Monday, January 18, 2010

Defining Heterarchy

Janet advised me to include more definitions, and I found a good definition of heterarchy at Encyclopedia.com. Here is part:
A general purpose definition contrasts hierarchies, the elements of which are ranked relative to one another, with heterarchies, the elements of which are unranked, or possess the potential for being ranked in a number of different ways, depending on systemic requirements (Crumley, Carole L. 1979. Three Locational Models: An Epistemological Assessment for Anthropology and Archaeology. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 2, 141–173., p. 144).