Ritual and Archaic States

Abstract

Ritual and the archaic state have both been prominent topics in recent archaeological literature, provoking complex debates about their defining characteristics and their archaeological signatures. This volume offers fresh perspectives on both subjects by uniting these two streams of scholarship in an exploration of the varying nature, expression, and significance of ritual in archaic states. Within archaic states, rituals—both secular and sacred—frequently command considerable investments of time, space, and energy. The level of investment in ritual, its nature, and its socio-political significance can vary greatly from state to state, even among societies with similarities in social complexity, population size, and spatial distribution. This volume includes two broad theoretical chapters that incorporate archaeological data to support their models, six detailed case studies, and a discussion chapter. With papers from both the old and the new worlds, this volume allows us to explore ritual in the context of a limited range of social complexity, yet affords us the chance to see how—even within close neighboring states or within the same cultures—the location, frequency, and role of rituals differed significantly.

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