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The Evolution of Chiefdoms
The Evolution of Chiefdoms
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84 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
thecentenary ofhis birth.EditedbyW. Goldschmidt, pp. 4-28. The seminarparticipantsaccepted two importantpo-
San Francisco:HowardChandler. sitions to guide theirconsiderationof the evolution of
KROEBER, A. L. I923. Anthropology. New York:Harcourt, Brace.
. I948. Anthropology. New York: Harcourt,Brace.
chiefdoms:that research must focus on sequences of
LESSER, A. I968. "FranzBoas,"in International encyclopediaof long-termchange documentedarchaeologicallyand his-
thesocial sciences,vol. 2, pp. 99-I IO. I982) and thatchief-
torically(KirchI984, Kristiansen
MAYR, E. I980. "Prologue:Some thoughts on thehistoryofthe doms varyin complexity/scaleof development(simple
evolutionarysynthesis," in The evolutionary synthesis.
Edited vs. complex [SteponaitisI978]), mode of financing(sta-
by E. Mayr and W. Provine,pp. I-48. Cambridge: HarvardUni-
versityPress. ple vs. wealth [D'Altroy and Earle I985]), structure
MAYR, E., AND W. PROVINE. I980. The evolutionary
synthesis. (group-oriented vs. individualizing[RenfrewI974]), and
Cambridge:HarvardUniversity Press. specifichistory.With this accord,participantsconcen-
MONTAGU, M. F. A. I944. Ales Hrdlicka,I869-I943. American tratedon understandingthe dynamicsof chiefdomsas
Anthropologist 46: I I 2-I 7.
NORDENSKIOLD, E. I928. Thehistory ofbiology.New York: political institutions.This requiredoutliningthe vari-
Tudor. ous strategiesby which rulerstriedto extendand main-
PROVINE, W. B. I97I. Theoriginsoftheoretical populationgenet- tainpoliticalcontroland the conditionsthataffected the
ics. Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press. success of these strategies.The unstable and cyclical
. I986. Sewall Wright and evolutionary biology.Chicago: characterof most chiefdomswas apparentin the cases
Universityof Chicago Press.
RIPLEY, W. Z. I9IO (i899). Theraces ofEurope:A sociological discussed.
study.New York: Appleton. Discussions of power relationships frequentlyre-
SHAPIRO, H. L. I939. Migration and environment. New York: turnedto followers'evaluationofthe cost ofcompliance
OxfordUniversityPress. with a leader's demands relative to the cost of refusal
S P E N C E R, F. I 98 I. The riseofacademicphysicalanthropology in
the United States (i880-i980): A historical overview. Ameri- (Haas i982). Constructinga complex polity requires a
can JournalofPhysicalAnthropology 56:35 3-64. leader to bind a followingto himself.Simply,he must
STOCKING, G. I968. Race, culture, and evolution.Chicago: Uni- control people's labor (Feinman and Nicholas I987).
versityof Chicago Press. What keeps them from"votingwith theirfeet"-mov-
TANNER, j. M. I959. "Boas' contributionto knowledge of human
growthand form,"in The anthropology
ing away from the centers of power and extraction?
ofFranzBoas: Essays
on thecentenary ofhis birth.EditedbyW. Goldschmidt, pp. Larger groupsdo not formnaturally;technologicaland
76-I I I. San Francisco: Chandler. social adjustments are necessary to concentrate and
TOPINARD, P. I890. Anthropology. London: Chapman and Hall. coordinateincreasingnumbersofpeople (Johnsoni982).
The traditionalanswerto thisquestionhas been to point
to the management functions that leaders perform.
Much of neo-evolutionarythoughtsince the I950S (see
The Evolution of Chiefdomsl StewardI955, Servicei962) has emphasizedthe func-
tion of leaders in maintainingtheirgroups.To under-
standthe evolutionof chiefdomsis thus simplyto iden-
TIMOTHY EARLE tify the new conditions created by technology or
DepartmentofAnthropology,Universityof California, populationgrowththat requirecentralmanagementfor
Los Angeles, Calif. 90024, U.S.A. 22 v 88 theireffectiveand efficientoperation.
