Transcript Chiefdoms and States

Civilizations
Characteristics
Origin Theories
How do we study these archaeologically?
V. Gordon Childe:
Characteristics of complex societies
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These include:
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urban centers between 7-20,000 people
specialized division of labor
ruling class of religious, civil and military leaders
food surplus
monumental architecture
writing system
developments of arithmetic, geometry and astronomy
art and long-distance trade
institutionalized form of political organization-the state
Do all complex societies have these characteristics?
Do they have to have all the characteristics to be
termed complex?
 Variations might be Agricultural States which
had some of these characteristics but was
primarily composed of inequality based on
control of food surplus.
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V. Gordon Childe
“Urban Revolution”
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Suggested that civilization resulted from increasing
specialization which was made possible by technological
innovations which allowed for increased production and
the accumulation of surplus
In the fourth millennium, the development of effective
irrigation agriculture combined with fishing and animal
husbandry to afford the surplus necessary to support a
growing number of specialists
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accumulation of surplus was assisted by water transportation,
pack animals, and newly invented wheeled vehicles
use of irrigation restricted the areas that could be cultivated
effectively to those near water courses and canals, thus causing
and aggregation of the population
proposes ten criteria to distinguish the earliest cities from any
older or contemporary village
V. Gordon Childe
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Dense populations
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first cities were more extensive and densely populated
population ranged from 7,000 to 20,000
Full-time specialization and division of labor
cities accomodated peasants, but also classes of specialists:
craftsmen, transport workers, merchants, officials, and priests
these were supported by agricultural surplus
they did not receive their support directly from individual
peasants
Taxation and concentration of capital
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each primary producer paid over his surplus as a tithe or tax to
an imaginary deity or divine king, who then concentrated the
surplus
this capital concentration was necessary to sponsor specialist
activities
V. Gordon Childe
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Social classes
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all those not engaged in food production were supported by
surplus accumulated in the temple
some officials absorbed a major share of this surplus, and
formed a "ruling class"
these ruling classes conferred benefits on their subjects by
providing planning and organization
Religion and state organization
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cities had "organic solidarity" based on the interdependence of
agricultural producers, craftsmen, traders, priests, and members
of the ruling class
organization was based on residence rather than kinship
craftsman could belong politically as well as economically
there was a conflict between the subsistence farmers and the
tiny ruling class
this solidarity had to be maintained by ideological devices
the pre-eminence of the temple or shrine was used to hold
society together, and justify the social order
V. Gordon Childe
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Monumental architecture
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monumental buildings symbolize the concentration of social surplus
these included temples and ziggurats
an important part of each temple complex was a granary or storage facility
in Sumer, social surplus was effectively concentrated in the hands of a god and
stored in his granary
Writing
management of surplus and the administration of revenues compelled societies
to invent systems of recording and exact, practical sciences
 organization of temple required intelligible system of recording information
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Exact and predictive sciences
the invention of writing enabled the leisured class to develop the exact and
predictive sciences of arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy
 calendars allowed for regulation of agricultural economy
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Fine arts
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other specialists, supported by social surplus, developed artistic expression in
conceptualized and sophisticated styles
Trade in necessary raw materials
social surplus was also used to pay for the importation of raw materials
necessary for industry which were not available locally
 cities became dependent on vital materials, such as metal or obsidian
 regular trade becomes an important activity of the first cities
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Julian Steward-Ecology
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Suggested that at the core of the urban transformation was a changing,
functionally interrelated group of social institutions
core was characterized by the structural relationships of interdependent
institutions
 each society derives its distinctive set of social systems from its institutional core
 framework was to investigate each society in terms of its "level of sociopolitical
complexity"
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Rise of civilization viewed as a series of successive, major organizational
levels
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Hunting and gathering
Incipient agriculture
Formative
Regional florescence
Initial Conquest
Dark Ages
Cyclical conquests
Suggested that irrigation works and water distribution required the growth
of a bureauocracy
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rise of ruling class, leisure time, and population
population pressure led to competition and warfare
cultural collapse and "dark ages"
militaristic phase led to emergence of stonger states
Karl Wittfogel-Irrigation
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Pointed out (as Steward did) that early civilizations appeared in regions where largescale irrigation agriculture was practiced
Attempted to explain the major political systems of the world through control of
irrigation agriculture in "Oriental Despotism" (1957)
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Suggests that large-scale irrigation required centralized coordination and direction
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termed societies that relied on large-scale irrigation "hydraulic societies"
water was a natural resource, and became a crucial variable because it could be
manipulated and agglomerated in bulk
water management was especially important in places where rainfall was insufficient but
water was available nearby, such as in semiarid river valleys
Irrigation itself had an organizing effect
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scheduling of water use
maintenance of canals
defense of canals from hostile neighbors
while it can be carried on by small groups on an informal basis, it is more efficient and leads
to greater growth if there is central management
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in return, the person who manages the water has tremendous power over the farmers
