In
archaeological cultures of North America, the classic stage is the theoretical North and Meso-American societies that existed between AD 500 and 1200. This stage is the fourth of five stages posited by
Gordon Willey and
Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology.[1]
Cultures of the Classic Stage are supposed to possess craft specialization and the beginnings of
metallurgy. Social organization is supposed to involve the beginnings of
urbanism and large ceremonial centers. Ideologically, Classic cultures should have a developed
theocracy.[2]
The "Classic Stage" was initially defined as restricted to the complex societies of
Mesoamerica and
Peru. However, the time period includes other advanced cultures, such as
Hopewell,
Teotihuacan, and the early
Maya.
^Willey, Gordon R. (1989). "Gordon Willey". In
Glyn Edmund Daniel;
Christopher Chippindale (eds.). The Pastmasters: Eleven Modern Pioneers of Archaeology: V. Gordon Childe, Stuart Piggott, Charles Phillips, Christopher Hawkes, Seton Lloyd, Robert J. Braidwood, Gordon R. Willey, C.J. Becker, Sigfried J. De Laet, J. Desmond Clark, D.J. Mulvaney. New York:
Thames & Hudson.
ISBN0-500-05051-1.
OCLC19750309.
^Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips (1957). Method and Theory in American Archaeology. University of Chicago Press.
ISBN978-0-226-89888-9.