Complex society (Other Keyword)
1-6 (6 Records)
Teotihuacan grew explosively ca. 100 BC to become the most influential city in Mesoamerica. For several decades little research has been directed toward understanding the origins of complex society in the Teotihuacan Valley. Recent archaeological investigations at the Early-Middle Formative site of Altica provide a fresh perspective on dating the initial establishment of agricultural villages, early social and economic differentiation, and the development of intra-and inter-regional exchange...
Can we measure the degree of social complexity within Quimi Valley? (2016)
The Upper Amazon has been considered a place of weak socio-political integration, along with poor agricultural production, mostly sustained on fishing and hunter-gathering. However, during the last decade, archaeological research carried out in Quimi Valley (Zamora-Chinchipe) has demonstrated the presence of social complexes of about thousands of inhabitants around the valley. While discussion about the existence of sedentary communities during the Integration Period (700 – 1420 AD) has been...
Ceramic production for Castillo de Huarmey, Peru: multiple productions and buzzing potters (2017)
The paste analysis of the ceramics found in the Castillo de Huarmey, a Middle Horizon Wari political center on the north coast of Peru brought forth the existence of a variety of production areas and a panorama of multiple producers with different agendas or practices. Much of the ceramics appear to have been made with material available in the Huarmey lower valley, coastal area, and probably the adjacent Culebras Valley. The fine painted Wari ceramics and fine reduced impressed wares present a...
Evaluating Structural Change in Neolithic Economies: Social Network Analysis of Utilitarian Pottery Exchange in the Jianghan Plain (2017)
The emergence of walled town settlements of the late Neolithic middle Yangzi River region are widely associated with the development of a complex form of social organization. While significant attention has focused on the structure and organization of individual walled settlements, little is known about the nature of social and economic interactions between communities. To address this issue, I combined geochemical analysis of pottery with formal social network methods to investigate changes in...
Introduction to Smallholders and Complex Society, with a Note on Pigs and Mesopotamia (2016)
In this introduction, I discuss the literature on smallholders in complex societies and directions for current and future archaeological research. I attempt to answer several questions: What is a smallholder? How can we detect them in the archaeological record? How does a focus on smallholders contribute to studies of other social groups, such as classes, gender, and ethnicity? I conclude my presentation with a discussion of the role of smallholders in pig husbandry in Chalcolithic and Bronze...
Village to City: Formative Period Political Evolution in Central Mexico (2018)
Current research has prompted rethinking about the early development of sedentism, agricultural economies, and complex societies in Central Mexico. We discuss new evidence of significant interconnected changes ca.1000 BC that through multiple trajectories involved intensified maize production, expansion of sedentary villages, expanded interaction networks, and increased social complexity. With the establishment of the first cities, the Late Formative saw corporate political economy strategies...