By studying chiefdoms--kin-based societies in which a person's place in a kinship system determines his or her social status and political position--this book addresses several fundamental questions concerning the nature of political power and the evolution of sociopolitical complexity. In a chiefdom, the highest-status male (first son by the first wife) holds both authority and special access to economic, military, and ideological power, and others derive privilege from their positions in the chiefly hierarchy. A chiefdom is also a regional polity with institutional governance and some...