Comparative archaeology : a commitment to understanding variation / Robert D. Drennan [and others] --
Approaches to comparative analysis in archaeology / Michael E. Smith and Peter Peregrine --
Comparative frames for the diachronic analysis of complex societies : next steps / Gary M. Feinman --
What it takes to get complex : food, goods, and work as shared cultural ideals form the beginning of sedentism / Monica L. Smith --
Challenges for comparative study of early complex societies / Robert D. Drennan and Christian E. Peterson --
Patterned variation in regional trajectories of community growth / Christian E. Peterson and Robert D. Drennan --
The genesis of monuments in island societies / Michael J. Kolb --
Power and legitimation : political strategies, typology and cultural evolution / Peter Peregrine --
The strategies of provincials in empires / Barbara L. Stark and John K. Chase --
Household economies under the Aztec and Inka empires : a comparison / Timothy Earle and Michael E. Smith --
Low-density, agrarian-based urbanism : scale, power, and ecology / Roland Fletcher --
Archaeology, early complex societies, and comparative social science history / Michael E. Smith.

Eleven leading archeologists describe their research on ancient empires, states, and chiefdoms using a comparative perspective. By making comparisons among sites, regions, and artifacts, these scholars produce new understanding of diverse specific cases, from the towering ruins of Angkor to the houses of Inca peasants. The reader learns about the political strategies of kings and chiefs, the daily choices of ordinary households, and the creative ways in which ancient peoples built their cities and shaped their landscapes. In the process, these chapters illustrate how to do comparative analysis using archeological data