Settlement, Subsistence And Social Complexity

by Blanton, Richard E.; Parsons, Jeffrey R.

• ISBN13: 9781931745208
• ISBN10: 193174520X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: Cotsen Inst of Archaeology

Summary

This volume brings together the work of some of the most prominent archaeologists to document the impact of Jeffrey R. Parsons on contemporary archaeological method and theory. Parsons is a central figure in the development of settlement pattern archaeology, in which the goal is the study of whole social systems at the scale of regions. In recent decades, regional archaeology has revolutionized how we understand the past, contributing new data and theoretical insights on topics such as early urbanism, social interactions among cities, towns and villages, and long-term population and agricultural change, among many other topics relevant to the study of early civilizations and the evolution of social complexity. Over the past 40 years, the application of these methods by Jeffrey Parsons and others has profoundly changed how we understand the evolution of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican civilization, and now similar methods are being applied in other world areas. The book's emphasis is on the contribution of settlement pattern archaeology to research in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, but its authors also point to the value of regional research in South America, South Asia, and China. Topics addressed include early urbanism, household and gender, agricultural and craft production, migration, ethnogenesis, the evolution of early chiefdoms, and the emergence of pre-modern world-systems.

Table of Contents

Illustrations and Tables	viii
Introduction	1	(18)
Richard E. Blanton
Mary Hrones Parsons
Luis Morett Alatorre
Carla M. Sinopoli
Regional Survey at Vijayanagara, South Asia: New World Methodologies in Old World Urban Contexts	19	(24)
Carla M. Sinopoli
Settlement Pattern Archaeology in the Teotihuacan Valley and the Adjacent Northeastern Basin of Mexico A.P. (After Parsons)	43	(20)
Thomas H. Charlton
Deborah L. Nichols
Opting In and Opting Out: Tula, Cholula and Xaltocan	63	(26)
Elizabeth M. Brumfiel
The Tunanmarca Polity of Highland Peru and its Settlement System (AD 1350--1450)	89	(30)
Timothy Earle
Early Chiefdom Communities Compared: The Settlement Pattern Record for Chifeng, the Alto Magdalena, and the Valley of Oaxaca	119	(36)
Robert D. Drennan
Christian E. Peterson
Past Lives in Different Places: The Origins and Relationships of Teotihuacan's Foreign Residents	155	(43)
Michael W. Spence
Christine D. White
Evelyn C. Rattray
Fred J. Longstaffe
Men, Women, and Maguey: The Houshold Division of Labor Among Aztec Farmers	198	(31)
Susan Toby Evans
More Than Alluvial Land and Water: The Late Pre-Hispanic Emergence of Eastern Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico	229	(31)
Gary M. Feinman
Linda M. Nicholas
The Mesoamerican World of Goods and its Transformations	260	(35)
Richard E. Blanton
Lane F. Fargher
Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza
The Achievements of and Prospects for Survey Archaeology	295	(7)
Richard E. Blanton
Author Index	302	(5)
Subject Index	307