This volume challenges traditional narratives on power, moving away from elite-centered models and focusing instead on the archaeology of commoners.

This volume challenges previous views of social organization focused on elites by offering innovative perspectives on 'power from below.' Using a variety of archaeological, anthropological, and historical data to question traditional narratives of complexity as inextricably linked to top-down power structures, it exemplifies how commoners have developed strategies to sustain non-hierarchical networks and contest the rise of inequalities. Through case studies from around the world – ranging from Europe to New Guinea, and from Mesoamerica to China – an international team of contributors explores the diverse and dynamic nature of power relations in premodern societies. The theoretical models discussed throughout the volume include a reassessment of key concepts such as heterarchy, collective action, and resistance. Thus, the book adds considerable nuance to our understanding of power in the past, and also opens new avenues of reflection that can help inform discussions about our collective present and future.

The organization and characteristics of early and ancient states have become the focus of a renewed interest from archaeologists, ancient historians and anthropologists in recent years. On the one hand, neo-evolutionary schemas of political transformation find it difficult to define some of their most basic concepts, such as ‘chiefdom’, ‘complex chiefdom’ and ‘state’, not to mention the transition between them. On the other hand, teleological interpretations based on linear dynamics, from less to increasingly more complex political structures, in successive steps, impose biased and too rigid views on the available evidence. In fact, recent research stresses the existence of other forms of socio-political organization, less vertically integrated and more heterarchical, that proved highly successful and resilient in the long term in tying together social groups. What is more, such forms quite often represented the basic blocks on which states were built and that managed to survive once states collapsed. Finally, nomadic, maritime and mountain populations provide fascinating examples of societies that experienced alternative forms of political organization, sometimes on a seasonal basis. In other cases, their consideration as ‘marginal’ populations that cultivated specialized skills ensured them a certain degree of autonomy when living either within or at the borders of states. This book explores such small-scale socio-political organizations, their potential and the historical trajectories they stimulated. A selection of historical case studies from different regions of the world may help rethink current concepts and views about the emergence and organization of political complexity and the mechanisms that prevented, occasionally, the emergence of solid polities. They may also cast some light over trajectories of historical transformation, still poorly understood as are the limits of effective state power. This book explores the importance of comparative research and long-term historical perspectives to avoid simplistic interpretations, based on the characteristics of modern Western states abusively used retrospectively.

Until recently, scholarly consensus across the social sciences and history adhered to the view that the incorporation of citizen voice in governance (e.g., democracy) was an entirely Western phenomenon that mostly is a product of the emergence of rational thought and the modern world. These views are now empirically questioned and subject to serious reconsideration. Yet, even researchers who recognize a broader temporal span for democratic or “good” governance draw fundamental distinctions between these political forms in the past and present. Building on the collective action theories, in particular those focused on fiscal financing, the editors of this Research Topic outline fundamental characteristics (internal financing, equitable taxation, checks on power, and a functioning bureaucracy) at the core of good governance, which are neither the sole project of the contemporary West, nor tied to any specific ideological construct or form of leadership. Even elections can no longer be conceived as assurance of good governance. At this time of global challenges to democracy, understanding the comparative history of good governments, their core institutions, how they worked, their foundations, what led to their downfalls, and the factors that prompted their sustenance or their collapses are extremely important to document. The historical trends and coactive processes that underpinned those human cooperative arrangements, which fostered growth and general well-being, require comparative focus if we are to draw on the wealth of human history to help craft better governance in the future and forestall the tripwires that lead to its failures. We welcome contributions which focus on; • Diachronic examinations of changes in the fiscal foundations of governance and their impacts on governance. • Comparative analysis of governmental variability and its relationship to collective action and its fiscal financing. • Cross-temporal studies of shifts in the degree of good governance and relations to inequality, sustainability, bureaucracy, public goods and services, and fiscal financing. • The importance of social compacts and contracts in representative government and how these are sustained and break down. • Alternatives and supplements to elections as means of assessing subaltern voices. • The relationship between governance and inequality over time and across space. • Differences in modes of political collapse and their relationship to governance, fiscal financing, and responses of principals. • The role of public ritual in good versus autocratic governments. • Variance in communication and computation in good versus autocratic governments. • The relationship between comparative governance and the uses and spatial distributions of community/urban space, residential and non-residential architecture, sprawl versus compact settlement. • The relationship between comparative governance and neighborhood organization. • Was there one or many episodes of enlightenment? • The relationship between governance and coactive processes including considerations of demographic growth, patterns of migration, well-being, economic growth. • The relationship between slave labor and governance, spot resources and governance. • Non-hierarchical and egalitarian forms of governance in non-state societies. • Indigenous inspirations and influences on the Constitution of the United States. • Collective action and establishment of early cities. Our aim for this Research Topic is to compile a series of research essays drawn from a broad cross-regional and cross-temporal sample of historical settings to explore issues and themes relevant to the history and processes that have been at the heart of good governance.

The production and retention of written records was a common and important facet of pre-modern rulership and administration. Much of our understanding of governmental practices and expressions of authority come from the contents of such documents, which have been well studied. Less studied, however, are the records themselves as artefacts. This volume is an attempt to redress this balance by taking a more holistic, material approach to a range of written records. Through a series of case studies, this volume explores questions regarding the material characteristics of various records and their use. It demonstrates that the material features of the records, including the size and shape, the hands that wrote them and the material substrate, can shed new light on the functioning of government and the declarations of power these records asserted. The ten contributions of this volume focus on records from a variety of rulers, political systems and administrations. With four case studies from early China and six from medieval Europe, this volume offers transcultural perspectives to demonstrate how different cultures expressed rulership and administration materially through the use of text-bearing artefacts.

This Element provides a current of the archaeology of the Roman conquest, combining new theoretical and methodological approaches. It explores different types of material evidence for the Roman wars of conquest using four case studies.

This fully updated sixth edition of a classic classroom text is essential reading for core courses in archaeology. Archaeology: An Introduction explains how the subject emerged from an amateur pursuit in the eighteenth century into a serious discipline and explores changing trends in interpretation in recent decades. The authors convey the excitement of archaeology while helping readers to evaluate new discoveries by explaining the methods and theories that lie behind them. In addition to drawing upon examples and case studies from many regions of the world and periods of the past, the book incorporates the authors’ own fieldwork, research and teaching. It continues to include key reference and further reading sections to help new readers find their way through the ever-expanding range of archaeological publications and online sources as well as colour illustrations and boxed topic sections to increase comprehension. Serving as an accessible and lucid textbook, and engaging students with contemporary issues, this book is designed to support students studying Archaeology at an introductory level. New to the sixth edition: Inclusion of the latest survey and imaging techniques, such as the use of drones and eXtended reality. Updated material on developments in dating, DNA analysis, isotopes and population movement, including consideration of the ethical considerations of these techniques. Coverage of new developments in archaeological theory, such as the material turn/ontological turn, and work on issues of equality, diversity and inclusion. A whole new chapter covering archaeology in the present, including new sections on heritage and public archaeology, and an updated consideration of archaeology’s relationship with the climate crisis. A revised glossary with over 200 new additions or updates.