Complex Systems and Archaeology
Empirical and Theoretical Applications

[Also Available in Cloth]

Edited by R. Alexander Bentley and Hebert D. G.

196 pp. 7 x 10
30 illustrations
Paper $25.00
ISBN 978-0-87480-759-2
Archaeology / Anthropology

Considering abrupt change, networks, and self-organization in prehistory

Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry
James M. Skibo, series editor

Complexity science transects many fields ranging from physics to economics to biology. Its focus is the study of systems of interacting factors, which has lately been extended to include behavior in human societies. In prehistoric societies, whether these agents are defined at the scale of individuals, groups, households, or villages all agents are connected in such a way that changes in the actions of one affects many others.

Complex Systems and Archaeology presents a useful introduction to complexity theory followed by a series of case studies in which human societies and environments are viewed as open systems into and out of which matter or energy can flow. Examples of such systems include the introduction of new crops, the creation of new artifacts, or the flux of products in a market.

This volume will have important implications for how archaeologists understand the dynamics of culture change and how they think about chronological stages, unique events, and the role of human agents.

“A significant pioneer effort.”
—John H. Bodley, Washington State University

R. Alexander Bentley is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Evolutionary Analysis of Cultural Behavior, University College, London.

Herbert D.G. Maschner is a visiting associate professor of Anthropology, Idaho State University. He lives in Pocatello.

Contents and Contributors:

Considering Complexity Theory in Archaeology
R. Alexander Bentley, University College, London and Herbert D. G. Maschner, Idaho State University

An Introduction to Complex Systems
R. Alexander Bentley

Scale-Free Network Growth And Prehistoric Wealth Inequality
R. Alexander Bentley

The Power Law of Rank and Household on the North Pacific
Herbert D. G. Maschner and R. Alexander Bentley

Avalanches of Ideas
R. Alexander Bentley and Herbert D. G. Maschner

Searching for Structure in the Past - Or was it ‘one damn thing after another’?
John Bintliff, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Punctuated Dynamic Equilibria - A Model for Chronological Analysis
Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Oxford University

The Neolithic Settlement of Riverine Interior Europe as a Complex Adaptive System
Peter Bogucki, Princeton University

Agency, Structuration and Complexity
Robert Layton, University of Durham

The Map Is Not the Territory: Complexity, Complication, and Representation
James McGlade, University College London