The Power of Ritual in Prehistory focuses on sodalities known as ‘secret societies’ through time and space. Hayden introduces this phenomenon by starting with a series of quotations by different ethnographers and anthropologists, who stressed the difficulties in obtaining first-hand information on the nature of such societies and their associated rituals. Access to such secrets was reserved for initiates and/or full members within the secret societies. But how are these sodalities to be understood? This question has vexed many ethnographers and archaeologists over the years, and many attempts have been put forth in order to frame and define secret societies (e.g. Boas, Reference Boas1897; Wedgewood, Reference Wedgewood1930). What distinguishes Hayden's present effort from works by others is that he is an archaeologist with a deep understanding of material culture and, consequently, the ability to analyse ethnographic data using new lenses. Through his previous work, Hayden had developed a solid theoretical framework to approach the causes and connections between ritual and power structures and the rise of social complexity, with special reference to his ‘aggrandizer model’ (Hayden, Reference Hayden, Price and Feinman1995). However, in the present work, Hayden further develops his earlier ideas on the emergence of social inequality by connecting these notions to a substantial discussion on secret societies. Hayden's main thesis is that this form of social organization, through time and space, played an important role in the acquisition of political power, the evolution of social complexity, and social inequality. In this book, Hayden explores such overarching questions such as: How can secret societies be identified archaeologically, and at what locations do they occur in the landscape; what structures, monuments, paraphernalia, and images could in general be related to secret societies? (pp. 5–7)

Hayden argues, quite convincingly, that archaeologists and anthropologists can benefit from learning more about secret societies, in terms of lower, middle, and upper range theory. Secret societies are associated with ‘the first institutional manifestation of ritual organization linked to political power’ (pp. 5–7). In this book, Hayden examines secret societies occurring in complex transegalitarian or chiefdom level societies; these sodalities transcended kinship by forming ‘fictive’ supra-kinship organizations along with extensive networks and regional organizations for conducting long distance exchange. Such sodalities focused on extracting surpluses, ostensibly on the behalf of the community, and were responsible for the creation of some of the most notable prehistoric ritual monuments along with their respective iconographies.

It is surprising, Hayden remarks, that relatively few archaeologists and cultural anthropologists have attempted to systematically analyse the great amount of ethnographic data on secret societies (pp. 2–3), especially with regards to archaeological studies of religion in prehistoric Europe (cf. Kaul, Reference Kaul1998; Insoll, Reference Insoll2011). Indeed, as he argues, most of the anthropological classifications of secret societies (as in the case of feasting) are too general for archaeologists to apply in a meaningful way because they merely focus on extravagant monuments without taking into account the social diversity of the sodalities that created these manifestations. Thus, he proposes the following general types of secret societies: ‘power-orientated societies’, ‘militaristic secret societies’, ‘curing and fertility societies’, and ‘defensive secret societies’ (pp. 12–13). The book under review focuses mostly on examples of the first two types of sodalities.

Hayden starts out by defining the nature of the ‘secret’ associated with such sodalities (p. 27). He argues that the term ‘secret society’ is a misnomer because much of their activities were public. Moreover, the actual ‘secrets’ clearly served the political-ideological aim of upholding the exclusiveness of these highly stratified sodalities within society, with its claims of possessing esoteric connections to the supernatural world, along with cosmology, and ritual knowledge. By documenting how they transcended kinship, Hayden shows how supra-community organizations which created networks overcoming ethnic boundaries were crafted. There is some confusion associated with the term ‘secret society’ in this book, and perhaps it would have been best to refer to such groups as ‘ritual sodalities’. However, this would have obfuscated the connection with Hayden's previous works touching on this subject. Another concept relating to secret societies is that of ‘ingroup’, which typically fosters conditions that allow members to forge and maintain bonds beyond biologically based kin networks by way of fictive kin-ties (Raffield et al., Reference Raffield, Greenlow, Price and Collard2016; Hayden, Reference Hayden2016). Sociological research shows that the presence of exclusionary networks, such as those operating in secret societies, are highly beneficial to high status actors, such as secret society ‘ingroup’ members (Willer, Reference Willer1999).

