The creation of inequality : how our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for monarchy, slavery, and empire / Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus.

Incluye bibliografía (p. 567-614).

Preface -- Part 1: Starting Out Equal: -- 1: Genesis and exodus -- 2: Rousseau´s ´state of nature´ -- 3: Ancestors and enemies -- 4: Why our ancestors had religion and the arts -- 5: Inequality without agriculture -- Part 2: Balancing Prestige And Equality: -- 6: Agriculture and achieved renown -- 7: Ritual buildings of achievement-based societies -- 8: Prehistory of the ritual house -- 9: Prestige and equality in four Native American societies -- Part 3: Societies That Made Inequality Hereditary: -- 10: Rise and fall of hereditary inequality in farming societies -- 11: Three sources of power in chiefly societies -- 12: From ritual house to temple in the Americas -- 13: Aristocracy without chiefs -- 14: Temples and inequality in early Mesopotamia -- 15: Chiefly societies in our backyard -- 16: How to turn rank into stratification: tales of the South Pacific -- Part 4: Inequality In Kingdoms And Empires: -- 17: How to create a kingdom -- 18: Three of the New World´s first-generation kingdoms -- 19: Land of the scorpion king -- 20: Black ox hides and golden stools -- 21: Nursery of civilization -- 22: Graft and imperialism -- 23: How new empires learn from old -- Part 5: Resisting Inequality: -- 24: Inequality and natural law -- Notes -- Sources of illustrations -- Index.