Populationgrowthhas receivedconsiderableattention
The principalgoal of the seminaron chiefdomsheld at since Boserup's(i965) workand servesas a motorin the
the School of AmericanResearch Januaryi8-22, I988, most recent general synthesis of cultural evolution
was to understandthe dynamicsof chiefdoms.A chief- (Johnsonand Earle i987). In the seminar discussions,
dom was ratherloosely definedas a centralizedpolity however, it received little supportas a prime mover.
that organizes a regional population in the thousands Drennan,Feinman,and Steponaitisemphasizedthevery
(Carneiro 198I, Earle I987). Some degree of heritable low populationdensitiesthathave been documentedby
social rankingand economic stratification was consid- intensivesurveysforthe chiefdomsin the Oaxaca Valley
ered characteristic.The focus of discussion was on the ofhighlandMesoamerica,fortheBlack WarriorValley of
origin of these polities, their development,and their Alabama, and forthe Valle de la Plata in Colombia. Pop-
eventual collapse, stasis, or transformation into states. ulation densityappears also to have been low forthe
early chiefdomsof southernEngland (Bradley).Popula-
i. ? I989 by The Wenner-Gren FoundationforAnthropological tion increase was certainlyassociated, however,with
Research.All rightsreservedOOII-3204/89/300i-ooo6$i.oo. This the evolution of political systems in the Marquesas,
papersummarizesthediscussionsand conclusionsofan advanced Greece, and medieval Italy. On the Marquesas, popula-
seminarwhoseparticipants wereas follows:RichardBradley(Ar-
chaeology,Reading),RobertDrennan(Anthropology, Pittsburgh), ton growthand resultingenvironmentaldeterioration
TimothyEarle (Anthropology, UCLA), GaryFeinman(Anthropol- created a susceptibilityto droughtthat bound a local
ogy,Wisconsin-Madison), Yale Ferguson(PoliticalScience,Rut- populationto its leader and his breadfruit stores(Kirch).
gers),Antonio Gilman (Anthropology, CaliforniaState-North- In Greece, population growthaccompanied Mycenean
ridge),JonathanHaas (ex officio,School of AmericanResearch), state formationand, followingthe precipitous "Dark
PatrickKirch(BurkeMuseum,Washington), KristianKristiansen
(CenterforResearchin theHumanities,Copenhagen), Candelario Age" decline, contributedto the emergenceof the polis
Saenz (Anthropology,Texas-Austin),and VincasSteponaitis(An- (Ferguson).
NorthCarolina-ChapelHill).
thropology, Generallyseminarparticipantswere willingto accept
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Volume30, Numberi, February
I989 | 85
thatdemographicpressurewas a cause of social change, throughconquest and alliances. Warfarehas been recog-
especially where, as in the Marquesan case, resulting nized as a commoncharacteristicofchiefdoms(Carneiro
pressure could be demonstratedto intensifycircum- I98i), with warriorsbeing used to conquer new com-
scription.The largely unspoken consensus, however, munities(and theirtributebase) and to intimidatecom-
favoredCowgill's (I975) argumentagainstpopulationas munitiesreluctantto giveup theirfullshareto the over-
a primemover.As Feinmanand othersemphasized,pop- lord. At the end of the Greek Dark Age, forexample,
ulation growthrates are highlyvariable in prehistory, Sparta expanded through conquest (Ferguson). Inter-
and changingrates must themselvesbe explained. Re- estingly,the potentialforcontrolbased on militaryforce
ferringto the basic Darwinian model of natural selec- seems quite limited and unstable. In the Iron Age of
tion, Gilman remindedthe seminar that as far as the Europe (Bradley,Kristiansen),the ArgaricBronzeAge of
family was concerned, population pressure was con- southeasternSpain (Gilman), and the pre-Columbian
stant,the size of the familyalways pressingagainstits Mantaro Valley in Peru (Earle), warfarewas prevalent
abilityto feed itself.Any suggestionof an ecological or but local chiefdomswere apparentlyunable to expand
economic primemover seemed to meet with discredit- spatially to incorporatesizable regional populations.
