Military and Social Organization

Interdependence, Co-evolution, Archaeological Verification

Abstract

Neo-evolutionistic models depicting the development of societies have become widely adopted within prehistoric archaeology. They imply a co-evolution and therefore an isomorphism of military and social organization. It is consequently assumed that a reconstruction of warfare and military organization from the archaeological record leads to crucial information about social and political organization of a particular group. Ensuing from the theory of social differentiation, the blind spots of these models can be identified and it can be shown that the basic assumption behind this isomorphism is deceptive.