Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations

ISBN-13: 9780521521567 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 292 str.

Norman Yoffee

Opis

Classical archaeology promotes the view that a state's evolution reflects general, universal forces. Norman Yoffee challenges the model in this book by presenting more complex and multi-linear models for the evolution of civilizations. Yoffee questions the definition of the prehistoric state, particularly that which heralds "the chiefdom" as the forerunner of the ancient state and explores case studies on the role of women in ancient societies.

Recenzje

'Myths of the Archaic State clears away the cobwebs of an earlier generation of anthropological thought and, in its strongest moments, points toward a new configuration of global history.' Science

Spis treści

1. Evolution of a factoid; 2. Dimensions of power in the earliest states; 3. The meaning of cities in the earliest states and civilizations; 4. When complexity was simplified; 5. Identity and agency in early states: case studies; 6. The collapse of ancient states and civilizations; 7. Social evolutionary trajectories; 8. New rules of the game; 9. Altered states: the evolution of history.

O autorze

Yoffee, Norman Norman Yoffee is Professor of Mesopotamian Studies and Anthropology at the Centre for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His various publications and edited works include Archaeological Theory: Who Sets the Agenda? (0521440149 HB; 0521449588 PB) and The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations (co-editor with George L. Cowgill) (University of Arizona Press, 1988).