The Emergence of Premodern States: New Perspectives on the Development of Complex Societies

Like many other sciences, archaeology is experiencing a data deluge. The recent accumulation of accessible data on early urban societies, coupled with the re-emergence of comparative studies, puts modern scholars in a position to make significant theoretical advances concerning the key episode of human social organization that provided the foundations of the contemporary world: the formation of the state.A complex systems approach—pioneered at the Santa Fe Institute—involves fully interdisciplinary explorations of long-debated questions. Can basic quantitative analysis of human social evolution reveal macrocultural processes? Can we understand social cohesion by way of cultural genotypes? And does the emergence of social complexity involve the creation of new potential or the realization of latent human capabilities?In this volume, many of the foremost experts in quantitative archaeology and anthropology leverage innovative methodologies—including agent-based modeling, network analysis, and theoretical applications of evolutionary biology—to push the field in new directions.“ . . . this is a stimulating book that brings together developing approaches that open out the stale discussions on the origin of complex societies in interesting new directions.” —Stephen Shennan, The Cambridge Archaeological Journal

• Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: Thirty Years of Complexity Thinking at the Santa Fe Institute
• History, Big History, & Metahistory
• Emerging Syntheses in Science: Proceedings of the Founding Workshops of the Santa Fe Institute
• Law as Data: Computation, Text, and the Future of Legal Analysis
• The Energetics of Computing in Life and Machines
• InterPlanetary Transmissions: Proceedings of the Santa Fe Institute's First InterPlanetary Festival: Genesis
• An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management
• A World Beyond Physics: The Emergence and Evolution of Life
• Genesis: The Deep Origin of Societies
• Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career