Overview

New approaches to collapsed complex societies. The Maya. The Romans. The great dynasties of ancient China. It is generally believed that these once mighty empires eventually crumbled and disappeared. A recent trend in archaeology, however, focusing on what happened during and after the decline of once powerful regimes has found social resilience and transformation instead of collapse. In Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies, editor Ronald K. Faulseit gathers scholars with diverse theoretical perspectives to interpret how ancient civilizations responded to various stresses, including environmental change, warfare, and the fragmentation of political institutions. Contributors discuss not only what makes societies collapse but also why some societies are resilient and others are not, as well as how societies reorganize after collapse. Putting in context issues we face today, such as climate change, social diversity, and the failure of modern states, Beyond Collapse is an essential volume for readers interested in humanenvironment interaction and in the collapse—and subsequent reorganization—of human societies.

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9780809333998

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Reviews

A masterful volume that synthesizes the most recent research on the role of societal resilience in the face of political collapse. Faulseit and colleagues pull together examples through time from across the world to create a rich mosaic of what archaeology has to teach us about social transformation in an ever-changing world. Patrick Ryan Williams, curator of archaeological science, the Field Museum, Chicago

Author Information

Ronald K. Faulseit is a postdoctoral fellow in the Integrative Research Center at the Field Museum in Chicago. He served as the 2012–13 visiting scholar at the Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His work has been published in the Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Society and the journals Latin American Antiquity and Mexicon.

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