Archaeology Final Flashcards
consequences of farming in early villages
- full sedentary societies
- higher population densities
- more permanent structures/storage facitilies
- land as property
- increased warfare
- more cemeteries
- decreased nutrition
- health in general decreases (more infection, farming effects on body)
- more defined complex social roles
egalitarianism
first farming societies were still largely egalitarian: every boy/girl has equal chance to become highly respective men/women
-not given special advantages by being born into rank
Catalhoyuk, Turkey
- huge tell site (mound built from debris from previous generations); indicative of life at this time
- neolithic way of life: farming grain
- domesticating animals
- special houses with connecting rooms
- more investment in living structures
- special burials with grave good (Obsidian mirror, jewlery, polished mace heads, weapons)
- female figurines: fertility
- lots of art/images
- trade in obsidian fueled economy
Banpo, China
- cone like houses
- later rectangular houses
- lots of pottery
- deep pits for storing grain
- Hundreds of adults buried in mass grave (little difference in how they are buried)
- special structure seen as shrine or meeting hall
Life in the Neolithics
- No difference in gender equality
- Respect on ancestors
Otzi the Iceman
- italian alps
- Clothing, tools, and body are remarkable conserved
- 45 years old, 110 lbs, intesntial parasites, bad worn teeth, fleas, discolored lungs from smoke, ribs and nose were broken and heeled (got in fight), gash on hand, arrow in shoulder
- leg = lots of walking
- Sedentary life
- armed with tools/weapons
- warm clothes
- fire kit
- medicinal plants
complexities in society (4 main groups)
- bands
- tribes
- chiefdoms
- states
bands
- small-scale mobile hunter-gather groups
- not farming or domesticating animals
- totally egalitarian except for sex and age
tribes
- larger groups of farmers/herders
- domesticated sources of food
- still egal
- lived in villages
- politically autonomous settlements
chiefdoms
- hereditary chief leader with larger, denser populations
- No longer have a system in which people are equal at birth
- Regional political dominance; chief controls possibly multiple regions
states
- large, densely populated societies with regional political dominance
- capital city often
- societal inequality (status/wealth)
- powerful leaders (coercive)
- specialized social roles
inequality evidence in arch remains
- graves
- homes
- settlement patterns
- monuments/public works
- street planning
- art/icons
chief
- ascribed status not achieved
- coercive power
- material wealth (disproportionate)
- war leadership
area that is good evidence for chiefs?
North America
southeastern North America
Hospital place for human society bc of farming conditions
Adena culture
Adena Mound, Ohio
- deposits of cremated people in one big mound
Hopewell tradition
- small collective graves
adoptions of maize
adena mound, Ohio
deposits of many cremated people in one big mound
hopewell tradition
- small collective graves
- rich grave good (teeth, shells, stone pipes; raw materials from all over america)
adena adoption of maize
marks the end of the woodland period bc of the big changes that come from relying on maize
Mississippian tradition
- many chiefdoms but never fortified under the same political leader or chief
-etoah - large scale warfare
- Charles houses
- mounds and plazas
- southeaster ceremonial complex (SECC)
Etoah
fortified area protected by a man made moat and river on the sites
- indicates large scale warfare
- Mississippian Tradition
Charles House
emphasize the power and importance of chief (contrasting of burial mounds of adena culture)
- MS Tradition
“Southeastern Ceremoinal Complex” (SECC)
- Religion
- Common religious motifs *hands with an eye in the center of a palm”
- Mythical feature (twins)
- Highly crafted artifacts only found in elite complexes and burials in the biggest mounds
Cahokia, Illinois (AD 1050-1250)
MS Tradition
- lived in small villages
- very large pop. expansion with hierarchy
- 200 mounds of city
- massive defensive stockage
- huge plaza surrounded by the mounds
- monk’s mound
- mound 72
- large-scale feasts
- woodhenges with astronomical alignments
- regional site hierarchy
monk’s mound
- largest prehistoric earthen structure in the New World
- mounds were foundations of public buildings and funerary structures
- 1000 by 700 ft large (largest mound found at the Cahokia, Illinois)
- constructed in 14 stages
Mound 72
- large burial mound site south of Monk’s mound
- burial of two apparently high ranking men, one on top of the other
- Birdman burial (layered with shell beads in shape of bird)
- grave goods that indicated distinct social stratification and economic relationships
How did chiefs come to power and maintain power?
- Big desnsive stoackage
- Massive mounds
- Fancy burials with sacrifice retainers
- Huge plaza with evidence of feasts and ceremonies
- Regional site hierarchy
- Long-distance exchange
chiefly cycling
- chiefdoms did not last long
- inherently unstable and subject to collapse
Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Culture
- found on mesa away from bottom lands for defense reasons
- domesticated corn, beans, and squash
- hunting and gathering
- larger communities established (kivas)
Chaco Canyon, NM
- erosion feature from the drainage of the Colorado river
- extreme envt. with little trees and rainfall
- used flood water farming
- kivas and pueblos
- the great kiva
- large sites served as local centers for trade/ceremonies
Flood water farming
channeled seasonal runoff to argucutlral fields to supplement the water supply
Kiva
semisubterranean cermonual rooms with distinctive black on white pottery (special to Ancestral Pueblo culture)
pueblo
- NAIsettlement of the southwestern US, especially one consisting of multistoried adobe houses built by the Pueblo people.
