A Kowalewski

Biographic Data

ID	1413
NAME	A Kowalewski
GIVEN NAMES	A
FAMILY NAME	Kowalewski
SIGNATURE	KOWALEWSKI A
AFFILIATIONS	University of Georgia
ORCID	0000-0002-3506-6160
VERIFIED	Yes
TOTAL WORKS	51
TOTAL CITATIONS	1032
AUTHOR COUNT	51
EDITOR COUNT	0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR	1979
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR	2025
H-INDEX	13

Radiocarbon Database Offers New Perspectives on Ancient Oaxaca - Erratum
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Jennifer Birch et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2025References: 1
Radiocarbon Database Offers New Perspectives on Ancient Oaxaca
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Jasmine Birch et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2025Cited by: 2References: 41
We present a dataset of 1,119 radiocarbon dates and their contexts for Oaxaca, Mexico, a best effort to include all published dates, plus hundreds of unpublished samples. We illustrate its potential and limitations with five examples: (1) dated stratigraphy in stream cutbanks show how aggradation, downcutting, and stability responded to global climate and human activities; (2) 14C samples from Late/Terminal Formative contexts allow interregional …
Ancient Oaxaca: The Monte Albán State
G M Feinman, Linda M Nicholas et al.BOOKAncient Oaxaca2022
Reframing the Foundation of Monte Albán
G M Feinman, Richard E Blanton et al.ARTICLEJournal of Urban Archaeology2022
Monte Albán was founded in the Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico) around 500 bc and grew quickly in size and monumentality. We offer new theoretical perspectives on the dynamic processes associated with this transitional episode of change. Adopting a multiscalar approach, we frame this transition and the rapid growth of the hilltop centre as an innovative social response to defensive concerns as well as other factors that offered new opportunities both to…
The Fiscal Economy of Good Government: Past and Present
Richard E Blanton, Lane F Fargher et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology2021Cited by: 20References: 117
We demonstrate that good government, similar to modern liberal democracies, emerged apart from Western history or influence. This finding is counter to the conventional understanding that democratic state building is an expression of Western-inspired modernity. Yet, we argue, irrespective of cultural context or time period, good government policies and practices will be instituted when revenues that underpin governance are jointly produced, as pr…
The Evolution of Social Institutions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Open AccessD Bondarenko, A Kowalewski et al.BOOKThe Evolution of Social…2020
An Archaeological Perspective on Rural Development and Rural Poverty
Open AccessA KowalewskiARTICLEHuman Ecology2020
Moral Collapse and State Failure: A View From the Past
Open AccessRichard E Blanton, G M Feinman et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Political Science2020Cited by: 5References: 26
We have found that collective action theory, as developed by Margaret Levi and others, provides a new direction for the study of growth and decline of premodern states. By following this lead, we have challenged the traditional consensus that despotic rule characterized most premodern states, demonstrating instead the existence of a state-building process in which fiscal economies of joint production fostered the implementation of good government…
Economic Institutions in Ancient Greece and Mesoamerica
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLESocial Evolution & History2020References: 10
New studies have led to deeper comprehension of economic variation and change in Late Post-classic Mesoamerica and the Archaic and Classical Greek world. Archaeological data on city-state settlement patterns, specialized production, trade, and household consumption, new archival material, and re-analysis of texts have undermined primitivism, substantivism, and ideal-types. In urbanization and demographic scale the two areas are comparable. Mesoam…
Where is the Southeastern Native American economy
A Kowalewski, V D ThompsonARTICLESoutheastern Archaeology2020Cited by: 8References: 64
Economics – the socially instituted ways of managing how people value, make, exchange, and consume goods – is a major part of human culture. Yet there is comparatively little study of the economies of the pre-sixteenth-century Southeast, in spite of revealing written comments by the earliest European observers and the fact that cross-culturally in societies of comparable scale, multiple, complicated economic institutions always play a central rol…
An institutional approach for archaeology
Open AccessJacob Holland‐lulewicz, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz et al.ARTICLEJournal of Anthropological…2020Cited by: 31References: 63
Advances in City-State Research, with an Example from Mesoamerica
Open AccessA KowalewskiARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Research2019Cited by: 8References: 43
What Is Ethnohistory: A Sixty-Year Retrospective
Grace Elizabeth Riehm, Lydia Brambila et al.ARTICLEEthnohistory2019Cited by: 2References: 7
In honor of Ethnohistory's sixtieth anniversary, this paper compiles data on the journal and analyzes patterns and trends throughout the publication. We divided observations into four categories: (1) authorship of each article, particularly focusing on gender in authorship and coauthorship, (2) the region represented in each article, (3) the topic, and (4) data sources used by the author(s). We then analyzed each category in representative ten-ye…
