Exploring alternative trajectories of social change in European prehistory. Anarchist theory and the Aegean Bronze Age
Polina Kapsali Journal of Archaeological Science, Reports 83, 2026: 101789
Societal transformations in European prehistory have traditionally been examined through evolutionary frameworks that depict a unilinear development from egalitarian to hierarchical social systems. While their specific claims are often contested, these interpretations are seldom reassessed from alternative interpretative perspectives. This paper offers such an alternative by drawing on anthropological and archaeological approaches informed by Anarchist Theory. In this paper, Anarchist Theory provides a framework for investigating social change that foregrounds the reconstruction of varied and non-linear trajectories, while emphasizing the dynamics between authority and autonomy as a key driver of social change. By investigating societal shifts based on settlement transformations across four regions of mainland Greece, this study critiques prevailing views of the Early Bronze Age as a unilinear evolution from egalitarianism to complex social hierarchies. Instead, it argues that Early Bronze mainland communities experimented with diverse societal forms, resulting in multiple trajectories of transformation.