Elite Ambitions, Public Works, and Political Consolidation: A Comparative View

Summary

We are accustomed to temples, platforms, plazas, tombs, statues, fortifications, raised fields, or other large-scale constructions as archaeologically conspicuous signs of the successes of early complex societies. Archaeologists often assign major roles to such public works in creating social cohesion and extending elite power. This may be a consequence of material benefits, such as increased agricultural production or protection from attack, or it may represent the materialization of politically useful ideology so as to strengthen or extend it. A broadly comparative empirical view makes it clear, however, that larger, more elaborate, and more costly public works do not necessarily correspond to larger-scale and more successful political consolidation. Some especially impressive examples may instead indicate highly precarious political circumstances. There is a delicate balance of forces between ambition, power, resources, and resistance. Successful elite strategies can contain the seeds of their own destruction if they eventually upset this balance. The balance can also be altered, either to the benefit or the detriment of elites, by forces impinging from outside.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Difference in Archaeological Theory and Practise

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