The Adaptive Fitness of Complexity

Archaeology provides the sole means of assessing the nature of two important organizational transformations occurring in the human trajectory. Socioevolutionary theory approaches comparative aspects of the dynamic fluctuations that follow these transformations from either a diachronic or a comparative perspective: chiefdoms and states are types that encompass substantial diversity.

The recent trajectory in socioevolutionary theory has embraced a dynamic view of complex societies that recognizes some of their instability. More complex forms of social organization undoubtedly enjoy some adaptive advantages over less complex ones, but they also exhibit serious problems in terms of self-regulation of population, territorial integrity, and ecological sustainability. More complex societies benefit from technological advantages and systemic cohesion, but are also subject to more spectacular collapses.

See also: Africa, Central: Foragers, Farmers, and Metallurgists; Zimbabwe Plateau and Surrounding Areas; Africa, East: Ethiopia and Eritrea; Africa, North: Egypt, Pre-Pharaonic; Nubia; Africa, South: Herders, Farmers, and Metallurgists of South Africa; Africa, West: Herders, Farmers, and Crafts Specialists; Villages, Cities, and States; Americas, Central: Classic Period of Mesoa-merica, the Maya; Postclassic Cultures of Mesoamerica; Americas, North: American Southwest, Four Corners Region; Eastern Woodlands; Americas, South: Early Cultures of the Central Andes; Inca Archaeology; Inca Ethnohistory; Asia, East: China, Neolithic Cultures; Chinese Civilization; Asia, Northeast, Early States and Civilizations; Asia, South: Baluchistan and the Borderlands; india, Deccan and Central Plateau; indus Civilization; Megaliths; Asia, Southeast: Early States and Civilizations; Asia, West: Achaemenian, Parthian, and Sasanian Persian Civilizations; Arabian Peninsula; Archaeology of the Near East: The Levant; Mesopotamia, Sumer, and Akkad; Phoenicia; Southern Levant, Bronze Age Metal Production and Utilization; Southern Levant, Chalcolithic Cultures; Cities, Ancient, and Daily Life; Civilization and Urbanism, Rise of; Craft Specialization; Exchange Systems; Europe, Northern and Western: Bronze Age; iron Age; Europe, South: Greece; Rome; Food and Feasting, Social and Political Aspects; Social Inequality, Development of; State-Level Societies, Collapse of.