What archaeology reveals about the rise of all-powerful rulers

It is a modern copy of an ancient marble original, unveiled in 1932 by Fascist ruler and admirer Benito Mussolini. Caesar’s conquest of Gaul brought enormous wealth and territory under Roman control and also greatly increased his personal wealth — resources that helped him challenge the institutions of the Roman Republic. What archaeology reveals about the rise of all-powerful rulers Autocracy wasn’t inevitable in early civilizations — many were more egalitarian.

But when riches were there to monopolize, strongmen and inequalities emerged. Why are some societies ruled by autocrats — powerful people who make all the decisions with barely, if any, checks and balances — while in others, the governed actually have a say? If you ask an archaeologist, historian or political scientist, this is how the story traditionally goes: People used to move around in small groups to hunt and gather, making decisions more or less collectively.

Then they invented agriculture, which tied them to particular patches of land, and allowed some of them to store and hoard resources. This inevitably led to inequality in wealth and power. This inequality grew as populations expanded and some villages became cities that were so populous they needed strong leaders to maintain order among many.

And that was the state of the world until the ancient Greeks devised a new approach called “democracy.” Democracy waned during the Middle Ages, then regained momentum centuries later, again in Europe, the story goes. From there, it slowly but steadily spread to other regions, giving autocrats a run for their money. It’s a tidy tale, but a vast oversimplification, says archaeologist Gary Feinman of the Field Museum in Chicago.

His own research shows that autocratic governments are not inevitable when populations grow larger — a variety of societies around the globe throughout history have done things differently. What’s more, these less autocratically organized societies were neither limited to, nor more common, in Europe, but were found around the world, from Teotihuacan in Mexico to Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan. Feinman described his archaeological perspective on long-term political change in a 2023 overview in the _Annual Review of Anthropology_ and, with colleagues, tested those ideas in subsequent research, published in _PNAS_ and _Science Advances_.

He spoke with _Knowable Magazine_ about the factors that foster autocracy or more inclusive forms of governance. **Which archaeological sites have you worked at, and how have they affected your outlook?** I’ve spent most of my academic research career doing archaeological fieldwork in Mexico and China. I started out in Mesoamerica, in Mexico, and that’s my principal area. I’ve done work at several scales, from regional surveys to intensive site excavations, including many houses.