This thesis attempts to examine the structure and functioning of politics in Sierra Leone at the Chiefdom , Constituency, District and National Levels, and the interactions between those levels. It is postulated that previous analyses of Sierra Leone politics have concentrated on the national level to the detriment of the peripheral areas, thus producing a distorted picture of the political process. 'Local' political issues take precedence over 'national' issues because of the nature of the brokerage system which developed in Sierra Leone to cope with the problemE$ resulting from the colonial power imposing the institutions of an integrated nation-state on a fragmented, 'plural' society. The Kono District is examined because it has a long history of opposition to the Central Government. Its people felt a sense of grievance that their district, which produced a large proportion of the national wealth because of the rich diamond deposits there, was not receiving its fair share of development resources. It is also an area undergoing rapid social and economic changes. A chronological approach is adopted to describe the changes between l~f~and 1970, and the work ends with some speculations on the nature of Centre-Periphery relations in Sierra Leone.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the impact bronze had on the South Scandinavian society during the period 2400-1700 B.C. What happened when bronze began to arrive in the Scandinavian Late Neolithic society? How did it spread and how did this influence the society.

Research focusing on the political economy of Mississippian mound centers in the middle Savannah River valley has prompted a reevaluation of current interpretations regarding societal complexity. I conclude the clearest expression of classic Mississippian riverine-adaptation is evident at centers immediately below the Fall Line with their political ties to chiefdom centers in the Piedmont, and especially Etowah. By contrast, those centers on the interior Coastal Plain were politically autonomous with minimal signatures in social ranking. The scale of appropriated labor and resulting level of surplus production, necessitated by upland settlement on the Aiken Plateau, fostered social contradictions making communally-oriented and decentralized societies more sustainable than hierarchical forms.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The Izmir Region is located in the heart of the Western Anatolian coastline and forms a natural bridge between the Anatolian mainland and the Western Aegean. The region is connected to Central Anatolia through deep valleys and is linked to the Aegean Sea via many harbor sites along the coast. The architectural features and the other remains (such as pottery, metal objects etc.) found in and around those architectural context can provide the information about the genesis of the urbanization. With reference to the fortifications and bastions may show us that societies in question are concerned with some political problems. This study aims to understand how the scale of architecture changed from the Late Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the comperative basis of Aegean context particularly in Bakla Tepe and Liman Tepe. On the basis of architectural differences, two distinct community types may be postulated for Early Bronze Age sites in the Aegean. The fortified coastal site of Liman Tepe is an example of a centrally administrated early urban community with a strong economy. Bakla Tepe represents an affluent inland village or small town community interacting with large centers.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

MAAS / Department of Developmental Studies

The "Guayacundo" Ethnos in the Highland of PiuraThe Guayacundo were an atuncuracazgo, or macroethnia, during the Late Intermediate Period and Late Horizon. Their location corresponds to the space occupied by the counties of Ayabaca and Huancabamba, in Piura. Their culture was greatly influenced by peoples from the forest, such as the Paltas, Caluas and Malacatos, located to the north and the northeast. Guayacundo was a chiefdom of sedentary towns, dedicated to agriculture and diverse crafts, organized in a politically structured space with permanent contact with both the coast and the tropical forest. The Guayacundo were conquered by Tupac Yupanqui who, among other things, founded the urban establishment of Caxas, in the lands of Coyayca. The guayacundos became part of the Tahuantinsuyo in capacity of loyal servants of the Inca, who trusted them with positions of responsibility in the service of the state. / Los guayacundo formaron un atuncuracazgo o macroetnia durante el Periodo Intermedio Tardío y el Horizonte Tardío. Su ubicación corresponde al espacio actualmente ocupado por las provincias de Ayabaca y Huancabamba, en el departamento de Piura. Su cultura tuvo una gran influencia selvática, al igual que los paltas, caluas y malacatos, localizados al norte y al noreste. Guayacundo fue un señorío de pueblos sedentarios, dedicados a la agricultura y a diversas artesanías, organizados en un espacio políticamente estructurado y con permanente contacto con costa y selva. Fueron conquistados por Túpac Yupanqui, quien, entre otras cosas, fundó el asentamiento urbano de Caxas, en las tierras de Coyayca. Los guayacundos pasaron a formar parte del Tahuantinsuyo en calidad de leales servidores de los incas, los que les confiaron cargos de responsabilidad a favor del Estado.

