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Intermediate Elites in Pre-Columbian States and Empires. Christina M. Elson and R. Allen Covey. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2006. viii + 303 pp., 56 figures, 13 tables, bibliography, list of contributors, index. $50.00 (cloth).

Intermediate Elites, edited by Christina Elson and Allen Covey, is a volume that encourages a move beyond the simple dichotomy of elites and commoners. Emphasizing "intermediate elite" strata, it examines social groups that functioned to link rulers and commoners in various ways. Contributors explore archaeological and ethnohistoric methods for studying these strata, and demonstrate how a more profound understanding of the past can be gained by differentiating rulers from their subordinate counterparts. With this focus, the investigations apply societal and agency based approaches to the study of Aztec, Inka, Maya, Wari, and Zapotec cultures. Elson and Covey introduce "Intermediate Elites" (Chapter 1) with a well-written discussion of elite theory. This chapter is insightful for numerous reasons, but is most important because it highlights what social scientists implicitly understand about elite variation—all elites were not the same and "intermediate elites" played an extremely dynamic role over both time and space. The volume pushes a more explicit stance in this regard as a means of substantially increasing our holistic understanding of ancient states. The contributions by Alan Covey, Craig Morris and Alan Covey, Francis Berdan, Elizabeth Brumfiel, Steven Wernke, and Joyce Marcus are very informative. Covey (Chapter 6) discusses the cultural developments in the Cuzco Basin that were associated with the emergence of the Inka Empire. During initial Inka expansion, many conquered elites were left in power. However, over time, local officials were replaced by Inka royalty to both strengthen the state and provide political positions for the rapidly expanding Inka elite class. Acknowledged by the author, supporting archaeological data are limited but ethnohistoric material compensates for it. Morris and Covey (Chapter 7) contrast the Inka Empire's direct strategy of reorganizing the decentralized polities in the nearby Huanuco region with a fairly tolerant system of "corulership" used to integrate more distant polities along the coast. The comparatively independent coastal elites were better able to work the system in self serving ways (e.g., they appear to have hidden labor conscripts in caves to reduce imperial tribute levies!). Berdan and Brumfiel's contributions provide enlightening discussions on the Aztec. Berdan (Chapter 8) compares the policies implemented by the Aztec to keep conquered intermediate elites under control with the strategies used by these individuals to maintain their positions. Reviewing ethnohistoric data, Brumfiel (chapter 9) presents a compelling case that Aztec imperial ideology was largely secondary in the minds of most of the provincial citizenry. Aside from distracting jargon, Wernke's (Chapter 10) fascinating analysis of intermediate elites in the Andean province of Collagua makes a solid argument for inferring where the nucleated sixteenth-century kin groups resided during Inka times, a settlement system that reflects the agency of high-ranking individuals. Moreover, the geographic distribution of the communities represents a clear case for vertical complementarity. Wernke adds valuable context to the debate about whether this complementarity was primarily ecologically adaptive or implemented sociopolitically. Marcus (Chapter 11) closes the book with a strong synthetic and comparative chapter. She discusses the facility offered by early writing systems as a means of identifying intermediate elites, and the way in which hierarchies were reified and conceptualized in the minds of people in many early complex societies. The contributions by Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond, Christina Elson, Tiffany Tung and Anita Cook, and Christina Conlee and Katharina Schreiber are relevant to the volume, but some of the arguments are unclear or not fully developed. Spencer and Redmond