Archaeology of the Origin of the State

This book, newly translated from the original Spanish, first offers a summary of the main theories about what we today call the 'State', a category that draws together various interests in the research into the past of human societies and, at the same time, inspires passionate political and ideological debate. The authors review political philosophies from Greek antiquity to contemporary evolutionism. They then examine how the State has been viewed and studied within archaeology in the twentieth century, and offer an alternative approach based upon historical materialism. Their argument that this method can be profitably used to study the archaeological record is a sophisticated and creative contribution to current theory, and will inspire debate about its implications for our understanding of human history.Introduction ; I. THEORIES ABOUT THE STATE ; 1. The Classical Conception ; 2. The State According to Christianity ; 3. Renaissance of the State ; 4. The Seventeenth Century: Fear and Property ; 5. The Eighteenth Century: Lights and Shadows in the State ; 6. The Absolute State ; 7. The Critique of the State in Marx ; 8. Evolutionism and the State ; II. ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE STATE ; 9. Archaeology and Research on the State ; 10. Towards a Marxist Archaeology of the State ; 11. Epilogue: Theories of the State and the Archaeology of the State: Continuities and Complicity