En raison de leur ubiquité dans les assemblages archéologiques et les collections ethnographiques, les lames d’herminette en pierre ont longtemps été utilisées comme « fossiles-directeurs » afin de mettre en évidence des corrélations typo-chronologiques en Océanie. Néanmoins, les critères d’observations formels utilisés dans cette approche typologique ne permettaient pas de rendre compte de la complexité des processus techniques de fabrication. Après avoir rappelé les autres études expérimentales réalisées précédemment dans la région, nous proposons un premier référentiel des stigmates de taille sur roches basaltiques qui nous permet d’identifier différentes techniques de percussion utilisées dans la confection des lames d’herminette en pierre. La restitution des activités techniques qui ont abouti à la production de ces outils a été réalisée à travers l’analyse technologique d’assemblages archéologiques (produits finis ou semi-finis et déchets de taille) récoltés dans différentes sites de la côte Nord de l’île de Tubuai (Archipel des Australes, Polynésie Française). La caractérisation géochimique des gîtes géologiques et des artefacts taillés découverts en contexte archéologique a permis de restituer la répartition spatiale des différentes séquences de production au sein d’une même communauté ainsi que les transferts d’objets produits dans d’autres archipels. Parmi les différents réseaux d’approvisionnement identifiés dans l’île, j’ai choisi de suivre les activités techniques présentes au sein de deux sites : le premier est un complexe spécialisé dans la production des outils en pierre associant carrière d’extraction et ateliers de transformation, et l’autre un site d’habitat côtier.A travers la restitution des dynamiques de production, d’entretien et d’échange des lames d’herminettes en pierre, nous proposons un nouveau regard sur l’économie traditionnelle des chefferies de Polynésie centrale. Dans les assemblages étudiés, la confection de lames d’herminette a été essentiellement réalisée à travers la production d’éclats utilisés comme supports et transformés par façonnage. Cette combinaison des processus de débitage et de façonnage semble correspondre à une tradition technique qui prend son origine en Polynésie occidentale et qui est identifiée dans tous les archipels de Polynésie orientale. A partir des collections étudiées à Tubuai, il est possible de distinguer une production très standardisée de grandes lames au sein des ateliers spécialisés, et une production très peu standardisée de petites lames au sein des habitats côtiers. Grâce à la restitution des processus de production existant au sein d’une même communauté et des échanges intercommunautaires effectués à longue distance, nous discutons le rôle économique des herminettes à lame de pierre dans les chefferies polynésiennes. / The ubiquity of stone adze blades in archaeological sites and museum collections resulted in their use as “cultural fossils” to draw cultural evolutionary changes in the Polynesian islands. The typological approach proves useful for understanding the archaeological diversity in Oceania. Yet, it lacks efficiency when it comes to shedding light on the technical and economic choices involved in the production processes.After a discussion of previous knapping experimentations performed in Polynesia, I propose a panel of diagnostic criteria for identifying the use of hard and soft hammerstone in the manufacture of adze blades. Then, I focus on the production of blades from assemblages collected on the North coast of Tubuai Island (Austral Archipelago, French Polynesia). Along with the need to consider the whole manufacturing process and the post-production exchange networks comes the necessity to connect different archaeological assemblages. Geochemical characterisation of the geological sources and artefacts discovered within archaeological contexts were used to settle the favoured framework for understanding the series of production sequences and for identifying the transfer of tools produced within and outside the island. Among the different supply networks identified on the island, I chose to investigate the operational sequences located within two sites: a quarry complex involving several workshops and a coastal dwelling site.Through the investigation of manufacture, maintenance and exchange processes regarding stone adze blades, I propose a new insight on the economic system in the chiefdoms of central Polynesia. The technical tradition documented on Tubuai is related to the production and transformation of flakes used as blanks for adze blades manufacture. This association of flaking and shaping processes originated in Western Polynesia but was also spread over Eastern Polynesia. The size and the form of these adzes were directly linked to one’s capacity for producing standard-sized blanks and for shaping specific blades forms. Based on the Tubuai collections, I identified a highly standardised production related to specialist knappers’ workshops, as well as a production of heterogeneous forms of small adze blades within a non-specialised dwelling context. Thanks to the analysis of the production processes within the community and the long-distance intercommunity exchanges, I finally discuss the economic role of stone adzes in ancient Polynesian chiefdoms.

The overall objective of this study is, to understand how the prehistoric individual experienced her “being in the world”. This is done by examining the spatial relationships of prehistoric remains in order to understand hierarchies. The foundation of the thesis is constructed by using data from the prehistoric settlement of Letolo in Samoa (Independent State of Samoa) in West-Polynesia and Hanga Ho´onu on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in East-Polynesia. These data are stored and analysed in a Geographical Information System (GIS). In the Samoan case the intention is to make previously unpublished surveys available. An aim is to develop a method to interpret social information from the spatial relations of built structures. It is questioned if it is possible to interpret the degree of hierarchy in a prehistoric society only from the spatial relations of features. It is concluded that such an inquiry needs to be paired with preunderstanding and analogies, such as ethnohistorical data, since it otherwise is problematic to ascribe meaning to different built structures. The thesis uses ethnohistory for preunderstanding and analogy. The thesis further examines the worldviews and structures that are shown in the repeated practice of groups in the two settlements. / Det övergripande syftet med föreliggande studie är att komma närmare den förhistoriska människans upplevelse av varat, att komma närmare hennes upplevelse av att finnas till i världen. Detta görs genom att undersöka fornlämningars spatiala relationer för att förstå  hierarkier. I uppsatsen redovisas två databaser och Geografiska Informationssystem som har konstruerats utifrån fornlämningsdata från förhistoriska bosättningar på Samoa i västpolynesien och Rapa Nui i östpolynesien. På Samoa är det Letolodalen på ön Savai´i som undersöks, och på Rapa Nui är det Hanga Ho´onu vid La Pérouse-bukten som undersöks. Uppsatsen ämnar tillgängliggöra opublicerade inventeringar av Letolo på Samoa. En intention är att utarbeta specifika kriterier för att utläsa social information från den spatiala utbredningen av fornlämningar. Arbetet ifrågasätter om det är möjligt att läsa ut graden av hierarki i ett förhistoriskt samhälle utifrån de spatiala relationerna mellan fornlämningar. Svaret är att det går om analogier och förförståelse används då det annars är problematiskt att tillskriva mening till fornlämningar. Eftersom Polynesien är väl dokumenterat utifrån ett etnohistoriskt perspektiv används analogier och förförståelse från dessa berättelser. I uppsatsen undersöks vidare mentala världar och strukturer som visar sig i gruppers upprepade praktiker i de två bosättningarna.