New World States and Empires: Economic and Social Organization

Abstract

We take a critical perspective in discussing recent publications on the archaeological study of the ancient state-level societies of Latin America. For some topics, such as intensive agriculture and exchange, data are far ahead of theory, whereas for others (e.g., gender and ethnicity), theory has outstripped data. Craft production, a topic that has achieved a good balance of data and theory, is one of the success stories of recent Latin American archaeology. After a discussion of sources of data, we review these and other topics (e.g., consumption patterns, household studies, social organization) in terms of both data and theory. In a second review article, we cover the topics of politics, religion, urbanism, and the processes of change.

Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Understanding Human Migration Patterns and their Utility in Forensic Human Identification Cases

“…However, differentiating between ethnic groups using material culture is not always unambiguous [47,48]. For example, Andrushko et al (2009 [49]) acknowledged the crucial role of migration in the development of Andean social customs.…”

New World States and Empires: Politics, Religion, and Urbanism

“…Tiwanaku was a large, complex urban center, one that served as both a religious pilgrimage center and the capital of a state that included a core area in the southern Titicaca Basin, and perhaps the northern part of the Basin as well. Raised fields were created throughout much of the Titicaca Basin in order to intensify agricultural production (see Smith and Schreiber, 2005). The iconography associated with Tiwanaku includes impressive symbols of power (Cook, 1994), especially images of a front-facing human or deity standing on a stepped platform and holding two vertical staffs, flanked by profile attendants combining both human and avian traits.…”

“…The landscapes covered by survey research are now viewed not as simple environmental settings for archaeological sites but as ancient social and sometimes sacred landscapes in which a wide range of human activities and processes can be studied (Anschuetz et al, 2001;Ashmore, 2002). Because of the problem-oriented nature of New World surveys, we have already reviewed numerous case studies above (see also Smith and Schreiber, 2005).…”

“…The first installment (Smith and Schreiber, 2005) focused on sources of information and a variety of topics in economic and social organization. In this article we continue our discussion with four major topics: polities and political dynamics, urbanism and settlement patterns, religion, and history and process.…”

“…In 1993, Smith published an overview of research to that date; this article is one of two bringing that summary up to the present. Our first article, New World states and empires: Economic and social organization (Smith and Schreiber, 2005), dealt with issues regarding economic and social organization. The present article tackles political organization and dynamics, religion, urbanism, and settlement patterns.…”