From Prehistoric Villages to Cities

Archaeologists have focused a great deal of attention on explaining the evolution of village societies and the transition to a 'Neolithic' way of life. Considerable interest has also concentrated on urbanism and the rise of the earliest cities. Between these two landmarks in human cultural development lies a critical stage in social and politica

"This book is an important contribution to the literature on settlement aggregation in a cross-cultural context, for which Jennifer Birch and the other contributors should be congratulated."- Scott G. Ortman, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, in the SAS Bulletin"This volume is a useful compilation of eight case studies (five from the Americas, from Bolivia to the Great Lakes, and three from southeast Europe/Anatolia) of different forms of non-urban aggregation, analyzing causes and effects, related social transformation, political context of aggregation, and ritual and symbolic enablers of community cohesion." - Douglas Baird, University of Liverpool"Jennifer Birch is to be congratulated for organizing a Society for American Archaeology session and editing a book that reinstates the comparative cross-cultural approach to answering the big questions of anthropologyusing archaeological case studies." - Gary Warrick, Brantford Campus,Wilfrid Laurier University

Autorentext

Jennifer Birch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Georgia, USA.

Inhalt

1. Between Villages and Cities: Settlement Aggregation in Cross-Cultural Perspective Jennifer Birch 2. The Anatomy of a Prehistoric Community: Reconsidering Çatalhöyük Bleda S. Düring 3. Coming Together, Falling Apart: A Multi-Scalar Approach to Prehistoric Aggregation and Interaction on the Great Hungarian Plain Paul R. Duffy William A. Parkinson, Attila Gyucha and Richard W. Yerkes 4. Social Organization and Aggregated Settlement Structure in an Archaic Greek City on Crete (ca. 600 BC)Donald C. Haggis 5. Appropriating Community: Platforms and Power on the Formative Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia Robin A. Beck, Jr. 6. Social Integration and the Built Environment of Aggregated Communities in the North American Puebloan Southwest Alison E. Rautman 7. Competition and Cooperation: Late Classic Period Aggregation in the Southern Tucson Basin Henry D. Wallace and Michael W. Lindeman 8. Organizational Complexity in Ancestral Wendat Communities Jennifer Birch and Ronald F. Williamson 9. Community Aggregation through Public Architecture: Cherokee Townhouses Christopher B. Rodning 10. The Work of Making Community Stephen A. Kowalewski