Ancient Civilization (Archaeology)

A Multiscalar Perspective on Market Exchange in the Classic-Period Valley of Oaxaca (2010)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman and Linda M. Nicholas, 2010)

Domestic Craft Production and the Classic Period Economy of Oaxaca (2011)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman and Linda M. Nicholas, 2011)

Multiregional Emergence of Mobile Pastoralism and Non-Uniform Complexity across Eurasia

by Michael Frachetti

Current Anthropology 2012

Bricks point to primarily social causes of Harappan decline

by Aurangzeb Khan

Submitted to Antiquity in Dec 2011.

The Indus Valley Culture (IVC), often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two millennia from 3300 to... more The Indus Valley Culture (IVC), often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two millennia from 3300 to 1300 BC. Trade connections, the size of the cities and its technological advancements characterise the IVC as one of the first great civilisations in history. Its slow decline is evident in the disintegration of urban centres starting from 1900 BC and presents a mystery to archaeological research. Diverse causes have been suggested for this decline and include climatic shifts, changes of river pathways, flood events, invasion or war.
We reconsider published hypotheses and integrate archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence to obtain a synoptic view on the decline dynamics. We find that the
observed abandonment of urban areas can be best explained by a combination of factors involving invasive nomads from central Asia, loss of IVC’s social coherence, skills and technology, and subsequent decreased resilience to environmental changes. Our analysis suggests that not aridity but flooding was the trigger of decline while organisational failure was the prime mover.

Mesoamerican Political Complexity: The Corporate-Network Dimension (2001)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 2001)

Language and Culture in the Growth of Imperialism

by Sharron Gu

This is the original introduction of Language and Culture in the Growth of Imperialism, which is going to be published in the spring of 2012.

It is a comparative history of global aggression and expansion in the Greek, Roman, Islamic, British, Russian, and... more It is a comparative history of global aggression and expansion in the Greek, Roman, Islamic, British, Russian, and American empires. It presents imperialism as a cultural phenomenon rather than merely a military and economic expansion. Imperialism is the natural result for a young and vibrant culture, which emerged from a hybrid of languages. It could be a culture that grew in a multi-lingual environment (Greek, Roman, and English), an established culture revitalized by injection of a new ideology (Islamic and Russian), or a language uprooted from its sub-verbal soil and transplanted into a new cultural mosaic (America). These hybrid giants developed a brand new identity and vision of the world, as well as an inflated sense of self, and a desperate need for gratification and glorification. On the other side of this fragile ego is an exaggerated fear, which became the engine of war.

Chiefdoms and Nonindustrial States (1996)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 1996)

Monte Albán: Una Perspectiva desde los Límites del Valle de Oaxaca (2011)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman and Linda M. Nicholas, 2011)

Durante las últimas décadas, ha habido mucha discusión acerca del ascenso de Monte Albán, pero menos discusión o... more Durante las últimas décadas, ha habido mucha discusión acerca del ascenso de Monte Albán, pero menos discusión o evidencia recuperada de manera sistemática sobre su eventual pérdida de poder y su caída final. Esta ponencia se enfoca sobre la historia posterior de Monte Albán a fines de la época prehispánica, destacando las ventajas de los límites fisiográficos del valle de Oaxaca. Se centra principalmente en investigaciones propias en la parte oriental del valle de Tlacolula y en el valle de Ejutla, asimismo en el trabajo similar de otros colegas. Con este texto ofrecemos nuevos hallazgos y perspectivas acerca de la transición Clásica-Posclásica en el valle de Oaxaca. Nuestro argumento principal es que desde el Clásico Tardío y la monumentalidad de Monte Albán, pero hasta la red de cacicazgos más pequeños del Posclásico Tardío era significante, pero ese milenio de transición no necesariamente involucró ni un mayor cambio étnico ni un breve episodio catastrófico decolapso social total

Crafts and Craft Specialization (2001)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 2001)

Rethinking Our Assumptions: Economic Specialization at the Household Scale in Ancient Ejutla, Oaxaca, Mexico (1999)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 1999)

Comparative Frames for the Diachronic Analysis of Complex Societies: Next Steps (2012)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 2012)

Archaeology and Political Economy: Setting the Stage (2004)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 2004)

