This article based on research in rural Hubei Province explores the processes of change in Chinese lineages and politics in three periods: before 1949, during the years of land reform and collectivization, and since the economic reforms of 1978. It argues that neither Freedman's functional model nor Chen's kinship model adequately explain the causes and mechanisms through which lineages and segments weaken and reunify. It attempts to demonstrate how actors have had an impact on the lineage structure through the mobilization of various kinds of social relations to which they have access through their varied positions in the internal and external political systems. It proposes that a focus on influential individuals is vital, not only in grasping the overall nature of traditional lineages, but also in delineating the interrelationship between lineages and political power after 1949.

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This paper reviews the recent major research in anthropological archaeology (1980-2002) conducted in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) by Japanese scholars. Compared to the long research tradition of Andean archaeology established by Japanese scholars in Peru since 1958, Mesoamerican archaeology is still coming of age in Japan. However, several Japanese scholars have contributed to anthropological studies of the development of complex societies by publishing books and articles in the Americas and Europe. Therefore, in this article, I focus on recent archaeological studies oriented towards anthropological problems. I first look at recent investigations at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Then, I examine anthropological archaeological research in Central America. Unlike ethnological research, which can only study cultural change over decades, archaeological studies can look at long-term patterns of change over hundreds of years. In this context, Mesoamerican archaeology can advance anthropological studies of the development of complex societies. Important questions of anthropological interest include the rise and decline of pre-industrial state-level societies, the nature and role of exchange in the development of complex societies, the nature of urbanism, the relationship between warfare and the development of sociopolitical complexity, native worldviews and ritual meanings, household organization and domestic activities, and articulations of domestic groups with larger political organizations. Although the Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people developed a complex stratified society with an advanced writing system, calendar, and astronomy, its essentially neolithic technologies and lack of beasts of burden were in striking contrast to the ancient civilizations of the Old World. The unique evolutionary trajectory of Mesoamerican civilization before the globalization of humanity under European hegemony, as well as that of other New World native cultures, remind us of the wide variability in societal development. The studies of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica provide an important empirical foundation for a general theoretical understanding of the nature of human society and its major evolutionary trends.

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The study of Andean prehistory by Japanese anthropologists began in 1958 when the first scientific expedition was carried out. The principal objective of this project was research on the origins of Andean civilization. The project has continued for over 45 years, and many Japanese specialists have participated in it. They have not only excavated more than ten archaeological sites in Peru, but have also made many contributions to the advancement of Andean prehistory, both in data and theory. This article summarizes the history of this research in relation to theoretical trends in the discipline, and ends with some comments about the relationship between the researchers and the local people.

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