Regional Approaches to Society and Complexity

This volume considers regional approaches to social complexity from a variety of perspectives and at a global scale. John F. Cherry has been a key figure in regional-scale inquiry and broader disciplinary interfaces throughout his career, producing, mentoring, and inspiring a remarkably diverse body of work, which nevertheless remains oriented around this central theme. While Cherry’s work is the inspiration for this volume and the papers within it, this should not be seen as a traditional festschrift, or piecemeal homage to the honorand’s career. Rather, it aims to explore this core concern of regional approaches to society and complexity in comparative perspective, first in the Aegean, then branching out to the wider Mediterranean, New World, and finally reflecting on relevant issues of concern to all archaeologists working at levels above the site.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Colin Renfrew, Emeritus Professor, University of Cambridge Preface 1. Regional Approaches to Society and Complexity: Setting an Agenda Alex R. Knodell and Thomas P. Leppard Part I: Pathways to Complexity in the Prehistoric Aegean 2. The Development of Complex Society on Crete: The Balance between Wider Context and Local Agency Sturt W. Manning, Cornell University 3. Gelb and Gell in the Aegean: Thoughts on the Relations between `Writing’ and `Art’ John Bennet, University of Sheffield 4. Prestige-Goods Economies: The Prehistoric Aegean and Modern Northern Highland Albania Compared Michael L. Galaty, Mississippi State University 5. Continent, Region, Micro-Region, Site: Settlement Nucleation in the European Neolithic William A. Parkinson, University of Illinois at Chicago Part II: Crossing Scales in the Later Mediterranean 6. Industrial Landscapes, Spatial Politics and Settlement Change in the Roman East Bradley M. Sekedat, University of California, Davis 7. Political Borders in Pausanias’ Greece Sylvan Fachard, University of Geneva 8. Monumental Engagements: Cultural Interaction and Island Traditions in the West Mediterranean Alexander Smith, Delta College and Peter van Dommelen, Brown University Part III: Comparative, Theoretical and Disciplinary Concerns 9. Does Island Archaeology Matter? Cyprian Broodbank, University of Cambridge 10. Islands in the Comparative Stream: The Importance of Inter-Island Analogies to Archaeological Discourse Scott M. Fitzpatrick, University of Oregon 11. A Thorny Endeavor: Historical Archaeology and Diachronic, Regional Landscape Survey in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles Krysta Ryzewski, Wayne State University 12. Embedded Heterarchies of the Maya: Political Structure and Interactions Inspired by Peer Polity Interaction Thomas G. Garrison, University of Southern California 13. Complexities and Emergence: The Case of Argos Christopher Witmore, Texas Tech University 14. The Way Things Are… A. Bernard Knapp, University of Glasgow 15. Tradition and Divide in Archaeological Publication Camilla MacKay, Bryn Mawr College 16. Retrospect and Prospect in Regional Archaeology Thomas P. Leppard and Alex R. Knodell Afterword: My Life with John F. Cherry Jack L. Davis, University of Cincinnati