Turning to the content of Hayden's monumental work, it is important to note that it covers many examples from the New World (North America and Mesoamerica) and the Old World (Africa and Oceania). Substantial accounts of secret societies operating among Pacific Northwest Coast and Californian native groups (Haida, Bella Coola, Kwakwakawakw, Nuuchahnulth, Salish, Chumash, and Maidu) are presented. Also, Mesoamerican secret societies (Maya), along with ritual sodalities operating among American Plains Indian groups (Osage, Omaha, Pawnee, and several other native groups) are discussed. Additionally, information on secret societies found in Oceania (Suque, Nimangki, Ganekhe Cult) and Africa (Azande, Kubwanda, Poro, and Mende) is presented. All these case studies are analysed following the same criteria, that is, ‘Core Features’ (motives and dynamics, wealth acquisition, political connections), ‘Tactics’ (ideology, esoteric knowledge, ranking, public displays of wealth, enforcement), and ‘Material Aspects’ (paraphernalia, structures, burials, regional organizations, and networks).

Hayden identifies the following key characteristics of secret societies: (1) they were shaped and operated by a rudimentary aristocracy of aggrandizers that strived to secure advantages for themselves: they extracted surpluses from non-secret society members and their actions were self-serving rather than integrative for society; (2) they controlled local and to some extent regional politics and exercised significant influence over the activities that generated surpluses; (3) they transcended kinship by forging ‘fictive’ supra kinship organizations that sometimes replaced the functions of clans; (4) they monopolized ritual knowledge, ideology, and political power by proclaiming control over supernatural powers that were believed to be hazardous to non-secret society members; (5) they established status hierarchies based on oral transmission of ritual knowledge which allowed for the monopolization of ritual knowledge; (6) they publicly claimed ownership of supernatural powers that were regularly manifested by way of public displays of rituals and dances performances that included the use of ritual paraphernalia such as costumes and masks with animal features; (7) they enforced ‘private’ initiation rituals at remote locations in the landscape often in caves along with the creation of rock art; (8) high ranking secret society members applied terror and intimidation tactics (such as violence, destitution of property, killing, beating, and cannibalism) to secure subordination from junior members and non-members alike; (9) they invested in long distance exchange of exotic items, thus fomenting the distribution of certain artistic styles over large areas; (10) they used exotic items, special ritual paraphernalia, and iconography to demonstrate their exclusivity in society and their privileged connection to the supernatural world; (11) they made profits by charging fees for lavish initiation feasts; (12) they played a key role in the development of social complexity as in the case of chiefdom-level political organizations that used religion and ritual for political control and expansion.

The last point is of great importance (pp. 351–59) as it includes the suggestion that chiefs were established as puppets to oversee secret societies and all the ‘daily administrative affairs of the communities’ (Walter, Reference Walter1969: 99). In other words, secret societies may have constituted an important step in the evolution of chiefdom societies. Moreover, one of Hayden's key points is that secret societies with their focus on the control of religion can be seen as an important missing link between shamanistic-tribal organizations and state organized priesthoods. Additionally, the study of secret societies may further our understanding of how and why ritual and religion played such an important role in the development of social complexity. Indeed, this is an interesting idea but, at the same time, it is quite simple and generalizing. In fact, one of the book's weaknesses is its tendency to generalize. One of Hayden's key points is to be critical of top-down anthropological models and to be supportive of more bottom-up archaeological approaches. But, paradoxically, by relying heavily on ethnographical/anthropological data, Hayden produces a robust ethnographic/anthropological model (despite the fact that he is an archaeologist). Another limitation of Hayden's notion of secret societies is that there are too many things that can be related to this phenomenon.

This is balanced by the many sound theoretical perspectives that Hayden presents throughout the book. One of the most relevant can be found in the discussion of the ‘Communitarian Model’ versus the ‘Aggrandizer Model’, as it relates to the purpose and function of ritual and religion in pre-state formations. The first perspective, rooted in formalist, functionalist approaches holds that ritual and religion fostered societal integration, cooperation, and harmony, while the second, rooted in substantivism and Marxism, argues that religion and ritual were used by elites to justify increases in social inequality and competition within communities (Earle, Reference Earle2002). In this context, Hayden emphasizes the saliency of the second perspective, by connecting his aggrandizer model with the activities of secret societies and showing how these sodalities played a key role in the acquisition of political power and the creation and maintenance of social inequalities.

