutions (chiefdoms), and long-term historical processes. In this book Timothy Earle argues that studying chiefdoms is essential to understanding the role of elemental powers in social evolution. He studies chiefs and their power strategies, using as illustrations historically independent prehistoric and traditional societies; he discusses how chiefs continue to exist as powerful actors within modern states.
Chiefs are political operatives who hold titles of leadership over groups larger than intimate kin-based communities; although they rule with the consent of their group, they are all about building personal power and respect. Many scholars have viewed chiefs as problem solvers: defending groups against aggressors, resolving disputes, providing support under hardship, organizing labour for community projects, and redistributing goods among those in need. Chiefs do these things, but much of what they do is to accumulate benefits for themselves, staying in power and legitimizing control.
In this book Timothy Earle argues that studying chiefdoms is essential to understanding the role of elemental powers in social evolution. He studies chiefs and their power strategies in historically independent prehistoric and traditional societies and shows how chiefs continue to exist as powerful actors within modern states.
Chapter 1. Chiefdom Ethnographies of Power and Identity
Chapter 2. Evolutionary Theory Integrating Anthropology
Chapter 3. Chiefdoms and Sociocultural Evolution
Chapter 4. Ritual Mode of Production Based on Religious Ideology
Chapter 5. Corporate Mode of Production and Defense of Land
Chapter 6. Asiatic Mode of Production: Engineered Landscapes
Chapter 7. Predatory Mode of Production and Wealth Finance
Chapter 8. Models for Archaeological Research on Chiefdoms
Project
References
Suggested Readings
"A synthetic tour de force for general readers. Earle navigates theoretically complex waters and makes good sense of the complex ethnographic and archaeological record that we call chiefdoms. The book is a unique blend of archaeology and political science-well crafted, reader-friendly, and inspiring."
Brian Hayden, University of British Columbia
"Earle distills everything he has learned about chiefs and chiefdoms in human history. Students of anthropology and archaeology-and just anyone wishing to understand political relations-can learn about how power and rulers emerged and were controlled. His argument is relevant today and will be into the future. Highly recommended."
Kristian Kristiansen, University of Gothenburg
"Earle has spent a career studying chiefdoms-the dominant form of human organization in the Holocene-and masterfully brings together his lifetime of work on the political, economic, and ideological relationships in these precursors to modern states. This book is a foremost example of understanding power in traditional and modern societies."
Charles S. Stanish, University of South Florida
"Given the scope and depth of Earle's work, this book can justifiably be described as a tour de force. . . . Earle's comprehensive and well-researched work should be considered essential reading for those interested in understanding the processes that resulted in the advent of chiefdoms around the world."
Richard J. Chacon, Winthrop University
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Timothy Earle is Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University. He has conducted major archaeological field projects in Hawaii, Peru, Argentina, Denmark and Hungary; he believes that anthropological archaeology is a potent tool for investigating history in ways directly relevant to the modern world. His books on political economy include How Chiefs Come to Power and Bronze Age Economics.