if one source of power is so much more important than all others, a monopoly develops within a
society
single-centered government arises from "oriental despotism"
Contrasts this kind of development with what happens in more temperate climates in
which rainfall agriculture prevails
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alternate bases of power can arise to give a more balanced or multi-centered government
Major Criticisms
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There are several modern communities in Mesopotamia where small-scale
cooperative irrigation works without centralized external control are sufficient for an
adequate agricultural livelihood
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It is unlikely that Wittfogel intended to imply that large-scale irrigation works
preceded centralized government
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available archaeological and historical data imply that large-scale irrigation works were not
prevalent in Mesopotamia until long after the rise of the state
hydraulic society might be viewed as a result of state formation rather than as a cause
institutions of central government and large-scale irrigation would have grown side by side
small-scale irrigation would have required a certain amount of administration, which would
have expanded the irrigation system, which in turn would have required greater
administration and so forth
it was not irrigation itself, but the centralized coordination of irrigation activities that had
important social consequences
it is possible that centralized administration and large-scale irrigation works were present at
and early date, but because their growth was not incremental they only became obvious in
the archaeological and textual records after they had reached major proportions
The ancient Maya civilization arose in an area where irrigation was of marginal
importance (though water control and management were important activities)
Even in arid Mexico and Mesopotamia, archaeological evidence indicates that
complex, large-scale irrigation appeared only after the state had already formed
Model is relevant to "pristine states", not late "macro-state" formations like the Aztec
and Inca empires
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does not explain why Inca and Mexica became the imperial leaders
Robert Carneiro-Warfare
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Theory grows out of hypotheses which emphasize the importance of population
growth and population pressure
Formulated hypothesis using South American examples, but applied it to the Near
East as well
Hypothesis is based on general regularity about the environmental settings of early
civilizations throughout the world
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Expanding population could not accomodate itself by colonizing new lands
Instead, it had to intensify production on lands already being used
Military conflicts between groups became more frequent
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losers were not able to flee to new farmlands were assimilated into the winner's society as a
lower class
successful militarists were rewarded by economic wealth, increasing amounts of land, and a
conquered class of workers
Adaptive advantages of organizing and controlling a successful military operation
quickly lead to institutionalization in the form of an early state
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they are areas of circumscribed agricultural land
each area is bounded by mountains, seas, or deserts, which sharply delimited the area that
simple farming people could have occupied
state then grows in size as a result of external conquests
Population growth in itself is insufficient to engender warfare, but population pressure
does engender warfare if the expanding populations is constrained either by
environmental barriers or by competing social groups whose populations aree so
dense as to preclude expansion
Interregional and Intraregional-Trade & Exchange
Advent of large-scale trade necessitated
administrative organization to control the
procurement, production, and distribution of
goods
 Such an organization would have had access to
a major source of wealth in the community and
its power might have been extended to other
aspects of society
 Larger settlements would have resulted from
competition for agricultural land
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Robert Adams-Cultural Systems
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Considered causation and structure of civilization from a
multifaceted perspective
Stated that the evidence supports the position that "the
transformation at the core of the Urban Revolution lay in the realm
of social organization... For the most part, changes in social
institutions precipitated changes in technology, subsistence, and
other aspects of the wider cultural realm, rather than vice versa."
Urban Revolution implied focus on ordered, systematic processes of
change that can be described in terms of a functionally related core
of institutions that interacted and evolved
Attempts to avoid the term civilization by investigating the complex
core of social institutions that interacted to form early state society
Model does not favor single-factor explanations, but emphasizes
complexity and systemic relationships
Three major transformations
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Three major transformations: first two led to urban centers that
were controlled by a religious elite and the third resulted in growth
of secular state authority
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first transformation - changes in subsistence strategies
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combination of cultivated crops and herd animals or fishing yielded a stable
food base that allowed the population to increase in size and density
exchange and redistribution of food was managed by members of the
temple community
growth of this centralized means of redistribution gave the temple elite the
power to coerce farmers or herders into producing surpluses
what limited food production was not land but the availability of water
natural water courses and small-scale irrigation works allowed only a part of
the available land to be adequately irrigated
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even areas that were irrigated were not equally productive
differential in productivity emerged
 Those who controlled land close to the natural courses of the river were
able to produce more crops and to produce them even in years of low
precipitation
this led to major differentiation of wealth among farmers, which was
compounded by their ability to buy additional irrigable land
differential access to water was the first step in the emergence of class society
Three major transformations
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Second major transformation - a shift from kin-based
to class-structured society
kinship was the basis for organizational structure in early
Mesopotamian society
 such ties were influential in early administrative efforts
 economic division of subsistence activities and craft production
led to specialization by family in one or more economic pursuits
 wealth accumulated by controlling good land and by managing
the distribution of its products resulted in the acquisition by a
few families of reat wealth and power
 these families attempted to retain their wealth and power by
advocating an organizational structure that institutionalized the
differences that were emerging
 structure would have been largely based on economic activities
