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
