Archaeology of Colonial Encounters

Colonialism and its legacies have emerged as one of the most important research topics in anthropology. Indeed we now understand that colonialism gave rise to and shaped the discipline. However the understanding of colonization in anthropology history and other fields derives largely from studies of European expansion. In this volume ten archaeologists analyze the assumptions that have constrained previous studies of colonialism and demonstrate that colonization was common in early Old and New World state societies-an important strategy by which people gained access to critical resources.