An Island Polity
An Island Polity
J. Malcolm Wagstaff
£45.00
GBPThe Greek island of Melos in the Cyclades has been inhabited for at least five thousand years. Two periods of its history are well documented: the late Bronze Age, when it supported an important urban centre at Phylakopi and the late fifth century BC, when as an independent city-state it briefly defied and was then destroyed by the expansionist power of Athens. The case of Melos is thus relevant to the understanding of the processes of early state-formation and of the integration of small-scale societies into larger political units. As the contributors to this volume show, a small island provides a very suitable area - clearly defined, self-contained - in which to examine the processes of social, cultural and economic change and the forces - sometimes gradual and almost imperceptible in their effect, sometimes sudden and dramatic - by which changes are initiated.
Product details
January 2009Paperback
9780521103909
376 pages
279 × 210 × 20 mm
0.85kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: an initial perspective Colin Renfrew and Malcolm Wagstaff
- Part I. The History of Society in Melos:
- 2. A preliminary definition of site distribution on Melos John F. Cherry
- 3. The earliest prehistory of Melos John F. Cherry and Robin Torrence
- 4. Bronze age Melos Colin Renfrew
- 5. Classical and Roman Melos Brian A. Sparkes
- 6. Post-Roman Melos Malcolm Wagstaff
- Part II. Environmental System and Constraints:
- 7. The geology of Melos Peter Shelford
- 8. Geomorphological evolution during the late Holocene Donald Davidson and Catriona Tasker
- 9. Island resources and their limitations Malcolm Wagstaff and Clive Gamble
- 10. Traditional land use Malcolm Wagstaff and Siv Augustson
- Part III. Intra-Systemic Relations:
- 11. Settlement and population change Malcolm Wagstaff and John F. Cherry
- 12. Early agriculture in Melos Jane M. Renfrew
- 13. Animal husbandry, population and urbanisation Clive Gamble
- 14. Alternative subsistence strategies Malcolm Wagstaff, Siv Augustson and Clive Gamble
- Part IV. Inter-Systemic Relations:
- 15. The obsidian trade Peter Shelford, F. Hodson, M. E. Cosgrove, S. E. Warren and Colin Renfrew
- 16. Prehistoric exchange Colin Renfrew
- 17. Production and exchange in the classical and Roman periods Brian A. Sparkes
- 18. Post-classical exchange Malcolm Wagstaff
- Part V. Integration:
- 19. Settlement and resources Malcolm Wagstaff and John F. Cherry
- 20. Polity and power: interaction, intensification and exploitation Colin Renfrew
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index.
