awards notable_students known_for image article_title name
fellow , american association for the advancement of science gary m. feinman , field museum • albán • economic anthropology • cross-cultural research mesoamerican early state formation • excavations at monte richard e. blanton.jpg richard blanton
 richard e. blanton
richard blanton

richard e. blanton -lrb- born 1943 -rrb- is an american anthropologist , archaeologist , and academic .
he is most renowned for his archaeological field and theoretical research into the development of civilizations in pre-columbian mesoamerica , particularly those from the central mexican `` plateau '' and valley of oaxaca regions .
blanton taught at rice university and hunter college of the city university of new york before joining the faculty at purdue university in 1976 .
he is currently -lrb- -rrb- professor of anthropology at purdue 's college of liberal arts .
blanton helped to develop full coverage survey methods , which he and colleagues applied to the valley of oaxaca to help understand the evolution of the monte alban state .
the particular method developed by blanton and his students influenced a generation of archaeologists and are still widely used today .
due to his interest in regional survey , blanton helped to introduce methods of spatial analysis into archaeology .
in particular he took an application of graph theory used by architects evaluate movement through buildings and developed it into a method for analyzing prehistoric houses and communities .
he was able to demonstrate that variation in the layout of houses and communities was associated with wealth differences .
in addition , blanton 's method was used to develop a measure of prehistoric warfare frequency that has proven useful in a number of settings .
blanton was an early proponent of world-systems theory , and actively applied it to the evolution of mesoamerican polities .
although this work was criticized at the time , it was further developed an employed by many scholars blanton also helped to develop dual processual theory , dual-processual theory posits that political leaders employ one of two basic processes to build and maintain power .
using the first , called a `` network '' strategy , political leaders use ties to other polities , supernatural powers , or sources of esoteric knowledge and goods to build power , and maintain it by excluding others from access to those sources of power .
using the second , called a `` corporate '' strategy , political leaders use the bonds of kinship and social groups to build power , sharing access to those groups broadly , but positioning him or herself as the `` first among equals . ''
these are not intended to be seen as exclusive categories , but rather as ends of a continuum of political strategy .
dual-processual theory has had significant impact on archaeological thought .
