Origins of Cities and States Flashcards
When did the most ancient civilizations arise in the near east, northwestern india, northern china, the new world, and tropical africa?
Near east - 3500 BC
Northwestern india - 2500 BC
Northern China - 1750 BC
New World - 2000 years ago
Tropical africa - sometime later
What is an egalitarian society?
Society where all people of a given age-sex category have equal access to economic resources, power, and prestige
What evidence points to a society with high status assigned at birth?
Noticeable differences in children’s tombs - if they were filled with statues or ornaments
Explain how archaeologists infer that a particular people in the past had social classes, cities, or a centralised government, and states. (what is the key criteria)
Archaeologists rather than historians have studied the most ancient civilizations because those civilizations evolved before the advent of writing
They generally assume that burial finds reflecting inequality in death reflect inequality in life, at least in status and perhaps also in wealth and power
house size and furnishings can confirm that the society had different socio-economic classes of people
hierarchical and centralised decision making that affects a substantial population = key criteria
Most states have cities with public buildings, full-time craft and religious specialists, an official art style, and a hierarchical social structure topped by an elite class from which the leaders are drawn
Most states maintain power with a monopoly on the use of force. The state uses force or the threat of force to tax its population and to draft people for work or war
How can archaeologists infer a political hierarchy existed in a particular society?
Political hierarchy was defined with at least three levels of administration
How can this be determined?
The way settlement sites differ in size in an indication of the number of levels of administration
- Ex. Early Uruk period - 45 small villages, 3 or 4 towns, and one large centre
- More evidence - clay seal used in trading (commodity selaings) - suggests the large centre of Susa administered the regional movement of goods and the Susa was the capital of the state
Describe the emergence of cities and states in Sumer
The earliest state societies are found in Mesopotamia - what is now southern Iraq
During the formative era, burial sites reveal differences in social status. Villages specialised in the production of particular goods, and temples may have been centres of political and religious authority for several communities
These centres may have developed into chiefdoms that had authority over several villages
The state of Sumer was unified under a single government around 3000 BC
It had writing, urban centres, imposing temples, codified laws, a standing army, wide trade networks, complex irrigation, and a high degree of craft specialisation
Some anthropologists think that chiefdoms had developed by this time
What are chiefdoms?
A political unit, with a chief at its head, integrating more than one community but not necessarily the whole society or language group
What are some of the earliest examples of Sumerian writing?
Around 3000 BC
Form of ledgers containing inventories of items stored in the temples and records of livestock
Had wedge shaped characters, or cuneiforms - formed by pressing a stylus against a damp clay tablet
Contracts and other important documents - the tablet would be fired to create a virtually permanent record
Describe the emergence of cities and states in Mesoamerica
Emerged later than in the Near East, likely because of the later emergence of agriculture in the new world
During the formative period, small, autonomous farming villages shifted from the hills to the bottom of the Teotihuacan Valley and likely used irrigation.
Small “elite” centres emerged, each with a raised platform where temples and residences were built
The later state of Teotihuacan in the valley of Mexico had a city laid out in a well-planned grid pattern. It influenced much of Mesoamerica; its style of pottery and architecture are found extensively and graves include many foreign goods
The earliest city-state developed in the valley of Oaxaca with a capital at Monte Alban.
Originally, the city many have been a neutral centre where different political units in the valley coordinated activities affecting the entire valley
Mayan state societies were densely populated and depended on intensive agriculture. New research shows that Mayan societies may have been more urban and complex than previously thought
What did Monte Alban not do?
Monopolize craft production
What evidence indicates that people in Teotihuacan were engaged in long-distance trade?
25% of the city’s population worked in specialised crafts
City close to major deposits of obsidian which was in demand over much of Mesoamerica - used to produce many items that were distributed very far away
Materials found in graves indicate an enormous flow of foreign goods into the city
What does it mean for a state to arise independently?
