Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions
By (author) Timothy R. Pauketat
Publication date:
30 May 2007Length of book:
270 pagesPublisher
AltaMira PressISBN-13: 9780759108288
In recent decades anthropology, especially ethnography, has supplied the prevailing models of how human beings have constructed, and been constructed by, their social arrangements. In turn, archaeologists have all too often relied on these models to reconstruct the lives of ancient peoples. In lively, engaging, and informed prose, Timothy Pauketat debunks much of this social-evolutionary theorizing about human development, as he ponders the evidence of 'chiefdoms' left behind by the Mississippian culture of the American southern heartland. This book challenges all students of history and prehistory to reexamine the actual evidence that archaeology has made available, and to do so with an open mind.
In this intriguing study of the prehistory of the eastern U.S. and how it compares to that of the Southwest, Oaxaca, and the Near East, Pauketat eschews the study of institutions and social evolution for the study of people and their interactions: Instead of looking to check off the attributes of institutions or organizations—were there palaces, royal tombs, writing?—we look instead for a series of relationships that played out historically. How were central places built, central orders memorialized, and producer autonomy sacrificed?" His is 'a backdoor approach to building a historical theory of civilization,' considering non-elite agency as well as activities of the elites. In all of the areas Pauketat examines, he sees migrations and the dislocations and opportunities they provide as critical in catapulting societies toward urbanism. This volume will repay rereading and careful study, and this reviewer intends to assign it in her North American prehistory course in the spring. Highly recommended.