The Jungle Tide: "Collapse" in Early Mediaeval Sri Lanka

by Keir Strickland

(2011) Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK

This thesis reassessed the apparent Early Mediaeval collapse of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, through explicit reference to... more This thesis reassessed the apparent Early Mediaeval collapse of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, through explicit reference to the archaeological record.  The study of Anuradhapura’s terminal period has been dominated by an over-reliance upon textual sources, resulting in the establishment of a monocausal and politically charged narrative, depicting an eleventh century invasion by the South Indian Colas as the primary, if not sole, cause of the collapse of Anuradhapura (Codrington 1960), bringing to an end over a millennium of rule from Sri Lanka’s first capital.  Such is the dominance of this collapse “model” that few alternative explanations for the abandonment of Anuradhapura have been posited, and just two alternative collapse models have ever been propounded; a “malarial” model (Nicholls 1921; Still 1930) and an “imperial” model (Spencer 1983; Indrapala 2005).  This thesis set out to first test whether or not Anuradhapura truly did “collapse”, and then to test the existing models for this apparent collapse through reference to the physical archaeological record of Anuradhapura.
After archaeologically defining collapse, the three collapse models were synthesised and translated into qualitative signatures of archaeologically visible characteristics and sequences.  This thesis then presented and analysed data (both qualitative and quantitative) from over a century of archaeological investigations at Anuradhapura, with specific focus upon the datasets of the ASW2 excavations within the Citadel (Coningham et al. 1999 & 2006) and the recent Anuradhapura Hinterland survey (Coningham et al. In press).  Following a detailed analysis, this data was summarised and presented graphically, better facilitating comparison with the hypothetical signatures of the three collapse models.  The presence/absence of the set archaeological characteristics of collapse were identified across Anuradhapura’s three zones, testing whether or not Anuradhapura actually collapsed, before the archaeological signatures of collapse for each of the three zones were compared with the hypothetical signatures developed from the three collapse models, in order to determine which, if any, of the existing models could sufficiently match and explain the archaeological characteristics of Anuradhapura’s terminal period.  Finally, the archaeological “collapse” of Anuradhapura was related to comparative and theoretical collapse models in an attempt to better understand the underlying dynamic processes and societal dynamics of collapse and the abandonment of Anuradhapura.

Preindustrial Markets and Marketing: Archaeological Perspectives (2010)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman and Christopher P. Garraty, 2010)

Markets are key contemporary institutions, yet there is little agreement concerning their history or diversity. To... more Markets are key contemporary institutions, yet there is little agreement concerning their history or diversity. To complicate matters, markets have been considered by different academic disciplines that approach the nature of such exchange systems from diametrically opposed perspectives that impede cross-disciplinary dialogue. This paper reviews the theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the detection, development, and significance of markets in the preindustrial past. We challenge both the view that marketing is natural and the perspective that market exchange is unique to modern capitalist contexts. Both of these frameworks fail to recognize that past and present market activities are embedded in their larger societal contexts, albeit in different ways that can be understood only if examined through a broadly shared theoretical lens.We examine the origins, change, and diversity of preindustrial markets, calling for multiscalar, cross-disciplinary approaches to investigate the long-term history of this economic institution.

Demography, Surplus, and Inequality: Early Political Formations in Highland Mesoamerica (1991)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 1991)

Introduction (to Archaic States, 1998)

by Gary Feinman

(Joyce Marcus and Gary M. Feinman, 1998)

Redistribution (1996)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 1996)

The Imprint of China's First Emperor on the Distant Realm of Eastern Shandong (2010)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, Linda M. Nicholas, and Fang Hui 2010)

Preliminary Observations on the Mythic Psychology of War

by Ronald L. Boyer

Draft only. Paper accepted for presentation at The Mythology of Violence (2008), the Second Annual Academic Conference of the Foundation for Mythological Studies. Co-Sponsored by Pacifica Graduate School in Santa Barbara. Proceedings published in Spring, Issue No. 81.

This first draft of a paper accepted for presentation at the Mythology of Violence Conference briefly suggests the... more This first draft of a paper accepted for presentation at the Mythology of Violence Conference briefly suggests the implications for understanding war and the epidemics of mass violence of our times within the context of Jungian psychology.  An expanded version of the paper intends to explore the works of cultural historian Lewis Mumford and parallel works by sociologist Ernest Becker on the religious and mythico-ritual dimensions of the institution of warfare embedded in the unconscious mythologies that inform the very structure of societies since ancient times.

The Mesoamerican World System (1984)

by Gary Feinman

(Richard Blanton and Gary Feinman, 1984)