Emerges without colonisation or conquest by other states
Describe the first cities and states in Africa
Earliest state was in the Nile Valley in Egypt by 3000 BC
Supported by a population that mainly lived in self-sufficient villages
The strong unified state of the old kingdom built the pyramids as tombs for pharaohs - their diving kings
The later Axum state in Ethiopia was the centre of a trade, with multi storey stone residences
Decribe the first cities and states in Central Asia
Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley controlled an enormous territory
major cities were built on a similar pattern and had municipal water and sewage systems
The Shang dynasty in China was a stratified and specialised intraregional state society with religious, economic, and administrative unification and a distinctive art style
Evaluate the major theories about the origin of the state.
The irrigation theory - suggests that the administrative needs of maintaining an extensive irrigation network caused state formation
- May have given rise to border and other disputes between adjacent groups, prompting people to concentrate in cities
- Intensified production, indirectly developing craft specialisation, trade, and administrative bureaucracy
The circumscription theory - suggests that states emerge when competition and warfare in a circumscribed area lead to the subordination of defeated groups, which are then obliged to submit to the control of the most powerful group
- One unanswered question to this theory: why wouldn’t the victors exterminate the defeated and occupy the land themselves?
Theories involving trade - suggest that the organisational requirements of producing exportable items, redistributing imported ones, and defending trading parties foster state formation
Describe the first cities and states in South America
State societies in Peru had cities, plazas, and large pyramids
those in the Andes had complex agricultural systems with irrigation, a widespread system of religious beliefs and symbols and art
Describe the first cities and states in North America
Cahokia, developed near present-day St. Louis, Missouri
Centre of a large and powerful chiefdom
Controversial as to weather is achieved a state level organisation or not
Clear social stratification and religious and craft specialists, but, unclear whether the leaders were able to govern by force
What was perhaps the first officially Christian state in the world?
Axum, Africa (present-day ethiopia)
How might irrigation systems have resulted in stratified societies (what are stratified societies)?
Resulted in unequal access to productive land
Stratified society = divided into social classes → upper class, middle class, lower class
Identify and explain consequences of state formation.
Populations grow and become concentrated in cities
More efficient agriculture allows many people to stop farming; as a result: art, music, literature, and organised religion can develop and flourish
Can coordinate information
Allow many people to be relieved of food production
Military expansion and conquest often occurs and leaders have power over their own population ,which for the first time includes an underclass of poor and unhealthy people
Epidemic disease and periodic famine affect the population, often resulting from dense population and problems with food production and storage
Organised religion often develops
People become governed by force and can’t say no to their leaders
______ is part of the nature of states.
Belligerence
What positive effects and negative issues can arise in cities unsuited to agriculture?
Can’t have coercive authority emerge
People living in places unsuited to agriculture might tolerate the coercive authority of a state because they would suffer a sharp drop in living standards if they moved away
May not be suited to agriculture but could be suited for trade (on rivers)
Discuss explanations for the decline and collapse of states.
Environmental degradation → declining soil productivity, persistent drought
Human behaviour –> increases disease, depletion of resources, and internal conflict from mismanagement by leaders or mistreatment of people
Overextension → extending to an area too large to administer
What factors might account for the decline of the Roman Empire?
Overextension
Expanded into such a huge area
Their “barbarian” incursions on the peripheries of the empire went unchecked because it was too difficult and too costly to reinforce those far-flung frontiers → it withered away to nothing
What became the major form of tax payment after the Inca took over? Who produced the most cloth?
Thread from llama and alpaca wool made into cloth - used to clothe men serving in the army and to pay other government personnel
Women in elite households seem to have produced more cloth than the women in commoner household → elite lived closer to the high grasslands, where flocks of llama and alpacas were kept
Complexity is about what two thing?
Harnessing of energy
Nature and distribution of power
What is a state?
Political term:
- Central control over economy, social boundaries, political power
like politics:
- rules and values and ethics by which we organize ourselves in all spheres of life
What are the key organs (ministries) of the state?
Agriculture, Commerce & Taxation
Justice & Defense (war)
Citizenship, Immigration, Foreign Affairs
Sitting in with all of them (middle of the triangle) → State religion - legitimises everyone in each of the ministries - organises stuff - no separation from religion and politics
What are some characteristics of civilization?
