Archaeology and State Theory - Subjects and Objects of Power

After neo-evolutionism, how does one talk about the pre-modern state? Over the past two decades archaeological research has shifted decisively from check-list identifications of the state as an evolutionary type to studies of how power and authority were constituted in specific polities. Developing Gramsci''s concept of hegemony, this book provides an accessible discussion of general principles that serve to help us understand and organise these new directions in archaeological research. Throughout this book, conceptual issues are illustrated by means of case studies drawn from Madagascar, Mesopotamia, the Inca, the Maya and Greece.>

About the author

Bruce Routledge is Senior Lecturer in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, UK. He is the author of Moab in the Iron Age: Hegemony, Polity, Archaeology (2004).

Summary

After neo-evolutionism, how does one talk about the pre-modern state? Over the past two decades archaeological research has shifted decisively from check-list identifications of the state as an evolutionary type to studies of how power and authority were constituted in specific polities. Developing Gramsci's concept of hegemony, this book provides an accessible discussion of general principles that serve to help us understand and organise these new directions in archaeological research. Throughout this book, conceptual issues are illustrated by means of case studies drawn from Madagascar, Mesopotamia, the Inca, the Maya and Greece.

Product details

• Authors: Routledge, Bruce Routledge, Bruce (University of Liverpool Routledge, Bruce Edward Routledge, ROUTLEDGE BRUCE
• Assisted by: Richard Hodges (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.11.2013
• EAN: 9780715636336
• ISBN: 978-0-7156-3633-6
• No. of pages: 208
• Series: Debates in Archaeology; Duckworth Debates in Archaeolo; Debates in Archaeology; Duckworth Debates in Archaeolo
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Archäologie, Politik und Staat, POLITICAL SCIENCE / General, PHILOSOPHY / Political, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, Politics / Current Events