In this volume, the authors highlight the diversity and instability of ancient states and how widely they have varied through time and across space. Archaic Sta

While ritual and archaic states have both been prominent topics in recent archaeological studies, this is the first volume to combine both subjects by exploring

In this ground-breaking work, Norman Yoffee shatters the prevailing myths underpinning our understanding of the evolution of early civilisations. He counters th

Rituals, Collapse, and Radical Transformation in Archaic States explores the role of ritual in a variety of archaic states and generates discussion on how the d

In How Chiefs Became Kings, Patrick Vinton Kirch addresses a central problem in anthropological archaeology: the emergence of “archaic states” whose distinc