Rethinking World-Systems: Diasporas, Colonies, and Interaction in Uruk MesopotamiaThe use of world-systems theory to explain the spread of social complexity has become accepted practice by both historians and archaeologists. Gil Stein now offers the first rigorous test of world systems as a model in archaeology, arguing that the application of world-systems theory to noncapitalist, pre-fifteenth-century societies distorts our understanding of developmental change by overemphasizing the role of external over internal dynamics. In this new study, Stein proposes two complementary theoretical frameworks for the study of interregional interaction: a "distance-parity" model, which views world-systems as simply one factor in a broader range of intersocietal relations, and a "trade-diaspora" model, which explains variation in exchange systems from the perspective of participant groups. He tests his models against the archaeological record of Mesopotamian expansion into the Anatolian highlands during the fourth millennium B.C. Whereas some scholars have considered this "Uruk expansion" to be one of the earliest documented world-systems, Stein uses data from the site of Hacinebi in southeastern Turkey to support his alternate perspective. Comparing economic data from pre- and postcontact phases, Stein shows that the Mesopotamians did not dominate the people of this distant periphery. Such evidence, argues Stein, shows that we must look more closely at the local cultures of peripheries to develop realistic cross-cultural models of variation in colonialism, exchange, and secondary state formation in ancient societies. By demonstrating that a multitude of factors affect the nature and consequences of intersocietal contacts, his book advocates a much-needed balance between recognizing that no society can be understood in complete isolation from its neighbors and assuming the primacy of outside contact in a society's development. |
Contents
The WorldSystem Model and Its Critics | 10 |
WorldSystems in Archaeology | 27 |
The TradeDiaspora and Distance | 44 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Rethinking World-systems: Diasporas, Colonies, and Interaction in Uruk ... Gil Stein Limited preview - 1999 |
Rethinking World-Systems: Diasporas, Colonies, and Interaction in Uruk ... Gil J. Stein Limited preview - 2022 |
Rethinking World-systems: Diasporas, Colonies, and Interaction in Uruk ... Gil Stein Limited preview - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Algaze alluvium Anatolian archaeological correlates archaeological record argue Arslantepe artifacts assumptions asymmetric exchange bitumen Carchemish ceramics complex societies Contact phase B2 copper core area core control core dominance craft cylinder seals diaspora distance distance-parity model economic elites emulation enclave Ergani Euphrates evidence excavations exchange network exchange system foreign forms fourth millennium B.C. Frangipane Godin groups Habuba Kabira Hacınebi Tepe Hamoukar highland homeland host community identity ideology important indigenous interaction network interregional exchange interregional interaction Iran Late Chalcolithic late Uruk material culture Meso Mesoamerica Mesopotamian military neighboring organization outposts patterns periphery political economy polities potamia precontact phase prestige production raw materials regions relations role Samsat social complexity south Mesopotamian southeast Anatolia southern Mesopotamia stamp seals Stein structure suggest Sürenhagen Syria Teotihuacán tion trade trade-diaspora transport Uruk ceramics Uruk colonies Uruk enclave Uruk expansion Uruk implanted settlements Uruk Mesopotamia Uruk period Uruk settlements Wallerstein world-system model zone