Socialising Complexity: Structure, Interaction and Power in Archaeological Discourse

by Kohring, Sheila; Wynne-jones, Stephanie

• ISBN13: 9781842172940
• ISBN10: 1842172948
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-15
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

Socialising Complexity: Structure, Interaction and Power in Archaeological Discourse introduces complexity as a conceptual tool, rather than a category, for understanding social formations. This new approach moves beyond traditional concerns with what constitutes a complex society and focuses instead on the complexity inherent in every society through its particular structuring principles.

Table of Contents

The Complexity Concept	p. 1
Socialising Complexity	p. 2
Evolution, Complexity and the State	p. 13
The Organisation of Society	p. 29
Notes on a New Paradigm	p. 30
Social complexity is not the same as hierarchy	p. 37
The Rules of the Game. Decentralised Complexity and Power Structures	p. 60
The state they were in: community, continuity and change in the north-central Andes, 1000-1608 AD	p. 76
Complexity Through Practice	p. 99
Materialising 'complex' social relationships: Technology, production and consumption in a Copper Age Community	p. 100
Settings and symbols: assessing complexity in the pre-Hispanic Andes	p. 118
Complexity and Landscape	p. 141
Multiple landscapes and layered meanings: scale, interaction and process in the development of a Swahili town	p. 142
Social landscapes and community identity: the social organisation of space in the north-central Andes	p. 161
Taking the Bight out of complexity: elaborating interior landscapes within South-Central California	p. 186
Encountering Complexity	p. 209
Creating Complexity: the example of the Muisca of Colombia	p. 210
The decentralised state: nomads, complexity and sociotechnical systems in Inner Asia	p. 228
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