Bronze Age economics : the beginnings of political economies / Timothy Earle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Earle, Timothy K., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bronze age.

Economic anthropology.

Chiefdoms.

Social stratification.

Physical Description:

xi, 452 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 2002.

Summary:

Bronze Age Economics is a collection of Timothy Earle's major essays. Its comparative analysis of prehistoric economies is grounded in archaeological and historical data from three cases: Hawaiian chiefdoms, Andean South America (particularly the Inka), and Bronze Age Denmark. The book looks at trajectories of economic development as they affect, and are affected by, political institutions. The essays then evaluate the significance of that economic distinction for the evolution of political institutions. As the book represents the trajectory of Earle's professional life over the past 25 years, it can be argued that the book fairly encapsulates something of the history of processual archaeology and social evolutionary theory during the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Contents:

1 Political Economies of Chiefdoms and Agrarian States 1

2 The Ecology and Politics of Primitive Valuables 19

3 Chiefdoms in Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives 43

Part 1 Hawaiian Chiefdoms 71

4 A Reappraisal of Redistribution: Complex Hawaiian Chiefdoms 81

5 Prehistoric Irrigation in the Hawaiian Islands: An Evaluation of Evolutionary Significance 97

6 Specialization and the Production of Wealth: Hawaiian Chiefdoms and the Inka Empire 127

7 Style and Iconography as Legitimation in Complex Chiefdoms 162

Part 2 Andean Chiefdoms and the Inka Empire 181

8 Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy / Terence N. D'Altroy, Timothy Earle 191

9 Wealth Finance in the Inka Empire: Evidence from the Calchaqui Valley, Argentina 216

10 Exchange and Social Stratification in the Andes 235

11 Status Distinction and Legitimation of Power as Reflected in Changing Patterns of Consumption in Late Prehispanic Peru / Cathy Lynne Costin, Timothy Earle 255

Part 3 Chiefdoms of Denmark 285

12 The Bronze Age Economy of Thy: Finance in a Networked Chiefdom 293

13 Property Rights and the Evolution of Chiefdoms 325

14 Ideology, Materialization, and Power Strategies / Elizabeth DeMarrais, Luis Jaime Castillo, Timothy Earle 348.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-442) and index.

ISBN:

0813339693

0813338778

OCLC:

48475435