Earliest form of class based society
- High degree of inequality
- Power based on agriculture surplus
- Privileged elite extracts surpluses from commoners
Characteristics:
- Simple technology
- Complex organization/management of labour
- Coercion of labour
- Stratification of classes
- Privileges instead of rights
- Public state religion
What were the different periods of urbanization in Mesopotamia? (time frames)
Ubaid Period → 5000-4000 BC
Protoliterate Period (Uruk Phase) → 4000-3000 BC
Pre-Sargonic Period (Early Dynastic Period) → 3000-2350 BC
Babylonian (Sumer/Sumerian) → 4100-1750 BC
Describe Sumerian Religion
Origins:
- Chaos threatens
- Gods create humans
- Flood wipes out almost every human
- Make statue to stand in front of the god all day
Perception of Gods:
- Gods are landowners, humans are servants
- Fear gods and punishment
Enlist help of Gods:
- Patronage - support given by God
- Kings are servants of gods
- Impersonate gods in ritual
Describe the city plan of Uruk
Large capitals
Fortified walls
Population: c. 100 000
Urban-centred, commercial life
Network of city states
Small territories
Competing, but share symbols, alliances and intermarrige
Hyper-Urbnism:
- Settlement hierarchy
- >80% urban
- 80-90% of people food producers
- Cities: Centres of religion, craft production, commerce
Describe land and farming at Uruk
Irrigation
Levees and barriers to hold water and protect from high water in the spring
Describe Leadership at Uruk
Centered at city (white temple)
Temple priests and Elite
- Political and religious power
- Control economics
Describe the resources and economics in Uruk
- resources were a stimulus for trade
Mesopotamia → poor in
minerals, rich in agriculture
Had to trade
Imported raw materials, manufactured the goods, then exported them back to the people who sold them the materials
- this was a manufacturing superpower
Describe the origins of writing in Uruk
Why was writing invented?
- Intensified economic activities
- Record-keeping and contracts for storage, transport, exchange of goods
Pictographic Tablet:
- Symbols represents object
- Sexigesimal system → 60 base system - high divisibility - used for tides
Ideographic Tablet (proto cuneiform)
Cuneiform Tablet:
- Symbols represent sounds of speech (phonetic)
- Antediluvian King list - list of kings and clans before the flood
What were some changes that arose with the early dynastic period in mesopotamia? (+technology)
3000-2350
Uruk after 3000 BC was a very large city - bigger than our campus
Environmental deterioration
Decreased rainfall - very dry
Increased competition between city states
Warfare increases
Power shifts between city states
Urban implosion
Technology:
- Invention of bronze
- Tools - not very good
- Weapons and armour - good - lighter and can keep sharpening edge
Describe early dynastic leadership
War leaders become kings (need war leaders)
- Generals in charge - prefer to keep fighting until things are stable - want to replace other state’s leaders to you can expand
Standing armies
Expand kingdoms (standard of Ur)
- expansion of political and economic power
What was the first true colonialism? What did this mean?
The Uruk World System
Control supply lines by military conquest
What were some important aspects of predynastic Egypt?
Fayum - semi-sedentary foraging with wheat and barley by 8000 BC
Nabta-Kiseba - cattle 7200 BC
Merimde - mixed farming 5500 BC
sites up to 20 ha
rapid cultural development
narrow corridor of resources
competition leads to Naqada chiefdoms
- these later become administrative units in the kingdom
How does the state in Mesopotamia align with the two factors of complexity?
Harnessing of energy:
- Irrigation
- Explorer of food for lack of resources (timer, precious metals)
- Mostly urban population - craft specialists, administration
Nature and distribution of power
- Elite: king priests nobles
- Middle class: merchants, artisans, scribes
- Peasantry: farmers
- State religion - draw symbols of power
Describe the environment around the nile valley
nile = 1100 km long
sudan to mediterranean
present: no local rain
- late glacial - early Holocene
= better watered
Distinctive place
What two timeframes do we look at in Egyptian culture history?