ing counterexamples("But among the "). Many of the small Greek poleis remainedpoliticallyin-
Instead,participantsfocused on the political process dependentof the expandingstatesfora long time. Local
responsibleforthe creationand maintenanceofregional groupsseem to have been able to retainpolitical auton-
polities-as Gilman put it, what the bosses do to gain omy by defendingthemselvesin fortified locations vir-
and extend power. Steponaitis offereda listing of ten tually unassailable with the tactics that characterize
political strategies: chiefdoms.
debt); feastingand prestations.
i. Giving (inflicting Strategies7-IO depend primarilyon an ideologythat
2. Improvingthe infrastructure of subsistence pro- legitimizesthe positionofleadersas necessaryformain-
duction. tainingthe "natural" orderof the world.In many cases
3. Encouragingcircumscription. this involves the leaders' securely connecting them-
4. Applyingforce. selves to the past. The English Neolithic and early
5. Forgingexternalties. BronzeAge burialmounds seem to planta community's
6. Expandingthe dependentpopulation. leadershipline on an eminencethatdominatesthe land-
7. Seizing controlofexistingprinciplesoflegitimacy scape (BradleyI984). Equally importantis competition
(supernaturaland natural). forties to a new ideologyfromoutside,oftenassociated
8. Creatingor appropriating new principlesof legiti- with an "internationalstyle,"thatis used to set offthe
macy. rulingelite as a separateorder(cf.FlanneryI968, Helms
9. Seizing controlof internalwealth productionand I979). For example,the warriorelite ofnorthernEurope
distribution. used such symbolsas war chariotsand stools fromthe
io. Seizing controlof externalwealth procurement. distantMediterraneanstates to defineits status (Kris-
How these strategiesare viewed by the populationof tiansen I987). The increasingcontrol of long-distance
courseradicallyaffectstheirsuccess (Drennan).In Strat- wealth exchangeand the use ofexoticwealth to attract/
egies i and 2 leaders attemptto seize the power that controllocal laborappearto be importantfacetsofchief-
comes fromcontroloverthemeans ofproductionand/or dom developmentin highlandMesoamerica (Feinman);
distribution.To the degreethata people's subsistenceis a similarpatternwould appearto existfortheMississip-
controlled,its capacityto rejectcentraldecisionsis lim- pian chiefdoms(Steponaitis).Elites justifiedtheirposi-
ited. Such control may result in a system of staple tions with referenceto externalsources of power inac-
financein which the surplusgeneratedas rentis used to cessible to others.The special wealth objectswere often
supporta nonproducingsector of the population. The associatedwithpowersthatbothsymbolizedand encap-
ownership of the irrigationsystems in southeastern sulated the elites' divinityor at least nonlocal legiti-
Spain (Gilman) is such a circumstance.The develop- macy.
ment of field systemsin the EuropeanIron Age (Earle) The importance of ideology as a source of chiefly
may well representan attemptto control subsistence power has several historicalexamples. State ideologies
productionthroughlandownership.In pastoral chief- derivedfromthe Roman textsheld bythe churchfollow-
doms such as those of the AfricanTwareg (Saenz) and ing the collapse of Rome were used to "civilize" the
the EuropeanNeolithic and BronzeAge societies (Brad- invadingbarbariansand thento legitimizethe emerging
ley, Kristiansen),ownershipof animals offeredanother ruling system of small Italian city-states(Ferguson).
basis for control. Alternatively,chiefs' domination of Again, in the emergence of the polis, the myth of a
long-distanceexchange with external urban markets Golden Age servedas a rulingideology;each polis had
may offercontroloverproductivetechnologyand staple mythsof heroes and patrongods importantin creating
foods (Saenz). Such exchange relationshipswere cer- its political identity.The Saharan nomadic chiefssimi-
tainlyimportantin the Aegean, where an exportecon- larly used the externalIslamic state ideology in their
omy directedat the EasternMediterraneancivilizations political maneuverings(Saenz).
contributedsignificantly to Minoan and Myceneanstate Exoticwealth,withassociated externalideologies,can
formation(Gilman). serve as a status-defining markerand as political cur-
Strategies3-6 may involve the extensionof control rencyformaterializingpolitical relationships.Control
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86 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
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Volume30, Numberi, February
I989 | 87
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88 | CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
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