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The Evolution of Social Ranking on the Northwest Coast of North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenneth M. Ames
Kenneth M. Ames*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Administration, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725
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Abstract

The small, hierarchically organized societies on the Northwest Coast provide excellent examplex of the evolution of social complexity in nonagricultural contexts and thus can serve as an important testing ground for current models. Available archaeological data indicate that ranking appeared on the coast between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago. It is argued here that ranking developed from the interaction of two systems constraints and two processes: subsistence specialization, environmental circumscription and population growth, and promotion. Ranking develops because, given certain conditions, it provides both improved monitoring of the environment and improved responses to environmental shifts through information flow.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 789 - 805
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1981

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References

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