Chapter 9 Anthropology

What are the 10 key attributes that Childe listed of early cities and states

1. The first cities were larger than any other previous settlement 2. early cities differed from villages in composition and function 3. producers had to pay tax to higher person such as a king 4. monumental buildings distinguished cities from villages 5. treasury, priests, civil officials, and military leaders made up a ruling class 6. writing was used for record keeping 7. predictive sciences developed 8. sophisticated art styles developed 9. there was long distance and foreign trade 10. society was reorganized on the basis of where one lived rather than kinship groups

When and where did the first towns arise?

10,000 to 9,000 years ago in the Middle East

population, war, and circumscription

Carneiro's theory incorporating three factors as the cause of a state instead of a single cause. (multivariate theory: involving more than one factor)

Which of the following attributes distinguishes states from chiefdoms?

Distinct social stratification

What term refers to a society that lacks status distinctions except those based on age, gender, and individual qualities, talents, and achievements?

Egalitarian

Which of the following statements about egalitarian society is not true?

Everybody is of equal status.

What is the name of the cultural period during which the first chiefdoms emerged in northern Syria?

Halafian

What were the first cities and states supported by?

Irrigated farming

Which of the following statements about Jericho is not true?

It has a series of shrines decorated with bull motifs.

Which of the following statements about Çatal Hüyük is not true?

It was first planned and built by the Jomon.

What was the earliest known town?

Jericho located in Israel, below sea level at a well watered oasis

What is the term for the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is today Iraq and southwestern Iran?

Mesopotamia

What was the first Chinese state?

Shang dynasty which dated back to 3750 BP

Which of the following is not a characteristic of states?

They lack hereditary inequality.

What happens when states fail to keep social and economic order to protect themselves against outsiders?

They may collapse

Childe's list of 10 defining attributes of the Urban Revolution aptly describe the first 10 states in Mesopotamia and Egypt, however a less specific list is used to describe all states, including the ones without writing.

True

What is the name of the cultural period during which advanced chiefdoms and perhaps the earliest states emerged in Mesopotamia?

Ubaid

When does the first pottery date back to

a bit more than 8000 years ago

long distance trade routes

another suggested cause of state formation. that states arise at strategic locations in regional trade networks, these sites including points of supply or exchange.

When was writing invented and why?

by 5600 BP and it was used to keep accounts for trade.

What played a prominent role in the formation of Mesoamerica's earliest state, the Zapotec state, whose capital was Monte Alban?

changing patterns of warfare, from village raiding to conquest warfare to gain territory and tribute.

What were key features of Childe's Urban Revolution

cities and writing

What was Mesopotamia's economy based on?

craft production, trade, and intensive agriculture.

cuneiform writing

early mesopotamians scribes used a styles (writing implement) to scrawl symbols on raw clay. This writing left a wedge shape impression on the clay, giving it its' name

Status distinctions within a society were broken down to three types by Morton Fried:

egalitarian, ranked, and stratified

ranked society

have heredity inequality but lack stratification. individuals tend to be ranked in terms of their genealogical distance from the chief. But there is a continuum of status, with many individuals ranked equally which leads to competition for positions of leadership. Ranked societies with loss of village autonomy are chiefdoms.

stratified society

have sharp social division (social classes or strata) based on unequal access to wealth or power

Where were the major early states of the Western hemisphere

in Mesoamerica and Peru

where did the first states develop?

in Mesopotamia between 6000 and 5500 BP and in Mesoamerica 3000 years later. evidence that these states exsisted were monumental architecture, central storehouses, irrigation systems, and written records.

state

is a form of social and political organization that has a formal, central government and a division of society into classes

Ubaid pottery

is associated with advanced chiefdoms and perhaps the earliest states.

Environmental circumscription

may be physical or social. physical include small islands and, in arid areas, river plains, oases, and valleys with streams. social exist when neighboring societies block expansion, emigration, or access to resources.

Knowledge of the properties of metals, including how to extract, process, and use them to make tools, is known as

metallurgy.

What is the evidence for state organizations?

monumental architecture, central storehouses, irrigation systems, and written records.

egalitarian society

most typically found among foragers, lacks status distinctions except for those based on age, gender, and individual qualities, talents, and achievements. Thus, depending on the society, someone such as a talented musician may receive special respect. Status distinctions in this society are not inherited, but instead must earn respect.

hydraulic systems

one suggested cause of state formation. the need to regulate hydraulic (water-based) agricultural economies; managing systems of irrigation, drainage, and flood control.

What was the earliest writing?

pictograph

What features do archaeologists use for dating?

pottery shape, finishing, decoration, and type of clay

chiefdom

precursors to states. had privileged and effective leaders (chiefs) but lacked the sharp class divisions that characterize states.

Halafian

refers to a pottery style and to the period when the first chiefdoms and elites emerged. it is a delicate ceramic.

What invention began the Bronze Age just after 5000 BP?

smelting (the high temperature process by which pure metal is produced from an ore)

chiefdoms

societies in which relations among villages as well as among individuals were unequal. in chiefdoms there is always inequality among both individuals and communities.

primary states

states that arose on their own and not through contact with other state societies. primary states emerged from competition among chiefdoms.

What does the low level of Halafian ceramics suggest?

that there were luxury goods associated with a social hierarchy

Childe, the most influential archaeologist of the 20th century, uses the word urban revolution to descibe

the major transformation of human life and social institutions that were examined

why did states develop?

to handle regulatory problems as the population grows and the economy gets more complex. multiple factors contribute, some which appear repeatedly but no single factor is always present.

Urak period

when most state formation occurred

What played a key role in the Mesopotamian economy?

writing and temples