Power as a phenomenon in early agricultural and stockbreeding societies (ethnological theory and archaeology)

The importance of ethnological theories for the investigations of the origin and development of phenomenon of power is stressed. The author singles out such aspects, as moral, spiritual, economic, and military power and their historic development. It is shown that the way from a temporal military leader to a prince or king allotted with permanent military power by birth was a long and complicated one. It lasted from the earliest communities till the period of pre-state formations (from the 8 th - 6 th to the 3 rd millennia BC). Archaeological associations show representatives of social elite as military leaders, magicians, priests, organisers of feasts. Generally, the paper represents an attempt to develop the trend in archaeology once termed by C. Renfrew as Cognitive archaeology, with special attention concentrated on the reconstruction of social development of ancient society.