Bronze Age Economics: The Beginnings of Political Economies [Paperback]

Timothy Earle (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813338778 | ISBN-13: 978-0813338774 | Publication Date: March 2002

This integrated collection of new and newly revised essays by archaeologist Timothy Earle represents both a personal journey and a growing synthesis of how political economies emerged in human societies. Drawing in detail on the cases of chiefdoms in Hawaii, the Andes, and Denmark, Bronze Age Economics documents how intensification of economies, surplus mobilization, and controlled distribution of both staple and prestige goods fundamentally drove the political evolutionary processes that prefigured states. Representing as it does the trajectory of Earle’s lifework, this book fairly encapsulates the history of processual archaeology and social evolutionary theory over the past quarter century.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Timothy Earle is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Northwestern and was formerly Professor of Anthropology at UCLA. In addition to numerous edited volumes, his authored books include How Chiefs Came to Power (1997),Chiefdoms: Power, Economy, and Ideology (1991), The Evolution of Human Societies: From Forager Group to Agrarian State (with A Johnson, 1987), Exchange Systems in Prehistory (1977). Earle is a current member of the Executive Committee of the AAA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813338778
• ISBN-13: 978-0813338774
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,690,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb contribution to appreciating primative economies, June 6, 2006

By 

Sharon E. Eicher "SEicher" (Midwest USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bronze Age Economics: The Beginnings of Political Economies (Paperback)

Earle presents historical stories for several peoples who were in Bronze Ages at different periods. For each, he weaves together anthropology, sociology, environmental impact, and economics. For anyone who finds it difficult to imagine how there could have been "economics" prior to the Age of Industrialization, this is a very helpful book.
I used this book when teaching a course on Economic History, precisely because I wanted my students to appreciate what economics means and how it exists in every society, even primative ones. Earle's accounts of Bronze Age Hawaiian chiefdoms or primitive Danish Bronze Age communities, etc. demonstrated this perfectly while making it fun at the same time. (In how many Economics courses will you study about indicators of economic status and feather capes?)
Anyone who thinks that he or she is interested in anthropology or sociology, but nothing so dry as economics, need only pick up Earle's book, to see how much fun economics reading CAN be.
This is a very unique book that satisfies a niche in the field of economics exceedingly well.