Chapter 11 Flashcards
What concepts help archaeologists to reconstruct the past social and political organizations?
Archaeologists think in terms of both residential and nonresidential groups.
How these groups operate is a matter of gender (culturally based interpretation of biology), the division of labor, kinship (συγγένεια) and status.
Bioarchaeological analyses provide clues as to the division of the labor, but strong empirical generalizations of historically linked ethnographic analogies are often needed.
Kinship in the socially recognized network of relationships through which individuals are related to one another by ties of descent (real or imagined) and marriage.
Status refers to the rights, duties, and privileges that define the nature of interpersonal relations. Ascribed status is parceled out at birth without regard to personal characteristics; achieved status comes from what one accomplishes in life.
A society is egalitarian if achieved status is the means whereby an individual acquires a high position. In a ranked society, ascribed status places people into a ranked order of privilege; ranked societies exhibit a hierarchy, and its members have unequal access to basic resources.
What archaeological remains help reconstruct social organization, especially kinship?
Social groupings are reflected “on the ground” in terms of house spacing and placement. Genetic distance studies of human skeletal remains provide clues to postmarital residence.
What archaeological remains are important in reconstructing political organization, especially those involving inherited social inequities?
Egalitarian and ranked societies are often studied through patterning in mortuary remains, on the assumption that the treatment in death reflects status in life, as well through public and household architecture.
What techniques help reconstruct ancient trade networks?
Trade networks reflect the geographic scale of nonresidential groups, economic patterns, and political authority. Trade is established by determining whether artifacts are made or obtained locally and by determining the source of raw materials for artifact manufacture.