- Larger, apartmentlike stone complexes of adjoining rooms; residences for separate families or lineages
Great Kiva
interior courtyards; central ceremonial role in community activities
Pueblo Bonito (AD 920-1150):
- largest apartment building made in the US before 1900s in a dry desolate canyon, remains a powerful testament ot the ingenuity of the NA’s
Woodon beams - great kiva present
- largest and most impressive house
- D-shaped complex
- protected by cliffs of canyon
- very populous
- dated with trees (built with wood)
Chaco at its height
- regional network huge, centered at PB
- trade: macaw features, turquoise, copper
- massive communal labor
- hereditary leadership
- pueblo bonito
Decline of Chaco
- decrease in pop
- Villages shifted to well-protected, defensive locations like Mesa Verde
- european arrival
why did chaco decline?
climate change, environmental degradation, shifting trade connections, changing political allainces, colonization
studying artifacts (4 main items)
- production
- style
- use
- procurement and trade
origins of states
- had cities within it (1 being the political capital of the state)
- very complex market economies
- bureaucracies/writing & record keeping
- monopoly on force (military, religious hierarchy)
first generation states
emerged independently of one another
- active trade between state
- secondary states formed later as a result of motion of the 1st gen states
prime mover theories
explained why states arose under 1 theory only
- metallurgy and craft specialization
- irrigation (hydraulic hypothesis)
- population pressure
- long-distance trade
- warfare and cirumscription
metallurgy and craft specialization (PMT)
Gordon Childe
- emerge with Bronze Age, so they must be linked together
- emergence of bronze tech
- rulers facilitate new bronze tech
irrigation (hydraulic hypothesis) pmt
Karl Wittfogel
- states emerged to manage agriculture and irrigation systems
- larger systems needed to manage people and systems
Population pressure PMT
Esther Boserup
- political and agriculture changes to manage the growing population
- warehouses store and manage surpluses of food (integrative)
long-distance trade (PMT)
Colin Renfrew
- local leaders managing trade contracts and redistributions of items
warfare and circumscription (PMT)
Robert Canerio
- population growth in a small area in which people cannot move away leads to more violences
- leads to a collection of people into one region
- coercive theory of state emergence
recent approaches to explaining why cities came to be
-mutltivariate explanations
- elite strategies (agency of power)
- power field (economic control, ideology, military force)
- resistance of commoners and powerful factions
Origins of states in Mesopotamia
- lower (land between the rivers)
- river deposited silt
- little rainfall
- irrigation farming
- no precious materials
- rivers are major trade routes
Ubaid Period
5300 BC lower Mesopotamia settlement
- egalitarian small villagtes
- rivers provided silt and irrigation
- irrigation required digging which required peo0ple
- poor resource region, so lots of import
Eridu, Iraq
Ubaid period
- first to emerge in Meso
- earliest temple town of ubaid period
- rectangular home with alter
- temples become more elaborate over time
- ziggurat (associated with fish or water)
Ziggurat at Eridue, 4000 BC
- associated with religious ties (God of Anki)
- god of water/fish
- Anu Ziggurat, Uruk
- rebuilt in the same place, but larger each time
Uruk Period
- animal drawn plow is invented
- 1st cities (run independently)
- intensified trade
- invent of the wheel
- temples important
- cuneiform tablets
- writing for trade
- standardized pottery with wheel invention
Sumerian civilization
- 13 city states dominated by temples and royal elites
- bronze is invented (copper and tin)
- bronze weaponry
- constant warfare
- domestication of horses for chariots and warfare
- very wealthy and powerful state
- religious and political leaders
- trade with Egypt, mediterranean
Sumerian trade with Egypt and mediterranean
- carnelian, lapis lazuli, alabaster
- Uruk vase
Ur
- very successful city/trade center bc of its location off the Perusian Sea
- very large royal cemetery (with evidence of wealth differences)
- Queen Sub-ad’s Tomb, Ur
(headdress and earrings, gold fluted cup) - death pits with many servant sacrifices
why did state arise in Mesopotamia?
trade
political power
army with ration
neighboring empires increase in scale to the largest and most powerful empire seen to date
where did the first written language occur?
