How Chiefs Became Kings : Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai'i Hardback
by Patrick Vinton Kirch
Hardback
Description
In "How Chiefs Became Kings", Patrick Vinton Kirch addresses a central problem in anthropological archaeology: the emergence of "archaic states" whose distinctive feature was divine kingship.
Kirch takes as his focus the Hawaiian archipelago, commonly regarded as the archetype of a complex chiefdom.
Integrating anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, traditional history, and theory, and drawing on significant contributions from his own four decades of research, Kirch argues that Hawaiian polities had become states before the time of Captain Cook's voyage (1778-1779).
The status of most archaic states is inferred from the archaeological record.
But Kirch shows that because Hawaii's kingdoms were established relatively recently, they could be observed and recorded by Cook and other European voyagers.
Substantive and provocative, this book makes a major contribution to the literature of precontact Hawaii and illuminates Hawaii's importance in the global theory and literature about divine kingship, archaic states, and sociopolitical evolution.
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:288 pages, 11 b-w photographs, 22 line illustrations, 9 tables
- Publisher:University of California Press
- Publication Date:02/12/2010
- Category:
- ISBN:9780520267251
Other Formats
- Paperback / softback from £24.35
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:288 pages, 11 b-w photographs, 22 line illustrations, 9 tables
- Publisher:University of California Press
- Publication Date:02/12/2010
- Category:
- ISBN:9780520267251
