| The collapse of complex societies J Tainter Cambridge university press, 1988 | 4587 | 1988 |
| Mortuary practices and the study of prehistoric social systems JA Tainter Advances in archaeological method and theory, 105-141, 1978 | 644 | 1978 |
| For theory building in archaeology: Essays on faunal remains, aquatic resources, spatial analysis, and systemic modeling LR Binford (No Title), 1977 | 422 | 1977 |
| Supply-side sustainability TFH Allen, JA Tainter, TW Hoekstra Columbia University Press, 2003 | 375 | 2003 |
| Social complexity and sustainability JA Tainter Ecological complexity 3 (2), 91-103, 2006 | 336 | 2006 |
| Social inference and mortuary practices: an experiment in numerical classification JA Tainter World archaeology 7 (1), 1-15, 1975 | 308 | 1975 |
| The Way the Wind Blows: Climate Change, History, and Human Action RJ McIntosh, JA Tainter, SK McIntosh Columbia University Press, 2012 | 305 | 2012 |
| Problem solving: Complexity, history, sustainability JA Tainter Population and Environment 22 (1), 3-41, 2000 | 238 | 2000 |
| Archaeology of overshoot and collapse JA Tainter Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 35, 59-74, 2006 | 235 | 2006 |
| Dragnet Ecology—“Just the Facts, Ma'am”: The Privilege of Science in a Postmodern World: Science of intrinsic quality needs narratives with explicit values—not just facts … TFH Allen, JA Tainter, JC Pires, TW Hoekstra BioScience 51 (6), 475-485, 2001 | 215 | 2001 |
| Epistemology of the significance concept JA Tainter, GJ Lucas American Antiquity 48 (4), 707-719, 1983 | 184 | 1983 |
| Energy, complexity, and sustainability: A historical perspective JA Tainter Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 1 (1), 89-95, 2011 | 171 | 2011 |
| Complexity, problem solving, and sustainable societies JA Tainter Getting down to earth: practical applications of Ecological Economics, 61-76, 1996 | 163 | 1996 |
| Sustainability of complex societies JA Tainter Futures 27 (4), 397-407, 1995 | 153 | 1995 |
| Complexity and the productivity of innovation D Strumsky, J Lobo, JA Tainter Systems research and behavioral science 27 (5), 496-509, 2010 | 113 | 2010 |
| Climate, history and human action RJ McIntosh, JA Tainter, SK McIntosh The way the wind blows: Climate, history, and human action, 1-42, 2000 | 113 | 2000 |
| Modeling change in prehistoric social systems JA Tainter For theory building in archaeology, 327, 1977 | 109 | 1977 |
| Drilling down: The Gulf oil debacle and our energy dilemma JA Tainter, TW Patzek Copernicus Books, 2012 | 99 | 2012 |
| Resource transitions and energy gain: contexts of organization JA Tainter, TFH Allen, A Little, TW Hoekstra Conservation Ecology 7 (3), 2003 | 96 | 2003 |
| Complexity, problem-solving, sustainability and resilience JA Tainter, TG Taylor Building Research & Information 42 (2), 168-181, 2014 | 81 | 2014 |