Predynastic = 4500 - 3100 BC
Old Kingdom = 3100 - 2181 BC
(specific dates because of written records)
What occured during the unification of Egypt?
Old kingdom: 3100-2181 BC
Dynasty 1
- Rapid unification
Pharaoh: Narmer (Menes)
Symbols: hoe (horticulture and whip (pastoralism), mace (military), and double crown emblems of power
Narmer moves and takes over everything
Why was the unification of Egypt so rapid?
The Nile
- Critical linking feature
- Deserts are insulators, difficult to attack → only way to move is up and down the river
- Referred to this as the black land and the red land - wanted to stay on the black land - close to the river
Ethnic Unity
- Decreased cultural variation
- Spoke dialects of same language
Transportation
- Linear nature of Nile fosters connections
- Mesopotamia had networks of city states to bypass
Describe the development of the territorial state
-economy, administration, ruling class, conquest
Population density lower
Farming less intensive
Economy two-tiered: rural vs. urban
- More rural than urban population (opposite of city-states)
- Rural (>90%), local products and markets
- Most population living in
rural areas
- Urban (<10%), elite crafts, exotic items under control of ruler (no free market)–> resources go in, not out
Administration:
- Hierarchy of centres → national, provincial, local
- Small capitals, administration decentralised
- Many administrators, large bureaucracy
Ruling class:
- Command large food surpluses and labour
- Put towards big projects
Conquest:
- Territorial state
- Replace rulers
- City state: subordinate rulers
Describe the economic foundation to the territorial state in egypt
(technology and agriculture and labour)
Linked to the land
- Flooding of the nile is critical
- Multiple crops per year (flood recession agriculture) → cropping up to 3 times a year
Simple technology
- Plows
- Stone tools
- Just had to be able to turn up land
Agriculture:
- Small scale - individual family plots
- Limited irrigation
- Many small towns
Labour:
- Men = farm
- Women - weave, cloth; could own and transfer land
Describe the leadership in the territorial state of Egypt
Pharaoh
- Linear descendant of Gods (Osiris) - people listen more if they’re from God
- Great continuity and conservatism
Pharaoh’s associated directly with the sun - Pharaoh’s control the sun - without it there is chaos - if you take Pharaoh away everything will end and die
Living god, immortal - incarnated in new bodies
Acts like a supreme “shaman”
Responsible for the functioning daily of the entire universe
Unifier of Egypt based on mythical charter
Can’t separate religion and politics in Egypt
Describe the class structure of the territorial state in egypt
- Nobles
- Specialists - metalworkers, carpenters, carvers
- Farmers
- Slaves - still a category of people
Little social mobility
Central bureaucracy
Describe the writing in the territorial state in egypt
- Sacred act
- Hieroglyphs, Old Kingdom
- Literally, “sacred carving”
Naqada III sereks - early hieroglyphs
Egyptian writing:
- Sacred
- Kings reigns
- Administration and accounting
What was the tributary mode of production
Elite extracts substantial “surplus” (goods or labour) from commoners
Less about ownership than control of land and resources
Palermo Stone Census:
First administrative tablets are a census - count how many people (souls) and how much wheat and goats and stuff you have and take a certain percent of it
Describe the Mastabas
First pyramids
Made of mud brick
The legacy of Imhotep:
- Genius - invented all kinds of things and ran military and government
- Invented the pyramids - purpose was tombs
Describe the pyramids of Giza and the Heit el-Gharab
Giza:
- built by king Kufu (4th dynasty - largest)
- Used ramps
- 84000 labourers, 80 days a year for 20 years
Heit el-Gharab:
- Town next to the pyramids of Giza
- Home to pyramid workers and a wealthy Nile River port
Compare the early states in Mesopotamia and Egypt
Common:
- Fertile floodplains
- Surplus storable, exportable
- Other labour-intensive activities
- Similar principles in terms of:
Chaos and order
Power and head of
household
Rulers to God
Different:
- Territorial vs. city states
- Less warfare in Old Kingdom
- Different perception of ruler (Pharaoh divine incarnation of Osiris) → Mesopotamia kings are steps to God
- Egypt: no separation of secular and religious power
What was the early state in central asia and during which phase?
