A Critical Archaeology of Politics

A Critical Archaeology of Politics takes the reader on a journey across various ancient worlds to examine how to reconstruct their politics in a more coherent, imaginative, and accurate way. Drawing on non-Western epistemologies, relational ontologies, and ancient texts, this book attempts to eliminate our present concerns to recognize the often surprising power dynamics that shaped ancient politics. From Neolithic Türkiye, the Archaic Mississippi, to Medieval Western Europe and the Maya world, the reader engages with the gods of Land, magical politics, and travelling princes to explore how ancient politicians may have conceived of their world in ways which dramatically differ from our own. By surveying both the promises and pitfalls of anthropological archaeology, students, scholars, and the general public alike learn how to deconstruct their present to better reconstruct political pasts.