Global perspectives on the collapse of complex systems
By: edited by Jim A. Railey and Richard Martin Reycraft.
Contributors: Railey, Jimmy A., 1956-; Reycraft, Richard Martin.
Series: Anthropological papers / Maxwell Museum of Anthropology -- no. 8
Publisher: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology; Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Albuquerque, N.M
Language: eng
Number of pages: 181
ISBN-13: 9780912535159
Subjects: Social archaeology; Social systems -- History; Social change -- History; Social evolution; Ethnoarchaeology; Civilization, Ancient; Prehistoric peoples; Historic sites; Excavations (Archaeology)
Description: "The recurrent collapse of human societies is a topic that is at once both fascinating and potentially troubling, and this edited volume offers some new thoughts on this important subject. The introduction discusses the topic at a theoretical level, and references a variety of cases (both past and present) from around the globe to illustrate various conditions and circumstances under which collapse and transformation occur. Nine chapters present specific studies from Iron Age central Europe, the Nilgiri Hills of south India, the early Bronze Age of north-central China, Maori New Zealand, Peru (Moche, Nasca, and the Chiribaya chiefdom of the south coast), late prehistoric and early historic Amazonia and the Caribbean, and the Cahokia chiefdom of eastern North America. With its global scope and diversity of case studies, the book expands our understanding of the various dimensions and historical circumstances faced by human societies that ultimately failed."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The collapse of centers in late Iron Age Europe / Peter S. Wells; title: Collapse of civilization and the potential for multilinear evolution / Allen Zagarell; title: What happened in the Shang Dynasty? Collapse and florescence in the early Bronze Age of North-Central China / Jim A. Railey; title: Hillforts and the cycling of Maori chiefdoms : do good fences make good neighbors? / Mark W. Allen; title: Continuities and discontinuities in the Nasca culture, Rio Grande de Nazca, South Coastal Peru / Helaine Silverman; title: Collapse as historical process : the Moche case / Garth Bawden; title: Sociopolitical collapse, niche adaptation, and ethnogenesis : prehistoric social responses to natural disaster in the far south coast of Peru / Richard Martin Reycraft; title: Collapse among Amerindian complex societies in Amazonia and the insular Caribbean : endogenous or exogenous factors? / James B. Petersen, Michael J. Heckenberger, Eduardo Goes Neves, John G. Crock, and Robert N. Bartone; title: Contemplating Cahokia's collapse / John E. Kelly.