Product details
- ISBN 9781734281835
- Weight: 290g
- Dimensions: 150 x 224mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jul 2021
- Publisher: Eliot Werner Publications Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Anthropological archaeology is well suited to pursue the study of chiefs, their leadership institutions (chiefdoms), and long-term historical processes. In this book Timothy Earle argues that studying chiefdoms is essential to understanding the role of elemental powers in social evolution. He studies chiefs and their power strategies, using as illustrations historically independent prehistoric and traditional societies; he discusses how chiefs continue to exist as powerful actors within modern states.
Chiefs are political operatives who hold titles of leadership over groups larger than intimate kin-based communities; although they rule with the consent of their group, they are all about building personal power and respect. Many scholars have viewed chiefs as problem solvers: defending groups against aggressors, resolving disputes, providing support under hardship, organizing labour for community projects, and redistributing goods among those in need. Chiefs do these things, but much of what they do is to accumulate benefits for themselves, staying in power and legitimizing control.
Timothy Earle is Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University. He has conducted major archaeological field projects in Hawaii, Peru, Argentina, Denmark and Hungary; he believes that anthropological archaeology is a potent tool for investigating history in ways directly relevant to the modern world. His books on political economy include How Chiefs Come to Power and Bronze Age Economics.
