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"Earle, Timothy K"
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Deep history
Humans have always been interested in their origins, but historians have been reluctant to write about the long stretches of time before the invention of writing. In fact, the deep past was left out of most historical writing almost as soon as it was discovered. This breakthrough book, as important for readers interested in the present as in the past,brings science into history to offer a dazzling new vision of humanity across time. Team-written by leading experts in a variety of fields, it maps events, cultures, and eras across millions of years to present a new scale for understanding the human body, energy and ecosystems, language, food, kinship, migration, and more. Combining cutting-edge social and evolutionary theory with the latest discoveries about human genes, brains, and material culture, Deep History invites scholars and general readers alike to explore the dynamic of connectedness that spans all of human history. With Timothy Earle, Gillian Feeley-Harnik, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Clive Gamble, April McMahon, John C. Mitani, Hendrik Poinar, Mary C. Stiner, and Thomas R. Trautmann
eBook
Urbanization, State Formation, and Cooperation
Since at least the Enlightenment, scholars have linked urbanization to state formation in the evolution of complex societies. We challenge this assertion, suggesting that the cooperative units that came together in the earliest cities were premised on limiting outside domination and thus usually acted to impede efforts to create more centralized structures of control. Although cities often became the capitals of states, state formation was quicker and more effective where environments kept people more dispersed. Data from the Andes and Polynesia are used to support this argument. In the Lake Titicaca Basin, household- and lineage-based groups living in the city of Tiahuanaco structured urban dynamics without the state for the settlement’s first 300 years, while similarly organized Hawaiian groups that were isolated in farmsteads were quickly realigned into a state structure. By decoupling urbanization from state formation, we can better understand the interactions that created the world’s first cities.
Journal Article
Eventful Archaeology
Unexpected ruptures in material culture patterning present interpretive challenges for archaeological narratives of social change. The concept of the event, as proposed by William Sewell Jr., offers a robust theoretical vocabulary for understanding the sudden appearance of novel patterning. Sewell defines historical events as sequences of happenings or occurrences that transform social structures by creating durable ruptures between material resources and their associated virtual schemas. Thus conceived, events occur in three phases: (1) a sequence of contingent happenings produces (2) ruptures in the articulation of resources and schemas, creating (3) an opportunity for rearticulation within new frames of reference. This perspective has much to recommend it for archaeology because it explicitly and uniquely grounds the concepts of structure, structural change, and agency in materiality. The implications of this approach are apparent in the cases of Iceland’s conversion to Christianity (AD 1000–1050), barrow construction during Denmark’s Bronze Age (1700–1500 BC), platform construction at Formative Chiripa, Bolivia (450–400 BC), and the planning and layout of Mississippian Cahokia, Illinois (AD 1050–1100).
Journal Article
A companion to archaeology
Archaeology is a subject of much popular interest, with devotees ranging from armchair enthusiasts to tourists to serious academics. This Companion features essays from 27 of the world's leading authorities on different types of archaeology and aims to define the field and describe what it means to be an archaeologist. It shows that contemporary archaeology is an astonishingly broad activity, with many contrasting specializations and ways of approaching the material record of past societies. The volume introduces readers to a range of archaeologists: those who devote themselves to the philosophy or the sociology of archaeology, those who see archaeology as politics or as anthropology, and those who contend that the essence of the discipline is a hard science. Among these experts are those who read the past through art, linguistics, or the built environment, and those professionals who present the past to the public through heritage management and museums.
eBook
Lurin Valley, Peru: Early Intermediate Period Settlement Development
The relationships between the social development in the upper Lurin valley and an expanding Early Intermediate period Lima state are examined. Internally, population growth and irrigation complexity progress together in the Lurin. Warfare, although not directly caused by population expansion, may function to regulate population. With irrigation and population expansion, a local social stratification originates but political control remains highly dispersed. A centralized control is only initiated by the external introduction of direct dominance by the Lima state.
Journal Article
