Small-scale societies (Other Keyword)
1-1 (1 Record)
The Perplexing Complexity of Some New Guinea Communities (2017)
DOCUMENT
Citation Only
At contact, a number of New Guinea communities boasted considerable ‘horizontal’ complexity – very large populations (up to 2,500 people) and ceremonial arenas that engaged even more. Many also constructed monumental architectures of organic material and staggering size. These communities included complex fisher-foragers and Big-man horticulturalists, organizations that are commonly identified as only minimally hierarchical. Certainly, their hierarchical institutions were insufficiently...