Storage in Ancient Complex Societies: Administration, Organization, and Control

The ability to accumulate and store large amounts of goods is a key feature of complex societies in ancient times. Storage strategies reflect the broader economic and political organization of a society and changes in the development of control mechanisms in both administrative and non-administrative—often kinship based—sectors. This is the first volume to examine storage practices in ancient complex societies from a comparative perspective. This volume includes 14 original papers by leading archaeologists from four continents which compare storage systems in three key regions with lengthy traditions of complexity: the ancient Near East, Mesoamerica, and Andes. Storage in Ancient Complex Societies demonstrates the importance of understanding storage for the study of cultural evolution.

Table of Contents:
Preface Linda R. Manzanilla Chapter 1. Introduction: Storage as an Analytical Marker to Study Cultural Evolution Mitchell S. Rothman The Ancient Near East Chapter 2. Verifying the Role of Storage: Examples from Prehistoric Ancient Mesopotamia Mitchell S Rothman and Enrica Fiandra Chapter 3. On Some Possible Implications of a Newly Discovered Early Bronze Age, Large Scale Silo Complex at Amaziya, Nahal Lachish (Israel) Ianir Milevski, Eliot Braun, Daniel Varga, and Yigal Israel Chapter 4. Grain, Storage, and State-making in Mesopotamia (3000-2000 BC) Tate Paulette The Andean Region Chapter 5. New World Bureaucracy at 1500 B.C.: Evidence from the Casma Valley of Peru Thomas Pozorski and Shelia Pozorski Chapter 6. Storerooms, Tokens and Administrative Devices: An Andean Case Study John R. Topic Chapter 7. Inca Storage Systems in the Imperial Heartland (Cuzco, Peru): Risk Management, Economic Growth, and Political Economy R. Alan Covey, Kylie E. Quave, and Catherine E. Covey Chapter 8. Storehouse of Seasons and Mother of Food: An Andean Ritual-Administrative System Frank Salomon, Gino de las Casas and Víctor Falcón Huayta Mesoamerica Chapter 9. Craft Activity and Administrative Devices at Teotihuacan, Central Mexico Linda R. Manzanilla Chapter 10. Storage at Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Silvia T. Garza, Claudia Alvarado L., Norberto González C. and Beatriz Palavicini Chapter 11. Storage, Tribute, and Political Administration among the Lowland Maya Michael P. Smyth Chapter 12. Storage Places in the Maya Area Cristina Vidal-Lorenzo, Ma. Luisa Vázquez-de-Ágredos-Pascual, and Gaspar Muñoz-Cosme Chapter 13. Storage and Administration in the Aztec Empire José Luis de Rojas Conclusion Chapter 14. Final Thoughts Mitchell S. Rothman and Linda R. Manzanilla Index About the Authors

About the Author :
Linda R. Manzanilla is professor and researcher at the Institute of Anthropological Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She has participated actively in the formation of generations of archaeologists in the National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico. With a Ph.D. from University of Paris, she is author and editor of 22 books and 160 articles and chapters on subjects related to the emergence and change of early urban societies in Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Andean Region. She has excavated in Mexico, Bolivia, Egypt, Anatolia, and Israel. Among her awards and honors are the Mexican National Academy of Sciences Award, Alfonso Caso Award (INAH), Presidential Award of the Society for American Archaeology, foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, National University of Mexico Award in Research in Social Sciences, Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society, member of El Colegio Nacional in Mexico, and Doctor Honoris Causa by UNAM. She has been member of the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society, and co-editor, with Gary Feinman, of Latin American Antiquity. Mitchell S Rothman is professor and chair of Anthropology and Archaeology, Widener University and Consulting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. He is author or editor of five books and over 50 articles on complex societies of the Ancient Near East and related topics. He has conducted field work in Armenia, Turkey, Iran and the United States.