Anthropology Chapter 11

Hieroglyphics

"Picture writing" as in ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America)uy

Why do states expand?

-Because they can -Threat of famine and disease -Belligerance is simply part of the nature of states

The Decline and Collapse of States

-Environmental degradation -May decline because of human behavior -Internal conflict

Negative Consequences

-People are governed by force -Political and military forces can be instruments of oppression and terror -Class stratification creates differences in access to resources -Health issues -State warfare and conques

Conventional characteristics of Civilization

-inscriptions -writings -cities -many kinds of full-time craft specialists -monumental architecture -differences in wealth and status

The Formative Period

1000 B.C. to 300 B.C. Characterized initially by small, scattered farming villages.

The formative Era

5000 B.C. to 3500 B.C.

State

An autonomous political unit with centralized decision making over many communities with power to govern by force (E.g., to collect taxes, draft people for work and war, make and enforce laws) Most states have cities with public buildings, full-time craft and religion specialists, an "official" art style, a heirarchal social structure topped with an elite class, and a government monopoly on the legitimate use of force to implement policies.

The City and State of Teotihuancan

At the height of it's power (200-500 A.D) the metropolis of Teotihua could encompass an area larger than imperial Rome

Axum (Present day Ethiopia)

Became the center of trade and commerce between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula First officially christian state in the world

Henry Wright and Gregory Johnson

Defined state as a centralized political heirarchy with at least three levels of administration. The way that settlement sites differ in size is an indication of how many levels of administration there were in an area.

Earliest Neolithic societies were

Egalitarian

Theories about the origin of State: Irrigation

Important in many of the areas where state societies developed. Labor and management needed for the upkeep of an irrigation system led to the formation of political elite, the overseers of the the system. Critics: Doesn't apply to all areas where cities and states emerged independently.

Ghana

Major source of gold for the Mediteranean world

Sumerian Social Classes

Nobles Priests Merchants Craft workers Metallurgists Bureaucrats Soldiers Farmers Free Citizens Slaves

Shang Dynasty (1750 B.C.)

Northern China Thought to be the earliest state society in the Far East (That may not be true because of the Xia Dynasty)

Egalitarian

People did not differ much in wealth, prestige, or power

Consequences of State Formation

States allowed for larger and denser populations. States were able to build infrastructure that allows not production and distribution to be more efficient. States allow many people in the society to be relieved of food production

Theories about the origin of State: Population growth, circumscription and War

Theory was devised by Robert Carneiro Population growth in an area that is physically or socially limited. Competition and warfare in such a situation may lead to subordination of defeated groups

Civilization

Urban society, from the latin word for "City-state"

Cuneiform

Wedge-shaped writing invented by the sumerians around 3000 B.c.

Theories about the origin of State: Local and Long Distance Trade

Wright and Johnson Organizational requirements of producing items for export, redistribution of imported items and defending trading parties would foster state formation

Some archaeologists think that states first evolved

around 3,500 B.C. in greater Mesopotamia