Regional Archaeology and Local Interests in Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stefan P Brannan et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2017Cited by: 8References: 22
The Recorrido Arqueológico de Coixtlahuaca (RAC) presents period-by-period settlement pattern maps for the valley of Coixtlahuaca in the northern Mixteca Alta. The RAC project made improvements in full-coverage survey methods. We identify limitations and suggest that similar projects in the future need to resolve several management and budget problems. The survey revealed two periods of heavy occupation, 700-300 BC and AD 1200-1520, separated by …
Years of agricultural engineering in Mesoamerica: Lama-bordos of the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico
Open AccessDavid S Leigh, A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2013Cited by: 8References: 5
Regional Settlement Pattern Studies
Open AccessA KowalewskiARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Research2008Cited by: 33References: 163
Archaeology as a Process: Processualism and Its Progeny
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2006Cited by: 17References: 1
Archaeology as. Process: Processualism and Its Progeny. Michael J. O'Brien, R. Lee Lyman, and Michael Brian Schiffer. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005. 350 pp
Archaeology beyond Dialogue
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2006Cited by: 1References: 1
Archaeology beyond Dialogue. Ian Hodder. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2003. 208 pp
Monte Negro and the Urban Revolution in Oaxaca, Mexico
Open AccessAndrew K Balkansky, Veronica Perez Rodríguez et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2004Cited by: 23References: 33
This paper is about Monte Negro's origins, and how this site fits the emerging pattern in studies of Oaxacan urbanization including the Zapotec capital at Monte Albán. Our settlement data from a multivalley regional survey in the Mixteca Alta including Monte Negro allows comparison with other urban centers that we have surveyed. Monte Negro's origins are due to internal settlement shifts, but occurred in the external context of widespread militar…
Backcountry Pots
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2003Cited by: 4References: 5
In Mesoamerica, the pottery made and used in regions peripheral to highly developed core areas is relatively plain; it is not standardized; and it has a narrow range of forms. Such pottery does not represent cultural “backwardness” or a tradition separate from that of core areas. Instead, backcountry pottery is explained by rational economic behavior of producers and consumers whose choices are constrained by location at the distant ends of dendr…
Scale and the Explanation of Demographic Change: 3,500 Years in the Valley of Oaxaca
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2003Cited by: 18References: 15
Explicit attention to scale provides ways to relate the long run of archaeology to the shorter moments of ethnography and history, and ways to link biology and ecology to political economy. In the Valley of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, the long-term history of the aggregate, regional population was constrained by relatively stable factors of human biology and ecology. However, significant, patterned variation in shorter-term, disaggregated, local …
Alternative Leadership Strategies in the Prehispanic Southwest
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2003Cited by: 2
Alternative Leadership Strategies in the Prehispanic Southwest. Barbara J. Mills. ed. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2000. 320 pp
Archaeological Survey in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico
Andrew K Balkansky, A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEJournal of Field Archaeology2000Cited by: 10References: 15
We summarize the 3,000-year period of Prehispanic settlement in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, based on our regional surveys. We focus on episodic transitions to compare regional trajectories in the Mixteca Alta and elsewhere in Oaxaca. The regularities in settlement pattern changes over so large an area suggest a common causal chain. The project was a full-coverage survey that recorded over 1000 sites in a 10-valley macroregion. The project…
A spatial method for integrating data of different types
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Method…1997Cited by: 6References: 10
[Comments and Replies]
Wendy Ashmore, Elizabeth M Brumfiel et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology1996

A Dual-Processual Theory for the Evolution of Mesoamerican Civilization
Richard E Blanton, G M Feinman et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology1996Cited by: 453
Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World
Open AccessCyprian Broodbank, Françoise Audouze et al.BOOKFactional Competition and…1994Cited by: 156
Factionalism is an important force of social transformation, and this volume examines how factional competition in the kinship and political structures in ancient New World societies led to the development of chiefdoms, states and empires. The case studies, from a range of New World societies, represent all levels of non-egalitarian societies and a wide variety of ecological settings in the New World. They document the effects of factionalism on …
