A new wave of archaeological research on the origins of the state is vindicating the pioneer socioeconomic theories of the great libertarian sociologist Franz Oppenheimer, author of the masterwork, The State. Oppenheimer’s book was a decisive influence upon modern libertarian thought, especially in the works of Albert Jay Nock, Frank Chodorov, and Murray N. Rothbard. It set the stage for libertarian class theory or power elite analysis in the 20th Century.