Emerging Complexity (New Studies in Archaeology)

How, when and why did inherited differences of wealth, status and power arise in human communities? At the heart of Emerging Complexity is the thesis that complex societies developed independently during the Copper and Bronze Ages in south-east Spain, and in the wider context of the Iberian peninsula and the west Mediterranean. Chapman rejects the concept of diffusion from the Aegean and east Mediterranean, until recently seen as the cradle of complex society in later prehistoric Europe. The unprecedented amount of new data on south-east Spain since the 1970s unavailable to many prehistorians. This detailed synthesis is therefore valuable as a general introduction to the area, as well as being important for prehistorians concerned with the emergence of complexity in the Aegean and throughout Europe.

At the heart of Emerging Complexity is the thesis that complex societies developed independently during the Copper and Bronze Ages in south-east Spain.

1. Two tribes: questions of theory, scale and explanation; 2. Hello, goodbye: Iberian prehistory and traditional archaeology; 3. Another one bites the dust: the implications of the absolute chronology; 4. Getting better: south-east Spain, the cultural framework 5000-500 BC; 5. Dancin' in the dark? Adaptation and intensification in south-east Spain; 6. Centrefield: recent models of intensification and cultural change in south-east Spain; 7. Into the groove: system scale and technological innovation in south-east Spain; 8. Out of reach? Complexity, interaction and integration in south-east Spain; 9. Eliminator: models and the archaeological record in south-east Spain; 10. Strong persuader: intensification and interaction in Iberia and the west Mediterranean; 11. With or without you: variability, evaluation and complexity.