Summary The goal of this book is to discuss the theoretical challenges posed by the study of social and political inequality of local societies in Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages. Traditional approaches have defined rural communities as passive bodies, poor and unstable in the framework of a self-sufficient economy. In the last few decades, social approaches both in medieval history and archaeology have neglected the opportunity to re-evaluate the role of peasantry and other subaltern groups, even where new written and material evidence has challenged traditional assumptions. Conversely, scholars focussing on elites and aristocracies have promoted powerful research agenda. As a consequence of the 2007-2008 recession, the social sciences began to be interested in social and economic inequality, opening up new avenues for a reassessment of social history. The early medieval period has been identified by numerous scholars as a key arena for the analysis of political complexity and social inequality in long-term perspective. The study of local societies has become one of the most fruitful areas for innovative research in medieval archaeology and history, using approaches related to micro-history. This book, dedicated to Chris Wickham, is formed of fourteen papers centred on early medieval local communities drawing on both written and material records, which identify complex frameworks of social inequality at the local scale. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo, Equal and Unequal Societies in Early Medieval Europe. An Introduction State Formation and Socio-Political Complexity Julio Escalona, Towards an Archaeology of State Formation in North-Western Iberia Robin A. Beck, Maize, Mounds, and Cosmos. Durable Inequality in the Mississippian World (AD 1000-1250) Economic Specialization, Elite Demand and Social Inequality Sauro Gelichi, Pottery as Inequality? Systems of Production and Distribution in North Italian Societies During the Early Middle Ages Francesca Grassi, Social Complexity in Peripheral Areas in the Light of Pottery Production Between Sixth and Tenth Centuries (Alava, Basque Country, Spain) Edith Peytreman, Indications of an Estate Economy from a Renewed Analysis of Sites of Rural Settlements Catarina Tente, Social Complexity in Local Communities During the Tenth Century in Central-Northern Portugal. Negotiation and Opposition Richard Hodges, The Primitivism of the Early Medieval Peasant in Italy? 'Small World' and Social Inequalities Jean-Pierre Devroey and Nicolas Schroeder, Land, Oxen, and Brooches. Local Societies, Inequality, and Large Estates in the Early Medieval Ardennes (c. 850-c. 900) Igor Santos Salazar, Fiscal lands, Rural Communities and the Abbey of Nonantola. Social Inequality in Ninth-Century Emilia (Italy) Fabio Saggioro, Rural Communities and Landscapes in Northern Italy (Ninth-Twelfth Centuries AD) Iñaki Martín Viso, Unequal Small Worlds. Social Dynamics in Tenth-Century Leonese Villages Alvaro Carvajal Castro, Collective Action and Local Leaderships in Early Medieval North-Western Iberia. Ninth-Eleventh Centuries Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo, Village Formation, Social Memories and the Archaeology of Rural Communities in North-Western Iberia Carlos Tejerizo-García, The Archaeology of the Peasant Mode of Production. Peasant-Based Societies in Central and Northern Iberia During the Early Middle Ages Chris Wickham, Conclusion