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 Hawai`i’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 Hawai`i and illuminates Hawai`i’s importance in the global theory and literature about divine kingship, archaic states, and sociopolitical evolution.
Patrick Vinton Kirch is Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology and Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of many books, including Feathered Gods and Fishhooks and On the Road of the Winds (UC Press).
ContentsPreface1. From Chiefdom to Archaic State: Hawai‘i in Comparative and Historical ContextWhat Are Archaic States?Theories of Primary State FormationHawai‘i as a Model System for State EmergenceMarshall Sahlins’s ChallengeA Phylogenetic Model for PolynesianCultural EvolutionThe Nature of Ancestral Polynesian SocietyHow Did Contact-Era Hawai‘i Differ fromAncestral Polynesia?Was Hawai‘i Unique in Polynesia?2. Hawaiian Archaic States on the Eve of European ContactSources for Reconstructing Contact-Era Hawai‘iHawaiian Polities: Size and ScaleClass Stratifi cation and Divine KingshipElite Art, Craft Specialization, and Wealth FinancePolitical, Administrative, and Settlement HierarchiesSystems of ProductionThe Hierarchy of Priests and TemplesThe State Cults and the Ritual CycleLand and LaborWarSummary3. Native Hawaiian Political HistoryGenealogies of Renown, Traditions of PowerFounding Traditions of Settlement and VoyagingPolitical Developments of the Fifteenth toMid-sixteenth CenturiesUsurpation and Political Consolidation in the Hawai‘iand Maui KingdomsDynastic Histories of the Seventeenth toEighteenth CenturiesPolitical Developments of the Contact EraAgency in History: Ali‘i Routes to Power4. Tracking the Transformations: Population, Intensification, and MonumentalityThe Hawaiian Cultural SequencePopulation and Demographic TrendsContrastive AgroecosystemsTemporal Pathways of Intensifi cationMarine Resources and AquacultureMonumentality and the Temple SystemRoyal Centers and Elite Residence PatternsWhen Did the Hawaiian Archaic States Emerge?5. The Challenge of ExplanationPrevious Explanations for Hawaiian Cultural ChangeUltimate Causation: Population, Intensifi cation, and SurplusProximate Causation: Status Rivalry, Alliance, and ConquestWhy Did Archaic States Emerge First on Hawai‘i and Maui?Hawai‘i and Archaic State EmergenceNotesGlossary of Hawaiian TermsReferencesIndex
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