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The Emergence of Premodern States

The Emergence of Premodern States

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Like many other sciences, archaeology is experiencing a data deluge. The recent accumulation of accessible data on early urban societies, coupled with the re-emergence of comparative studies, puts modern scholars in a position to make significant theoretical advances concerning the key episode of human social organization that provided the foundations of the contemporary world: the formation of the state.

A complex systems approach—pioneered at the Santa Fe Institute—involves fully interdisciplinary explorations of long-debated questions. Can basic quantitative analysis of human social evolution reveal macrocultural processes? Can we understand social cohesion by way of cultural genotypes? And does the emergence of social complexity involve the creation of new potential or the realization of latent human capabilities?

In this volume, many of the foremost experts in quantitative archaeology and anthropology leverage innovative methodologies—including agent-based modeling, network analysis, and theoretical applications of evolutionary biology—to push the field in new directions.

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Table of Contents

PART I: BACKGROUND 

1: Extending Our Knowledge of Premodern StatesJeremy A. Sabloff

2: The Problem of States:  The State of the ProblemHenry T. Wright 

3: Systematic Comparative Approaches to the Archaeological RecordLaura Fortunato
 

PART II: NEW RESEARCH

4: Status, Role, and Behavior in Premodern States:  A Comparative Analysis , Paula L.W. Sabloff and Skyler Cragg 

5: Ecological and Social Dynamics of Territoriality and Hierarchy FormationPaul L. Hooper, Eric Alden Smith. Tim Kohler, Henry T. Wright, and Hilliard S. Kaplan

6: Sociopolitical Evolution in Midrange Societies:  The Prehispanic Pueblo CaseTim KohlerStefani Crabtree, and R. Kyle Bocinsky 

7: The Contours of Cultural EvolutionScott Ortman, Lily Blair, and Peter Peregrine
 

PART III: SYNTHESES

8: Cultural Genotypes and Social ComplexityScott Ortman

9: Toward a Theory of Recurrent Social FormationsPeter Peregrine

10: Concluding RemarksJeremy A. Sabloff and Paula L.W. Sabloff 


Contributors: 

  • Lily Blair, Stanford University

  • R. Kyle Bocinsky, Washington State University

  • Stefani Crabtree, Pennsylvania State University

  • Skyler Cragg, formerly SFI

  • Laura Fortunato, University of Oxford and SFI External Professor

  • Paul L. Hooper, Santa Fe Institute

  • Hilliard S. Kaplan, University of New Mexico

  • Tim Kohler, Washington State University and SFI External Professor

  • Scott Ortman, University of Colorado Boulder and SFI External Professor

  • Peter Peregrine, Lawrence University and SFI External Professor

  • Eric Alden Smith, University of Washington

  • Henry T. Wright, University of Michigan and SFI External Professor