Yoffee, N. 2005. Myths of the archaic state. Evolution of the earliest cities, states, and civilizations. - Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Abstract

The rise of the earliest states and civilisations has become, since the second post-war period, a field of study virtually monopolised by neo-evolutionist thoughts. In that sense, these states, these civilizations, were interpreted as an upper step into the ladder that would lead societies from simple, undeveloped (and thus inferior) stages, towards complex and more developed (and thus superior) stages. For all the rest, the result of the evolutionary process was, usually, characterised in a common way: political systems that occupied huge territories, lead by despotic figures that submitted politics, economics and ideology in to its practically exclusive control. Read more...