This book presents new evidence that palace concurbines controlled the production of indigo-dyed cloth centuries before men did. The women were also key players in the collection of the state's earliest grain taxes, forming a complex and powerful administrative hierarchy that used the the taxes for palace community needs. Social forces undoubtedly shaped and changed concurbinage for hundreds of years, but Nast shows how the women's reach extended far beyond the palace walls to the formation of the state itself.