Ranked societies are characterized by disparities in personal status that are often accompanied by the concentration of power and authority in the hands of a few dominant individuals. They stand between the sophistication of developed, states and the relative simplicity of most hunter-gatherer groups and early agriculturalists. In some places and times they represented relatively brief phases of transition to more complex forms of organization; in others they existed as stable forms of adaptation for thousands of years. They are thus of great interest for archaeologists seeking to understand the dynamics of cultural evolution.
ISBN: | 9780521105095 |
Publication date: | 19th March 2009 |
Author: | Colin Renfrew |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Format: | Paperback |
Pagination: | 176 pages |
Series: | New Directions in Archaeology |
Genres: |
Archaeology by period / region |