ANT 3560 - Archaic States (3)

When Offered: On Demand
Archaeology is uniquely positioned to explore the (pre)history of complex political regimes-what we now call the State-through the study of material culture, human remains, and spatial order. This course will adopt a comparative approach to “archaic” forms of the State as we address three interrelated questions: How does the State emerge in different times and places over the past several millennia? How does the State draw on diverse sources of power to institute the authority of the few over the many? And how does the State intersect with social identities and communities of people subject to or beyond its rule? We will also consider whether our own experience of political power must always frame our responses to these questions-in other words, how can archaeology offer historical visions of the State that are not simply crude reflections of the modern world? Schedule type: Seminar
Prerequisites: ANT 2221 or permission of instructor.