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
