1. Socio-economic change in ranked societies Colin Renfrew; Part I. The emergence of hierarchical structure : 2. Mobile resources: settlement and exchange in early agricultural Europe Andrew Sherratt; 3. From minimal to moderate ranking Susan Shennan; 4. Exchange and ranking: the role of amber in the earlier bronze age of Europe Stephen Shennan; 5. Autonomy, ranking and resources in Iberian prehistory Robert Chapman; 6. Social boundaries and land boundaries Andrew Fleming; Part II. The development of salient ranking: 7. Fortification, ranking and subsistence Timothy Champion; 8. Exchange and ranking: the case of coral Sara Champion; 9. Gradual growth and sudden change - urbanisation in temperate Europe John Collis; 10. Wealth, prestige and power: the dynamics of late iron age political centralisation in south-east England Colin Haselgrove; Part III. The resource base of early state societies: the Aegean: 11. A friend in need is a friend indeed: social storage and the origins of social ranking Paul Halstead and John O'Shea; 12. Leadership and 'surplus' production Clive Gamble; 13. Settlement patterns, land tenure and social structure: a diachronic model John Bintliff; Part IV. Post-collapse resurgence: culture process in the Dark Ages: 14. The evolution of gateway communities: their socio-economic implications Richard Hodges; 15. Stress as a stimulus for socio-economic change: Anglo-Saxon England in the seventh century C. J. Arnold; 16. Rank, rights and resources: an archaeological perspective from Denmark Klaus Randsborg; Part V. Discussion: contrasting paradigms: 17. Materialism and socio-economic process in multilinear evolution John Gledhill and M. J. Rowlands; 18. The identification and interpretation of ranking in prehistory: a contextual perspective Ian Hodder; 19. Comments on 'Explanation' Robert Whallon; Part VI. Epilogue: 20. Meaning, inference and the material record Lewis R. Binford.