Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-265) and index.
Contents:
My analytical frame -- Social structure as an analytical frame -- Complexity theory -- Structure and scope of this book -- Readings -- The ancient Greek landscape -- People, land, environment -- The topography -- The seas -- Climate -- Subsistence -- Subsistence and environment -- Demographics -- Readings -- The neolithic in Greece -- Tell sites -- Were communities hierarchical? -- Measures of social complexity -- Readings -- Developments ca. 3200-2200 BCE -- Developments on the mainland -- Measures of social complexity -- The Cyclades -- Measures of social complexity Crete -- Measures of social complexity -- Readings -- The beginning of change and the evolution of a Koine Crete -- Evolution on the community level -- The complexity theory frame -- Evolution on a different scale: the palace polities and peak sanctuaries -- The complexity theory window into the palaces -- The west court -- Large storage rooms -- Central courtyards -- Reception rooms -- Banquet halls -- Residential areas -- Various cult activities -- Other results of feasting: houses, "villas" and a return to the community level scale -- Polity size and territorial control -- Measures of social complexity -- The Cyclades -- Measures of social complexity -- The mainland -- Measures of social complexity -- Later developments and the creation of an Aegean Koine.
Summary:
This book examines the development of ancient Greek civilization through a path-breaking application of social scientific theories. David B. Small charts the rise of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations and the unique characteristics of the later classical Greeks through the lens of ancient social structure and complexity theory, opening up new ideas and perspectives on these societies. He argues that Minoan and Mycenaean institutions evolved from elaborate feasting, and that the genesis of Greek colonization was born from structural chaos in the eighth century. Small isolates distinctions between Iron Age Crete and the rest of the Greek world, focusing on important differences in social structure. His book differs from others on Ancient Greece, highlighting the perpetuation of classical Greek social structure into the middle years of the Roman Empire, and concluding with a comparison of the social structure of classical Greece to that of the classical Maya civilization.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.