Skyler Cragg, Paula Sabloff

Paper #: 15-06-018

The modification and application of Linton’s 1936 concept of status-and-role to a comparative analysis of early states and non-states yields new ways of understanding early states and even corroborates some archaeologists’ findings. This project scoured the archaeological and historic literature to learn which of 52 possible statuses are markers of early states, which societies may be considered early states, and which early states may be considered typical. Statistical analysis of the ruler, farmer, and slave statuses shows similarities and differences among states and between states and non-states. By using network analysis on the roles (rights and behaviors) associated with the three statuses, we find that we can gain insight into decision making in the early states and that pre-conquest Hawai’i has many characteristics of a state and therefore should be considered one.

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