Archaeology of Democracy and Despotism

Catalog description

This class will explore the wide range of political systems that existed in the ancient world – from egalitarian and representative formats to highly centralized, and even despotic, ones. We will draw on archaeological and historic case studies from East Asia, the Mediterranean, North America, the Andes, and more to provide us with a long-term view of how political systems develop and dissolve. How did political players encourage cooperation, hierarchy, authority, or inequality, and how were these practices institutionalized? How can we identify these practices in the past? By focusing on the deep history of political systems in the ancient world, we will ultimately seek to address one of the most important questions challenging the modern world: are hierarchy and inequality inevitable parts of human society?