From Leaders to Rulers

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Cultural Evolution and Political Centralization

      • Jonathan Haas

      Pages 3-18

   3. Communication, Holism,and the Evolution of Sociopolitical Complexity

      • Carole L. Crumley

      Pages 19-33

3. The Emergence of Leaders

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 35-36

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   2. The Origins of Centralization

      • Winifred Creamer

      Pages 37-58

   3. Assessing Political Development in Copper and Bronze Age Southeast Spain

      • Antonio Gilman

      Pages 59-81

4. Leaders to Rulers

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-84

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   2. Rulers and Warriors

      • Kristian Kristiansen

      Pages 85-104

   3. Institutionalization of Chiefdoms

      • Timothy K. Earle

      Pages 105-124

   4. Cosmology and the Institutionalization of Hierarchy in the Maya Region

      • Patricia A. McAnany

      Pages 125-148

5. Rulers in Power

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 149-150

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   2. Mesoamerican Political Complexity

      • Gary M. Feinman

      Pages 151-175

   3. Understanding the Timing and Tempo of the Evolution of Political Centralization on the Central Andean Coastline and Beyond

      • Brian R. Billman

      Pages 177-204

   4. “Who Was King? Who Was Not King?”

      • Gil Stein

      Pages 205-231

6. Conclusion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 233-233

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   2. Nonlinear Paths of Political Centralization

      • Jonathan Haas

      Pages 235-243

7. Back Matter

   Pages 245-286

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The evolution of complex cultural systems is marked by a number of broad, sweeping patterns that characterize many different cultures at different points in time across the globe. Over the course of the past 100,000 years, there has been a general evolutionary trend for cultural systems to get larger and more complex. A consistent element in the broad course of cultural evolu­ tion has been the emergence and subsequent development of centralized forms of political organization. The record of the first modern humans illuminates a global wide pat­ tern of relative social equality and decentralized deciSion-making processes. Prior to about 10,000 years ago, there are no indications of clear social, political, or economic hierarchies. In these early millennia archaeological markers of social ranking are lacking and there is a similar absence of evidence pointing to the presence of leaders, chiefs or rulers. The pattern of social equality began to change at different moments and at different rates in various parts of the world in the course of the last 10,000 years. In some areas, such as Mesopotamia, politically centralized hierarchies emerged very early and developed rapidly, while in others, such as the Arctic, political centralization never emerged outside the context of Western colonialism. In every culture area, the origins and development of politically cen­ tralized social systems and the emergence of leaders and rulers followed a unique evolutionary trajectory depending on local history and environment.

• DDR
• Evolution
• Maya
• Mesopotamia
• bronze age
• cultural evolution
• landscape

"[...]contains nine high-quality essays by well-known archaeologists, who discuss considerable amounts of data from various regions in the world and attendant literature on the interpretation of cultural sequences and social/political change."
(Journal of Anthropological Research, 58, 2002)

• The Field Museum, Chicago, USA

  Jonathan Haas