Added to concerns regarding the tendency towards generalization, there is the puzzling absence of some key references in the book (even if the work contains a robust number of references). For instance, Hayden stresses that secret societies often used ‘ritual objects and unusual costuming that originated in exotic, faraway, or unknown locations’ (p. 25). I wonder why Mary Helms’ seminal work (Helms, Reference Helms1998) on this very matter was not included in the discussion, especially given its impact on archaeology (e.g. Kristiansen & Larsson, Reference Kristiansen and Larsson2005). Moreover, I find it odd that Mauss’ ([1925], Reference Mauss and Guyer2015) influential work The Gift is also not mentioned. In fact, some of the major cases in this study are drawn from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, the core area of Mauss’ study, which focused on exchange systems and the potlatch. This is indeed remarkable because all of the societies discussed in this book were, in one way or another, heavily involved in gift-based exchange that served as the mechanism for trade at the individual and community levels (Earle, Reference Earle2002). In the concluding section, Hayden discusses the ‘Economic Patterns: Sources of Support’, stressing that ‘most ethnographies reveal little in terms of who actually provided the large quantities of food consumed in secret societies feasts both public and private.’ (p. 345) Thus, the failure to mention the potlatch system in this context seems odd. I believe that both the gift-based exchange system and the potlatch explain how the Pacific Northwest Coast peoples of North America were able to amass ‘the large quantities of food consumed in secret societies feasts’ (p. 345), and how secret societies profited from the indirect or direct control of both gift exchange and potlatching. Moreover, even if Hayden is pushing a ‘top down’ perspective on secret societies, he should at least have mentioned some of the recent ‘bottom up’ perspectives on ritual and society, as stressed by Angelbeck and Grier (Reference Angelbeck and Grier2012).

Another weakness of the book concerns the application and interpretation of the prehistoric evidence from Europe (Ch. 10). The similarity between the animal-human being depicted in the Upper Palaeolithic Les Trois Frères cave with the Elk Society being drawn by the Ogala Sioux (p. 296) may be congruent with the actions of secret societies in general. However, according to Hayden, secret societies also operated at the Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey as well as among the Minoan peak sanctuaries and caves, and some of these examples are quite underdeveloped. This is also the case with Stonehenge, which is only very briefly mentioned in the text. Hayden would have benefited from having discussions or by collaborating with archaeologists who have conducted research at these sites. Moreover, quite reasonable suggestions have been made indicating the existence of secret societies in Bronze Age Europe with regards to the Unetice's longhouse constructions, which Meller (Reference Meller, Meller, Bertemes, Bork and Risch2013: 520ff) interpreted as ‘men's huts’, often found in association with secret societies.

Hayden cannot possibly cover all aspects of secret societies in this grand book, and he emphasizes that this work should primarily be seen as ‘a theoretical and ethnographical resource book’ (p. 27). Personally, I have greatly benefited from reading this book on many levels and I have employed some of Hayden's earlier ideas on secret societies (Hayden, Reference Hayden2016) in a recent publication which analysed the relationship between rock art and secret societies operating in Scandinavia during the Bronze Age (Ling et al., Reference Ling, Chacon, Chacon, Dolfini, Crellin, Horn and Ucklemann2018). More broadly, I believe that there is much to gain from reading this rich essay as it provides great insight into the nature of prehistoric monuments, buildings, artefacts, and iconography.

While some of Hayden's findings may make us feel uncomfortable, I nonetheless believe that this is a very important and necessary work, especially given the political situation in our contemporary world. There are rich examples in the book that link to the present, such as the use of masks by the initiated in secret societies, which is compared to how police today attain authority through their costume, including the riot's helmet set that allows them to act the way they want.

As is the case with Hayden's other seminal works, which analyse the relationship between power structures, ritual, and social complexity, I believe that this essay will inspire archaeologists of all levels for many years. While I caution the reader about the presence of some generalizations, I wholeheartedly recommend reading this book, for it is without a doubt Hayden's magnum opus.