Forty years ago, advances in technical analysis in archaeology, in particular geochemical sourcing, initiated several decades of research into exchange by archaeologists. Following the dominant theoretical approaches of the time, adaptationalist or managerial models held that socio-political change was stimulated by factors that impacted the entire cultural system. Such changes could be stimulated by a combination of factors, including external pressures and internal pressures. External pressures include resource stress, drought, and warfare. Internal pressures include greater efficiency in organization despite larger population levels, irrigation, and organizational complexity due to circumscription.

More recent theoretical approaches focus on social and political strategies prioritize the active role of individuals in the process of political change. The role of commodity exchange in the onset and dynamics of socio-political complexity connects the exchange behavior documented by anthropologists with the long term changes that underlie the archaeological evidence of exchange in prehistory. Leveling mechanisms among hunter-gatherers promote intergroup sharing and are especially prominent when resource predictability is low. With greater resource predictability, and especially when resources are intensifiable, these leveling mechanisms often begin to break down and social differentiation is observed.

Exchange is thought to have been one of a number of interacting behaviors by "aggrandizing" individuals that had the indirect result of institutionalizing social inequality (Clark and Blake 1994;Flannery 1972;Hayden 1995;Hayden 1998;Upham 1990). What were the socio-political contexts that permitted individuals to differentiate themselves, and how did individuals pursuing their interests result in the long-term changes observed archaeologically?