Integrating Archaeological Evidence on the Origins and Transformation of Sociopolitical Complexity During the Holocene

Summary

Investigating changes in sociopolitical complexity is an important theme in archaeological research. Building upon previous work, the research project presented in this paper investigates the changes in complexity worldwide, questioning where increasing complexity first occurred and whether identifiable stages exist. The assessment compares patterns of change by pulling from archaeological and economic theories and data. Global archaeological sites are recorded from authoritative sources and digitized in a dataset that records, through the use of covariates, time since initial settlement of regions and the subsequent changes in complexity. Covariates that have been identified for each site incorporate geographic, technological and ethnographic variables. Approaching the question of increasing complexity at the granularity of the archaeological ‘site’ as opposed to pre-established cultural complexes allows for a more explicit analysis that considers the impact of regional change on the daily lives of ancient peoples. The future goals of the project include the incorporation of site information from a wide range of regional experts in order to build a robust database that will allow for an increasingly sound analysis utilizing multiple lines of evidence. The resulting data will add to our archaeological and economic knowledge of temporal and spatial change in sociopolitical complexity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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