"'A substantial contribution to the field. Barnes's book should be read by all researchers interested in long-term social change.'"
Akira Goto in Asian Perspectives

"'Gina Barnes has produced a fascinating pioneering study of early state emergence in the Nara Basin.'"
Richard Pearson in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

"'A major contribution to the current archaeological literature . . . Dr. Barnes has produced a book that should have considerable impact on the way Japanese archaeology is seen abroad.'"
J. Edward Kidder, Jr. in Monumenta Nipponica