mesopotamia
mesopotamia first language origins
- developed from older types of communication (clay tokens)
- more complex clay tokens transformed into written symbols
bullae
clay fired enveloped; sometimes sealed; marked the outside with how many of something there is
- fire so secure, but had to break open to see what is inside
- contradictory bc duplicate record on the inside
** eventually transformed into clay tablets
china writing system
- writings on oracle bones
- used originally for divination ceremonies rather than economic interactions
- kings asked gods for royal advice
- bones without writing used originally
- inscriptions appear on bronze vessels
- signs gradually became more abstract
mayan glyphs
stelae
fine ceramic vessels
codices (singular codex)
cave walls
stelae
Commemorate important events in dynastic history (births, deaths, mitlairy victories, weddings) - propaganda
- large upright stone with images and glyphs
fine ceramic vessels
- included owner, use, and/or contents of the vessel
- mythological themes
- given as gifts between nobles – the writing enhanced their value and individuality, making them more special
codices (singular-codex)
- writing for religious reasons, kept track of the seaons of the years
- Most writing is on seals
— very typical of Indus Valley –large numbers of these are found concentrated in certain houses – probably used for either official business (e.g., collecting tribute) or commercial transactions, or both.
seals
- Indus Valley
- large numbers of these are found concentrated in certain houses – probably used for either official business (e.g., collecting tribute) or commercial transactions, or both
cave walls
glyphs painted on walls of limestone caves related to rituals and the underworld
Inca khipu
info is recorded in knots on string that signified numbers with different colored wool
- read by quipu masters
- censuses, memory aids
*proved that states could exist without written language
easter island rongorongo tablets
- tablets used for sacred knowledge
- possible lunar calendar
*did it proceed before European influence - example of a writing system without a state
how is writing used?
official accounting
royal history
commemoration of royal acts
divination
specialized ritual knowledge
*writing was invented and used for elite purposes and did not originally have a wide audience
examples of rulers symbols of power
Art; statuary; architecture; site planning; large scale public rituals.
Elites were the ones to plan, sponsor, design, or manage these.
Skull-racks (tzompantli)
- display the skulls of ritualistically-executed war captives
- used in ball courts to possible display loser heads
– noble captures
– ballgame for public viewing
– losers executed and displayed publically
*symbol of ruler power for people
ritualized spilling of blood
- through sacraficeds
(royal duty, keeps the world running smoothly) - noble blood is of great value
apadana
figures represent an official bringing tribute to the great king from every part of the empire, on the event of the new years festival at Persepolis
1st architectural site planning event
Constantine
2nd site planning
built in 1930s, in fascist Italy. Mussolini made a lot of linkages to ancient Rome.
archaism
deliberate reuse of an older style that has fallen out of use.
— Often used to strengthen legitimacy by tying to already recognized histories of power.
(ex/ Cathy, pantheon)
Indus Valley civilization (2600-1900 BC)
- Indus River valley (Pakistan, India, Himalayas)
- formed rich river deposited sediment
- Neolithic villages form to the left of hilly regions in the west
- raised grains and domesticated animals
- occupied flood plains
- sites grow to be small walled towns during the Bronze Age
- transition to city states with negative effects
- organized drainage systems and street system
- craft specialization
- commerce with seals
- art
negative effects of Indus valley growth
- Worse flooding bc of deforestation
- Irrigation and flood control requires more labor
- Warfare
- Trade with meso
- limited knowledge of language
Indus Valley craft specialization
- pottery
- microbeads
- jewelry and bangles (loved personal adornment and lots of effort was putting into making such)
- values are not controlled only by elite***
- figurines
- seals
Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan (2600-1900 BC)
- “the great bath”
- “the granary”
- baths in homes drain to sewer system
- elegant halls
- shops and stalls along streets
- craft production appears to take place within the home
- no continuous writing system
- grid-link streets
*collapse eventually
INDUS VALLEY
Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan collapse
1900 bc
- due to climate change
- major river for agriculture dries up
the great bath
bench and stairs
made of bricks and lined with tar-like watertight substance
- large and central to city (ceremonial purposes most likely)
Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan
the granary
store house or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed
Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan
why was the Indus Valley unusual?
- little monumentally (no palaces/temples; images of rulers)
- collective labor was put into public infrastructure that benefited everyone
- limited wealth inequality
- everyone had fine goods
meso america or the basin of Mexico
- 1st gen state
- originally a lake (drained during the war)
- massive expedition of field walking of the site occurs in 1960s before development
settlement patterns
distribution of human settle meant on the landscape through time
(why do people live wear they do?)
(site hierarchy)
ancient urbanism
why did people move to cities
how did ancient cities work
Teotihuacan
- basin of Mexico
- trust throughout people of city
- massive labor projects by rulers
- central planning
- monumental temple construction
- the great compound
- apartment compounds
temples of teotihuacan
pyramid of the sun and the moon
Ciudadela: Temple of the feathered serpent
The Ciudadela
- temple of the feathered serpent
- ritual human sacrifice on a large scale dedicated to the construction of the temple
apartment compounds of teotihuacan
ethnic and craft neighborhoods
painted murals
the great compound
- teaotihuacan
- major central marketplace in city
the avenue of death
Main Street from west to east in teotuachan
Inca Empire
- last of the Andian civilization
- many interactions and documentation in spanish
- impressive infrastructure; well preserved
- largest empire in the americas and world empire all together
- diverse and rigid geography
- pacific coast with desert
- llamas/alpacas
- steep eastern slope of the andes that descends into jungle and cloud forest
- no writing system
empire
political empire that encompasses a large area of diverse regions and people
fields of power
economic control
military force
ideology and religion