Monte Alban's Hinterland, Part I: The Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Central and Southern Parts of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico
Richard E Blanton, Stephen A Kowalewski et al.BOOKMonte Alban's hinterland.1982Cited by: 75
In this work, the authors interpret archaeological data on roughly 3000 years of human history in the Valley of Oaxaca, from roughly 1500 BC to AD 1500. They integrate information on settlement patterns, political and social organization, artifact distribution, and more
Regional Settlement Pattern Studies
Open AccessA KowalewskiARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Research2008Cited by: 33References: 163
An institutional approach for archaeology
Open AccessJacob Holland‐lulewicz, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz et al.ARTICLEJournal of Anthropological…2020Cited by: 31References: 63
The Evolution of Complexity in the Valley of Oaxaca
A Kowalewski, Stephen A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEAnnual Review of Anthropology1990Cited by: 30References: 22
This article is directed toward those interested in the comparative study of how complex societies develop-urban and historical geographers, urban historians and sociologists, social and economic historians, or anthropologists in or out of Mesoamerican archaeology. It concentrates on aspects of complexity that can be most readily compared cross-culturally. Specifically the article describes formal characteristics of settlement hierarchies in the …
Ecological Theory and Cultural Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca [and Comments and Reply]
William T Sanders, D L Nichols et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology1988Cited by: 29
Long-Term Demographic Change: A Perspective from the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico
G M Feinman, A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEJournal of Field Archaeology1985Cited by: 26
Based on the findings of more than 10 years of regional archaeological survey, the prehispanic settlement history of the Valley of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico is presented for the 3,OOO-year period prior to Spanish Conquest. The process of long-term demographic change is examined at several analytical scales and discussed in relation to political and economic transitions. Specific emphasis is given to the discussion of those parts of the Valley tha…
Monte Negro and the Urban Revolution in Oaxaca, Mexico
Open AccessAndrew K Balkansky, Veronica Perez Rodríguez et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2004Cited by: 23References: 33
This paper is about Monte Negro's origins, and how this site fits the emerging pattern in studies of Oaxacan urbanization including the Zapotec capital at Monte Albán. Our settlement data from a multivalley regional survey in the Mixteca Alta including Monte Negro allows comparison with other urban centers that we have surveyed. Monte Negro's origins are due to internal settlement shifts, but occurred in the external context of widespread militar…
The Fiscal Economy of Good Government: Past and Present
Richard E Blanton, Lane F Fargher et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology2021Cited by: 20References: 117
We demonstrate that good government, similar to modern liberal democracies, emerged apart from Western history or influence. This finding is counter to the conventional understanding that democratic state building is an expression of Western-inspired modernity. Yet, we argue, irrespective of cultural context or time period, good government policies and practices will be instituted when revenues that underpin governance are jointly produced, as pr…
Scale and the Explanation of Demographic Change: 3,500 Years in the Valley of Oaxaca
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2003Cited by: 18References: 15
Explicit attention to scale provides ways to relate the long run of archaeology to the shorter moments of ethnography and history, and ways to link biology and ecology to political economy. In the Valley of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, the long-term history of the aggregate, regional population was constrained by relatively stable factors of human biology and ecology. However, significant, patterned variation in shorter-term, disaggregated, local …
Archaeology as a Process: Processualism and Its Progeny
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2006Cited by: 17References: 1
Archaeology as. Process: Processualism and Its Progeny. Michael J. O'Brien, R. Lee Lyman, and Michael Brian Schiffer. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005. 350 pp
The Economics of Urbanization and State Formation at Teotihuacan [and Comments and Reply]
Donald V Kurtz, Thomas H Charlton et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology1987Cited by: 15
The Economic Systems of Ancient Oaxaca: A Regional Perspective [and Comments and Reply]
A Kowalewski, Stephen A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology1983Cited by: 11
Archaeological data from a regional settlement pattern survey of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, are used to monitor how scarce goods and resources were allocated to members of society through eight phases from 600 B.C. to A.D. 1520. The goal is to determine how distinct historical social structures performed economically in terms of the goods and resources recoverable archaeologically. Measures utilized include land use and settlement characterist…
