Experimenting with Large-Group Aggregation

Abstract

As researchers deliberate over the Anthropocene, archaeologists are producing empirical evidence that pushes the reality of a humanly crafted biosphere ever deeper into the Holocene and possibly beyond. By grappling with the signature and consequence of the human footprint over the longue durée, we can appreciate how human sociality transformed in relation to increasingly domesticated and peopled landscapes, particularly in regard to large-scale settlements. Archaeologists are increasingly able to discern the underpinnings of cultural practices and social experimentation that are customarily linked to more recent, complex societies. Whereas traditional anthropological theories suggested unilinear, stepwise, or standardized models and developmental sequences for social complexity and attendant settlement patterns, recent decades of archaeological investigations globally allow us to better recognize a plurality and diversity inherent in the human past.