Chiefdoms

What many anthropologists regard as the major step in political development occurred when, for the first time in history, previously autonomous villages gave up their individual sovereignties and were brought together into a multi-village political unit–the chiefdom. Though long neglected as a major stage in history, recent years have seen the chiefdom come in for increased attention. As its importance has been more fully recognized, it has become the object of serious scholarly analysis and interpretation. In this volume specialists in political evolution draw on data from ethnography, archaeology, and history and apply fresh insights to enhance the study of the chiefdom. The papers present penetrating analyses of many aspects of the chiefdom, from how this form of political organization first arose to the role it played in giving rise to the next major stage in the development of human society–the state.

I. INTRODUCTION Chiefdoms from the Beginnings Until Now Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev Chiefdoms in Evolutionary Perspective Robert L. Carneiro II. CHIEFDOMS AND POLITICAL EVOLUTION Chiefdoms and Their Analogues: Alternatives of Social Evolution at the Societal Level of Medium Cultural Complexity Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev On Chiefs and Chiefdoms Henri J. M. Claessen The Emergence of Multi-Agent Polities of the Northern Central European Plains in the Early Middle Ages, 600-900 A.D. Ludomir R. Lozny Heterarchy and Hierarchy Among the Ancient Mongolian Nomads Nikolay N. Kradin III. CHIEFDOMS AND STATES Chiefdom Confederacies and State Origins D. Blair Gibson Complex Chiefdom: Precursor of the State or Its Analogue? Leonid E. Grinin IV. FROM PAST TO PRESENT Chiefs, Chieftaincies, Chiefdoms, and Chiefly Confederacies: Power in the Evolution of Political Systems Timothy K. Earle Chiefdom at War with Chiefless People While the State Looks On Petr Skalnik Beyond States and Empires: Chiefdoms and Informal Politics Patrick Chabal, Gary M. Feinman, and Petr Skalnik V. CONCLUSION Chiefdoms: Beyond Time? Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev Index

• Edited by Robert L. Carneiro
• Edited by Leonid E. Grinin
• Edited by Andrey V Korotayev

". . . the chiefdom concept is not restricted in its heuristic value to the study of ancient societies but is something that should be also in the toolkit of anthropologists studying contemporary societies. . . . Overall, the book makes a strong case for the continued relevancy of the chiefdom concept." --Patrick V. Kirch, University of Hawai'i, Māanoa/University of California, Berkeley, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 26, 187-239 "Chiefdoms: Yesterday and Today approaches cultural evolution with a historical eye that demonstrates the value of thinking beyond the state in both past and present. . . .the quality of the scholarship is excellent throughout. The bulk of the work in the second, third, and fourth sections is devoted to strong treatments of chiefdoms as organizational systems at multiples scales, and in distinct forms diachronically. Some chapters. . . review case studies not often addressed in treatments of chiefdoms and cultural evolution specifically, true of the modern and historical examples as well. . . This historical approach and the willingness to think flexibly in terms of sociopolitical organization, especially as it pertains to the durable power and relationships among individuals with these systems, is a refreshing note overall in a field that has sometimes neglected such accounts. The quality of the contributions made by these authors is obvious in each chapter." --Scott D. Sunell, UCLA "This volume is an impressive synthesis of the varied questions of how and in what forms chiefdoms have appeared in human history. Not only are the materials reviewed cross-cultural (e.g., Polynesia, Africa, Mongolia), but the scholarly participation is interdisciplinary and transnational (much important Russian work is being showcased for an English-language readership.). [...] Summing up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries." --G.E. Marcus, University of Calfornia, Irvine, CHOICE, November 2017 "Chiefdoms: Yesterday and Today is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in sociopolitical development in the past or present and it should be a wake-up call for anyone still clinging to social taxonomies or with neo-evolutionary tendencies." --Thomas E. Emerson, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology Vol. 42, 2017 "[Many] of the contributors to Chiefdoms: yesterday and today approached their subject with the idea in mind of evaluating the history of ideas in a critical and productive manner that will enrich anthropological teaching and research. [...] Neo-evolutionist ideas are now regarded by many as antiquated, yet are well represented in the book...Other chapters present new ideas, without, thankfully, abandoning the subject matter." --Richard E. Blanton, Antiquity 92.361 (2018)
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