Bronze Age Economics: The First Political Economies

by Timothy Earle

Overview

This integrated collection of new and newly revised essays by archaeologist Timothy Earle represents both a personal journey and a growing synthesis of how political economies emerged in human societies. Drawing in detail on the cases of chiefdoms in Hawaii, the Andes, and Denmark, Bronze Age Economics documents how intensification of econ

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367314712
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/08/2019
Pages:	467
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Timothy Earle is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Northwestern and was formerly Professor of Anthropology at UCLA.

Table of Contents

Preface -- Political Economies of Chiefdoms and Agrarian States -- The Ecology and Politics of Primitive Valuables -- Chiefdoms in Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives -- Part 1 Hawaiian Chiefdoms -- A Reappraisal of Redistribution -- Prehistoric Irrigation in the Hawaiian Islands -- Specialization and the Production of Wealth -- Style and Iconography as Legitimation in Complex Chiefdoms -- Part 2 Andean Chiefdoms and the Inka Empire -- Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy -- Wealth Finance in the Inka Empire -- Exchange and Social Stratification in the Andes -- Status Distinction and Legitimation of Power as Reflected in Changing Patterns of Consumption in Late Prehispanic Peru -- Part 3 Chiefdoms of Denmark -- The Bronze Age Economy of Thy -- Property Rights and the Evolution of Chiefdoms -- Ideology, Materialization, and Power Strategies

Editorial Reviews

In 14 essays written across the span of his career, Earle (anthropology, Northwestern U.) describes how political economies emerged in human societies. As a social evolutionist, he believes human societies have changed, and paints in broad strokes how the intensification and control of human economies in Bronze-age chiefdoms were basic to the evolutionary process. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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