The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities

List of Illustrations ......Page 7
Introduction. Surveying the Political Landscape ......Page 13
A Topology of Political Landscapes: Defining Terms ......Page 17
The Topography of Political Landscapes: Philosophical Contexts ......Page 24
An Archaeology of Political Landscapes: (Meta)histories of the State ......Page 29
The Ancient and the Modern: Archaeology and Contemporary Politics ......Page 33
A Map of the Present Work ......Page 36
CHAPTER I. Sublimated Spaces ......Page 42
Social Evolutionism and Absolute Space ......Page 45
MECHANICAL ABSOLUTISM ......Page 48
ORGANIC ABSOLUTISM ......Page 57
A CRITIQUE OF ABSOLUTE SPACE ......Page 65
HISTORICISM AND SUBJECTIVE SPACE ......Page 67
ROMANTIC SUBJECTIVISM ......Page 69
Communicative Traditions ......Page 73
Phenomenological Traditions ......Page 74
Landscape and Relational Space ......Page 81
DIMENSIONS OF LANDSCAPE ......Page 85
TOWARD RELATIONAL LANDSCAPES IN ARCHAEOLOGY ......Page 87
CHAPTER 2. Archaeologies of Political Authority ......Page 90
What Is the Archaic State ......Page 92
THE PRISTINE AND THE ARCHAIC ......Page 93
THE CONCEPTUAL FORMATION OF THE STATE ......Page 96
THE STATE AND ARCHAEOLOGY ......Page 99
THE ARCHAIC STATE DEFINED ......Page 102
Against the State: An Archaeological Critique ......Page 106
DENOTATION ......Page 107
EPISTEMOLOGY AND ILLUSION ......Page 108
CRITICAL PRAXIS ......Page 110
ONTOLOGY AND SPACE ......Page 112
EARLY COMPLEX POLITIES ......Page 114
ON AUTHORITY ......Page 117
Space and Reproduction: The Temporality of Political Landscapes ......Page 121
CHAPTER 3. Geopolitics ......Page 124
Classic Maya Geopolitical Landscapes ......Page 127
EXPERIENCE ......Page 134
PERCEPTION ......Page 147
IMAGINATION ......Page 151
Authority and Geopolitical Landscapes ......Page 157
CHAPTER 4. Politics ......Page 161
Polity, Nation, and Landscape ......Page 164
Landscape and Polity in Urartu ......Page 168
IMAGINATION ......Page 172
Evacuation ......Page 175
Reduction ......Page 176
PERCEPTION ......Page 177
EXPERIENCE ......Page 181
Authority and the Landscape of the Polity ......Page 192
CHAPTER 5. Regimes ......Page 196
Urban Landscapes in Southern Mesopotamia ......Page 202
Theorizing Urbanism in Early Southern Mesopotamia ......Page 206
IMAGINATION ......Page 214
PERCEPTION ......Page 222
EXPERIENCE ......Page 227
Authority and the Landscapes of Regimes ......Page 237
CHAPTER 6. Institutions ......Page 244
Institutions and Urartian Political Landscapes ......Page 250
PERCEPTION ......Page 251
Argishtihinili ......Page 253
Erebuni ......Page 257
Teishebai URU ......Page 261
IMAGINATION ......Page 266
Authority and the Institutional Landscape ......Page 280
Conclusion. Toward a Cartography of Political Landscapes ......Page 283
Constellations and Comparison ......Page 285
Ancient Landscapes and Contemporary Politics ......Page 286
“Early Complex Polities” Revisited ......Page 289
Prospects and Horizons ......Page 290
References Cited ......Page 294
Index ......Page 326