After Collapse: The Regeneration of Complex Societies

by Glenn M. Schwartz, John J. Nichols

Overview

From the Euphrates Valley to the southern Peruvian Andes, early complex societies have risen and fallen, but in some cases they have also been reborn. Prior archaeological investigation of these societies has focused primarily on emergence and collapse. This is the first book-length work to examine the question of how and why early complex urban societies have reappeared after periods of decentralization and collapse.

Ranging widely across the Near East, the Aegean, East Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes, these cross-cultural studies expand our understanding of social evolution by examining how societies were transformed during the period of radical change now termed “collapse.” They seek to discover how societal complexity reemerged, how second-generation states formed, and how these re-emergent states resembled or differed from the complex societies that preceded them.

The contributors draw on material culture as well as textual and ethnohistoric data to consider such factors as preexistent institutions, structures, and ideologies that are influential in regeneration; economic and political resilience; the role of social mobility, marginal groups, and peripheries; and ethnic change. In addition to presenting a number of theoretical viewpoints, the contributors also propose reasons why regeneration sometimes does not occur after collapse. A concluding contribution by Norman Yoffee provides a critical exegesis of “collapse” and highlights important patterns found in the case histories related to peripheral regions and secondary elites, and to the ideology of statecraft.

After Collapse blazes new research trails in both archaeology and the study of social change, demonstrating that the archaeological record often offers more clues to the “dark ages” that precede regeneration than do text-based studies. It opens up a new window on the past by shifting the focus away from the rise and fall of ancient civilizations to their often more telling fall and rise.

CONTRIBUTORS

Bennet Bronson
Arlen F. Chase
Diane Z. Chase
Christina A. Conlee
Lisa Cooper
Timothy S. Hare
Alan L. Kolata
Marilyn A. Masson
Gordon F. McEwan
Ellen Morris
Ian Morris
Carlos Peraza Lope
Kenny Sims
Miriam T. Stark
Jill A. Weber
Norman Yoffee

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816529360
Publisher:	University of Arizona Press
Publication date:	08/15/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Glenn M. Schwartz is Whiting Professor of Archaeology at the Johns Hopkins University and coauthor of The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies. John J. Nichols received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern archaeology from Johns Hopkins University in 2004.

Table of Contents

1 From Collapse to Regeneration Glenn M. Schwartz 3

2 The Demise and Regeneration of Bronze Age Urban Centers in the Euphrates Valley of Syria Lisa Cooper 18

3 Amorites, Onagers, and Social Reorganization in Middle Bronze Age Syria John J. Nichols Jill A. Weber 38

4 "Lo, Nobles Lament, the Poor Rejoice": State Formation in the Wake of Social Flux Ellen Morris 58

5 The Collapse and Regeneration of Complex Society in Greece, 1500-500 BC Ian Morris 72

6 Inca State Origins: Collapse and Regeneration in the Southern Peruvian Andes Gordon F. McEwan 85

7 Regeneration as Transformation: Postcollapse Society in Nasca, Peru Christina A. Conlee 99

8 After State Collapse: How Tumilaca Communities Developed in the Upper Moquegua Valley, Peru Kenny Sims 114

9 Patterns of Political Regeneration in Southeast and East Asia Bennet Bronson 137

10 From Funan to Angkor: Collapse and Regeneration in Ancient Cambodia Miriam T. Stark 144

11 Framing the Maya Collapse: Continuity, Discontinuity, Method, and Practice in the Classic to Postclassic Southern Maya Lowlands Diane Z. Chase Arlen F. Chase 168

12 Postclassic Maya Society Regenerated at Mayapán Marilyn A. Masson Timothy S. Hare Carlos Peraza Lope 188

13 Before and After Collapse: Reflections on the Regeneration of Social Complexity Alan L. Kolata 208

14 Notes on Regeneration Norman Yoffee 222

References 229

About the Editors 277

About the Contributors 279

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

The impact of this book will be long-lasting, as each of the studies are quite impressive new analyses of recent archaeological studies.”—Jonathan Kenoyer, University of Wisconsin, Madison

From the Publisher