Scholars of the past frame the ‘origins’ or evolution of inequality, usually using archaeological or anthropological evidence as a basis for their arguments, as an intentional, inevitable, important step towards the development of states, implicitly framed as the pinnacle of human political and economic achievement. Anarchist archaeologies reject the idea of hierarchy as a positive or inevitable evolutionary outcome underlying the path to civilization. We argue instead for a radical reorientation towards archaeologies of equality. We propose a prefigurative archaeology that celebrates the myriad ways that human beings have actively undermined and resisted hierarchical social arrangements. We aim to reorient archaeology's focus towards societies that purposefully prevented or constrained the emergence of inequality. To demonstrate the potential of archaeologies of equality we present case examples from Oceania, Britain, West Asia and the American Southwest. Highlighting the accomplishments of societies of equals in the past demonstrates the contingency and problematic nature of present forms of inequality. It allows us to explore a different set of pasts and thus enact different presents as we imagine different futures.

过去的学者通常使用考古学或人类学证据作为他们论点的基础，将不平等的“起源”或演变构建为迈向国家发展的有意的、不可避免的、重要的一步，被隐含地描述为人类政治和经济成就的顶峰。无政府主义考古学拒绝将等级制度视为文明之路基础的积极或不可避免的进化结果。相反，我们主张对平等的考古学进行彻底的重新定位。我们提出了一种比喻考古学，庆祝人类积极破坏和抵制等级社会安排的无数方式。我们的目标是将考古学的重点重新定位到有目的地防止或限制不平等出现的社会。为了证明平等考古学的潜力，我们展示了来自大洋洲、英国、西亚和美国西南部的案例。强调过去平等社会的成就表明了当前形式不平等的偶然性和问题性质。它使我们能够探索一组不同的过去，从而在我们想象不同的未来时制定不同的现在。