Transcript Chiefdoms and States

Chiefdoms and States
Chiefdoms
Studying Complex Societies
State Formation
States in World Areas
Chiefdoms
 Society
with social ranking in which
political integration is achieved through
an office of centralized leadership.
– Segments of tribe are structurally and
functionally similar, Chiefdom is made up of
parts that are different from one another.
 Has
ranking system
– some lineages and individuals have higher
or lower status.
– These also have different roles in society.
Chiefdoms
 Chiefdom
has set office as a chief.
– Centralized governing center, which is
closely tied to redistribution.
 Goods
are sent to the chief who
gives feasts and sponsors ritual
ceremonies (“Big Man”).
 Chief can distribute labor as well as
food.
 Chiefdoms found in some pastoral
groups, but mostly in groups with
agriculture.
Chiefdoms

Regulation of behavior and Conflict
Resolution.
– Internal violence is reduced in chiefdom
because chief has authority to make
judgement and punish deviants and resolve
disputes.
– Chief's authority is backed by his control of
symbolic, supernatural, administrative,
economic and military power.
– Permits more stability than in tribes because
less internal feuds but sometimes violent.
– To emphaisze th importance of this offices for
the society, offenses against the chief are
punishable by death.
V. Gordon Childe:
Characteristics of complex societies

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.
How do we study Complex Societies?

Written Language
– some complex societies had written language,
but not all.
 *i.e.
The Andean societies had special historians to
remember events.
– writing systems began as pictures or
pictographs, called Ideographic Writing
Systems.
 *i.e.
Chinese writing system developed in this way,
has as many as 70-125,000 characters that represent
a meaning.
– Hieroglyphic writing simplifies a picture into a
symbol, this is the Egyptian writing system.
– Syllabic writing the characters express sounds,
Semitic systems such as Arabic or Hebrew.
– Alphabetic writing where a symbol represents
a sound.
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 and material
goods.
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*i.e. Teotihuacan occupied around 1200 years ago had 120
k people and a wide variety of houses.
Trade and Exchange-with increased social
complexity, trade expanded.
Religion
– 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.

*i.e. any item whose function is not known has a tendency
to be explained as a ritual object.
How do we study Complex Societies?

Monumental Architecture
– Helps to locate sites, provides information
about political organization, ritual beliefs and
lifeways.
 *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.
 The
Great Pyramid at Giza is 481 feet tall and covers
13 acres.
– Mayan stone temples and Mississippian
mounds.
State Formation
Integrationist Theories-Society benefited
from state organization.
 Perspectives:

– Hydraulic Hypothesis-bureaucracies were
developed due to an increase in intensive
agriculture and the need to develop systems of
waterways.
– Trade and Exchange-organization to produce
trade items required administration.
– Warfare-population growth in an area where
land is scarce leads to warfare over land rights
and states developed as a way to organize war.
Used this to explain the development of state
in Mesoamerica.
– Systems Models-the importance of
centralized government in all aspects of
complex society.
State Formation
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Conflict Theories
– State organization arose from the ability of
some groups to control others, and the only
benefits are for the elite.
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Economic and Political
– Economic-population growth caused land
shortage and domination of one group over
another to control land.
– Political-elimination of competition by reducing
power of some groups, then increasing their
own power through organizational reforms.
States of the World
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SW Asia
– Sumerian civilization, ca. 5,000 B.P.
– Phoenicians, ca. 3,000 B.P.
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Africa
– Egypt, ca. 5,100 B.P.
– Nubia, ca. 2500 B.P.
– Great Zimbabwe, 1000 B.P.
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Asia
– China, 5,000 B.P.
– Southeast Asia, ca. 1,000 B.P.
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Americas
– Mesoamerica, ca. 3,500 B.P.
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Olmec-3,500 B.P.
Maya-2,500 B.P.
Aztec-500 B.P.
– Andes (Inca), ca. 1,000 B.P.
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North America, ca. 1,000 B.P.
Egypt
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 Civilizations
Dunhuang and the
Cave of Manuscripts
111 BC
Northern end of the
Mogao cliff face, pitted
with caves for shelter
366 A.D.
Americas
Monks Mound, Mississippian, Illinois
Inca, Machu Picchu, Peru
Maya, Central America