What is the role of leadership in society? Why do people surrender their political autonomy to the decision-making authority of leaders and rulers? Why do people follow the commands of their leaders? Who gets to be king/chief/emperor and why? Why are some societies centralized while others are not? The papers in this volume draw on the archaeological record of societies from around the world to address these critical issues in contemporary social science.

Product Description: This volume brings together research on the evolution of civilisation in the Andean region of South America from the work of sixteen leading scholars, at one time actively engaged in fieldwork in Peru. Beginning with early chiefdom societies living along the Peruvian coast 2000 years before Christ, the authors trace the growing complexity of Andean states and empires over the next 3000 years...read more

This edited collection contains important new material on the origins and role of warfare in otribalo societies. The chapters focus on a number of basic research issues, including war and social evolution, causes of war, ideology of war, and European transformation of indigenous warfare patterns. The anthropologist contributors represent different theoretical positions and world areas, and approach the phenomena of pre-state warfare from different perspectives. The diversity of views is a positive and particularly stimulating feature of the volume. The Anthropology of War is a significant contribution to an area within anthropology that has gained little attention, and will be of interest to political scientists, historians, and sociologists who are curious about how anthropologists deal with the problem of warfare. (view table of contents)