Levels of Complexity Flashcards
Subsistence Patterns
Hunting & Gathering
Horticulture
Pastoralism
Transhumance
Agriculture
Hunting & Gathering
no cultivation of plants or animals. What was done for the majority of human life.
* Most associated by bands
Horticulture
small “back-yard garden” farming with very simple hand-held tools,
usually slash & burn and move on, no mechanization (animals, irrigation, etc), No
surplus production
Huron - used horticulture techniques. Hand held sticks to till the soil.
* No surplus, mostly for consumption
* Had to move in a few years because the land cannot sustain them
Slash and burn - cut down everything, burn it, till the ash into the soil
Typically plant a bunch of plants
Pastoralism
usually refer to nomadic, primary food is domesticated livestock, sheep goats cattle & milk
West Africa milk & blood,
Old Testament peoples - examples of agriculturalists and pastoralism.
* Religious traditions where they traced back to people who were pastoralists
* Cain & Abel sacrificing animals
* Abrham fleeing Egypt (?)
Transhumance
still pastoralists but seasonal migrations only
Swiss Alps with always Horticulture & sometimes Agriculture - had permanent residences but would migrate at certain times of the year when there wasn’t enough water. They would move up to semi resident camps.
Agriculture
mechanized with surplus & storage
Irrigation system, animal power
One or two staple/super crops
Greatly expanding land carrying capacity but also dependency, so if anything happens (droughts) then people die
Farm animals make is extremely sound
Most have surplus and storage - leads to the implementation of government to manage everything and take taxes (surplus for bad times)
* military to protect surplus
Sociopolitical Types
Band
Tribe
Chiefdom
State
Band
less than 50 people. Related among kinship lines. 2-3 extended families that would share everything.
- Ju Hoansi
- Free ranging, autonomous, self governed
- Leaders were based on who was good at what
- Egalitarian
Tribe
Differ in sizes
More than one settlement
More than one kin group
* Kins are typically organized into clans
Bigger than bands
Typically egalitarian and sometimes through chiefdom
Typically pastoralists
Animism, animalism, medicine, vision quests
Chiefdom
greater population, density & social stratification (differences in individuals), usually Agricultural
Above tribe
composed of more than one tribe, with many clans & centralized power
Nobels, commoners, etc - built on excessive resources
- There was a trade network.
- No writing & money.
- Scribe status
- Religious, royalty, limited caste system
- Separate mounds for burials for different ranks
- Warriors, royalty, priests
Cahokia (sociopolitical)
Example of chiefdom
represents a loose network of city states. Chiefs & kings would get tributes from farmer commoners. Keep surplus is redistributed in hard times.
State
Highly Stratified, always has agriculture, similar to chiefdom but larger scale and much more stratified.
- Market economies
- Symbolic monetary system - dollars, coins that can be carried on people for ease of exchange (Facilitates commerce)
- Status
- Full-time professional army
- Diverse craft specialization
class/caste system - Monetary system shared by the whole state
- Writing/advance system of records - collection of taxes and tax records
Aztec: or Mexíca (sociopolitical)
Example of state
dense population - most in the world at the time
Cortez, Tenochtitlan, Chinampas
Sewer System - prevented diseases and was a lot cleaner
Tenochtitlan
an island with a bunch of agriculture around, surrounded by Chinampas for the Aztecs
Chinampas
floating gardens
* Wind variety of plants: corn, beans, squash
* Enough to feel 150k people
Cortez
Explorer of Aztecs and saw their state system
saw how big the population was
Intense agriculture around an island
Exogenous
can’t marry anyone in the same clan
matrilineal
Blood line was based on the mother
“Man the Hunter”
hunting is not as popular (overblown)
Gathering is actually the majority way of subsistence
* Mostly done by women
* 70-85%
The best hunters did have the best status and have higher reproductive success (more likely to marry and have a lot of kids)
* Meat was still very important despite not being the main source
“Driven by Hunger”, “Hard Life”
They didn’t have a hard life or were driven by hunger
Woosh people (?) in southern africa was the most studied hunter and gatherer people
11-15 hours per week to make what they need to survive in their harsh environment
* Actually had a lot of free time, so their lives were not that hard
* Typically were very charismatic because they spent a lot of time talking to each other
Nutrient and health was quite good
Animism
belief that everything in the environment is animates/alive (everything possesses a living soul)
If a human takes anything from the environment they have to give back to the environment spirit to show respect
Plants - respect by not taking all the food
animalism
a single abstract force humans can tap into to change something.
Heckwalder
British guy in colonial US and sees a native american kill a deer and starts thanking the spirit through a ritual
Urubu
most important material for honey from bees. They would give some gifts back whenever they took some.