connected with a person's lineage
 religious elite would have formed upper strata of society
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Third major transformation - transfer of administrative
power from the temple to the state
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happened largely because of increasing militarism
Kent Flannery-Cultural Systems
More explicitly systems-oriented perspective
 Notes that what produces surplus is the coercive power of real authority
 Segregation
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internal differentiation and specialization of subsystems of the society
appearance of new institutions or new levels in the control hierarchy
Centralization
strengthening of higher-level controls
linkage between the subsystems and the highest-order controlling apparatus in
the society
 hallmark in the evolution of such complex systems as the state is the increasing
centralization and interdependence of the various subsystems
 powerful centralized management often evolves at the top of the hierarchy to
offset the instability that would occur if one subsystem affected all other
subsystems
 among most important institutions are those which regulate the flow of
information to constituent groups within a society
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central development in the rise of civilization was the increasing necessity for
mechanisms with which to communicate information
societies with organization based on kinship or religion could handle a considerable
amount of detailed information
Highly formalized institutions of early civilizations carried information
regulation and dissemination much further than had heretofore been done
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enabled the scale of organization that developed into the state
Geoff Conrad and Arthur Demarest- Ideology
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China
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the wealth that produced the Chinese civilization was the product of
concentrated political power
acquisition of that power was accomplished through the
accumulation of wealth
key to this circular working was the monopoly of high shamanism
enabled rulers to gain critical access to divine and ancestral wisdom,
which became the basis for their political authority
shamans were employed by the politically powerful
king himself was known to possess shaman's powers
"When the road to Heaven was monopolized by the possessors of
shamanistic powers, ancient art and ritual were the sources of
political clout, and the accumulation of art and ritual objects was an
instrument of social stratification"
Ideology
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Mesopotamia
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concepts of misharum (equality) and anduranum (freedom)
appeared under reign of Entemena (2404-2375 BC)
fundamental bases of the political contract uniting the responsibility of
the rulers to the ruled
New Year's celebrations afforded an occasion for the King to cancel all
private debts and state taxes, punish corrupt administrators, free
slaves, and fine or imprison avaricious merchants
royal decrees were considered essential for sustaining the immutable
nature of both the cosmic and social order
law was conceived of as timeless and impersonal
royal power held in check by the conception of law as well as assembly
of elders and by the priesthood
was the duty of the kings to be just, make the laws function equitably,
and to be subject to the law, rather than considered its source
concepts served as a point of departure for the codification of law
were the foundation for the social contract between the rulers and the
ruled, between different classes, and ideally without prejudice as to sex,
nationality, or religious belief
How do we study Complex Societies?
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Written Language
 some complex societies had written language, but not
all.
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writing systems began as pictures or pictographs,
called Ideographic Writing Systems.
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*i.e. The Andean societies had special historians to
remember events.
*i.e. Chinese writing system developed in this way, has as
many as 70-125,000 characters that represent a meaning.
One who undertakes the task of understanding an
ancient text must draw upon ideas and information from
a range of disciplines: anthropology, archeology, art
history, economics, linguistics, mathematics, political and
social history, psychology and theology.
Writing Systems
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Pictograph is a direct image of the object it represents.
Ideograph are pictograms that represent ideas linked to a
particular object.
 Phonograph-An ideogram becomes a phonogram when it also
stands for the sounds of the word
 Logographic-the written character represents both the meaning
and pronunciation of a word.
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An example of a logographic system is Chinese writing
Syllabic-can be efficiently used for languages in which words can
be phonologically represented by relatively few syllables (about one
hundred in Japanese), and in which there are no underlying
consonant clusters.
 Consonantal alphabet-only the consonants are symbolically
represented (for example, Hebrew and Arabic).
 Alphabet writing-a few sympols (letters).
 Mixed script (like the Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example,
that are a mixture of logograms and phonograms)
Logograms-Chinese Writing
Early
Chinese
Logograms:
Recorded on
animal bone
Alphabetic-Translation of Hungarian
Runes
How do we study Complex Societies?
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Specialization-people involved in nonagricultural activities
such as pottery, metalworking, and weaving.
Status and Social ranking-archaeologists can observe
differences in houses, burial style and material goods.
Trade and Exchange-with increased social complexity,
trade expanded.
Religion
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many elements of complex society is involved in religion, but
studying it is difficult.
can understand practical items, but how do we get to know what
a religion meant to people.
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*i.e. any item whose function is not known has a tendency to be
explained as a ritual object.
Craft Specialization-Ceremonial
Vessels from Egypt
How do we study Complex Societies?
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Monumental Architecture
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Helps to locate sites, provides information about
political organization, ritual beliefs and lifeways.
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*i.e. Sumerian ziggurats (5,000 B.P.) served as religious and
food distribution centers.
Egyptian pyramids-first built by Pharaoh Djoser 4,680
B.P. built as burial chambers.
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The Great Pyramid at Giza is 481 feet tall and covers 13
acres.
Egypt-Monumental Architecture
King Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid
The Pyramid of Menkaure, son of
Khafre.
Khufu, son of King Sneferu. The Great Pyramid is the only surviving
member of the Seven Wonders of the World (Height: 138.75 m (455.21 ft)
Length of Side: 230.37).
Ancient Chinese CivilizationsMonumental Architecture
Dunhuang and the
Cave of Manuscripts
111 BC
Northern end of the
Mogao cliff face, pitted
with caves for shelter
366 A.D.