Population-Resource Balances in Period I of Oaxaca, Mexico
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEAmerican Antiquity1980Cited by: 11References: 4
The implications of speculative 'population pressure' models are checked against the archaeological record in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, by means of a detailed comparison of maize potentials and ancient populations, as both change over time. There is virtually no fit. Santley's evolutionary model, inasmuch as it is operationalizable, should therefore be drastically rethought
Archaeological Survey in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico
Andrew K Balkansky, A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEJournal of Field Archaeology2000Cited by: 10References: 15
We summarize the 3,000-year period of Prehispanic settlement in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, based on our regional surveys. We focus on episodic transitions to compare regional trajectories in the Mixteca Alta and elsewhere in Oaxaca. The regularities in settlement pattern changes over so large an area suggest a common causal chain. The project was a full-coverage survey that recorded over 1000 sites in a 10-valley macroregion. The project…
Circular Architecture and Symbolic Boundaries in the Mixtec Sierra, Oaxaca
Open AccessLaura Finsten, A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica1996Cited by: 9References: 19
Systematic survey of 1,000 km2in a mountainous zone of the Mixteca Alta in Oaxaca, Mexico, has produced detailed architectural data at a large number of pre-Hispanic settlements. One unusual architectural form, circular stone foundations, apparently dates to the Late Postclassic period. Comparisons to similar architectural forms described in the archaeological and ethnographic literature of Mesoamerica and in the Mixtec codices suggest that they …
Where is the Southeastern Native American economy
A Kowalewski, V D ThompsonARTICLESoutheastern Archaeology2020Cited by: 8References: 64
Economics – the socially instituted ways of managing how people value, make, exchange, and consume goods – is a major part of human culture. Yet there is comparatively little study of the economies of the pre-sixteenth-century Southeast, in spite of revealing written comments by the earliest European observers and the fact that cross-culturally in societies of comparable scale, multiple, complicated economic institutions always play a central rol…
Advances in City-State Research, with an Example from Mesoamerica
Open AccessA KowalewskiARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Research2019Cited by: 8References: 43
Regional Archaeology and Local Interests in Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stefan P Brannan et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2017Cited by: 8References: 22
The Recorrido Arqueológico de Coixtlahuaca (RAC) presents period-by-period settlement pattern maps for the valley of Coixtlahuaca in the northern Mixteca Alta. The RAC project made improvements in full-coverage survey methods. We identify limitations and suggest that similar projects in the future need to resolve several management and budget problems. The survey revealed two periods of heavy occupation, 700-300 BC and AD 1200-1520, separated by …
Years of agricultural engineering in Mesoamerica: Lama-bordos of the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico
Open AccessDavid S Leigh, A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2013Cited by: 8References: 5
A spatial method for integrating data of different types
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A KowalewskiARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Method…1997Cited by: 6References: 10
Moral Collapse and State Failure: A View From the Past
Open AccessRichard E Blanton, G M Feinman et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Political Science2020Cited by: 5References: 26
We have found that collective action theory, as developed by Margaret Levi and others, provides a new direction for the study of growth and decline of premodern states. By following this lead, we have challenged the traditional consensus that despotic rule characterized most premodern states, demonstrating instead the existence of a state-building process in which fiscal economies of joint production fostered the implementation of good government…
The Spread of Literacy in a Latin American Peasant Society: Oaxaca, Mexico, 1890 to 1980
Open AccessA Kowalewski, Stephen A Kowalewski et al.ARTICLEComparative Studies in Society…1992Cited by: 5References: 9
The object of this essay has been to help examine spatiotemporal variation in literacy. The research reported here centered on the Valley of Oaxaca, an agricultural region in southern Mexico, during the period from 1890 to 1980. The data consist of a systematic compilation of tax and voting lists from the nineteenth century, census responses from 1890 to 1980, community ethnographies, published histories and biographies, and government reports. A…
A Comment on Steponaitis' Determination of Catchment Productivity
Open AccessLaura Finsten, G M Feinman et al.ARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist1983Cited by: 5References: 4