Indus Valley Civilization
- Mature Harappan Phase (2600-1900 BC)
Describe Harappan writing
Mainly on seals
Different purpose than in Mesopotamia or Egypt
Base of 8
No comparable language for it - no rosetta stone
Describe the economic foundation of the Indus Valley Civilization
Most of the population lived in rural areas
Domesticated plants: varieties of wheat, barley, rice, pease, lentils
Domesticated animals: cattle, sheep, goat, pigs, water buffalo
Four large sites - many towns, villages, mostly rural population
Describe Mohenjo-Daro
**largest settlement of the indus valley
**
- citadel (fortress) and lower town
Harappan City planning:
- Stupa
- Great Bath: private pathing, ritual bathing, adjacent toilets
- ‘Granary’ → series of buildings with possible wood roof - like a series of little offices
Reconstruction of Mohenjo-Daro lower town:
- Dense domestic neighbourhood with planned, orderly streets
Mohenjo-Daro Houses:
- Mud brick, timber roofs, bathing room, plumbing
*overwhelming concern with hygiene
- Public drainage
- Household wells
- Harvested rainwater captured publicly for public access
Describe the speicializations in the Indus Valley civilization
Standardised styles and construction:
- Pottery, jewellery, seals, brack sizes
Units of measurement:
- Standardised length units
- Graduated rulers found
“Cubit” = 52 cm
“Long food” = 33.5 cm
Standardised weight system
- 13.6 grams
Early example of mass production
Craft Specialisation:
- Stone-working, pottery, metallurgy, beads, textiles, weaving, seal making
What was indus valley trade like?
Harappan Trade - following how the ocean is flowing - designed boats to make it the least effort
Was harappan social stratification a thing?
No clear evidence of powerful central authority, militarization, or standing army
Urban centres rise at same time as rural ones indicating a symbiotic relationship
Describe Harappan religion
No obvious temples, monumental sculpture
Seals and small sculptures
“Preist” figures, dress symbol of piety
Seals may depict early version of Shiva and consort Devi
What were the early states in china and during which periods
Longshan Period:
3000-1900 BC
Neolithic
Erlitou Period
1900-1539 BC
Xia Dynasty
Erligang Period
1600-1300 BC
Shang Dynasty
Describe the decline in the indus valley civilization
- and when
Late harappan phase: 1900-1300 BCE
Flood
Drought
Introduction of millet (a grain)
Epidemic disease (ex. cholera)
Describe the Neolithic Longshan Period
3000-1900 BC
Economic foundation
- Mixed farming
- Rice, millet, hemp, pigs
- No irrigation
Low population density
Trade by specific tsu (patrilineal descent groups)
Fishing, hunting, foraging
Describe the emergence and expansion of the Xia Dynasty
emergence along yellow river
Geographic expansion
Regional expansion: Longshan –> Erlitou
Supraregional expansion: Erligang
Describe the Xia Dynasty (the city, mortuary practices, craft specialization)
The city:
- 300 ha – very big city
- Public buildings
- “palace city”
- Elite residences?
11 ha
- Platforms 300-9600 m2
Mortuary Practices:
- Graves in palace city may be elite
- Most looted in antiquity
- No clear segregated cemetery for elite society → graves have been robbed so maybe that’s why
Craft Specialization:
- Bronze-casting
- Turquoise - likely worked under an elite sponsorship
- Jade
- Silk weaving
- Elite sponsored
- Piece mould technology - make pieces and put it together - can be more creative
Describe some changes into the Erligang state
Thought to be earliest Shang dynasty
Getting into written records
Rammed-earth walls - clearly define the limits of the city
Separate inner and outer city - very well planned
Central palace area
- Elite residences - separation of the elite from everyone else - not subtle
- Public rituals - open to everyone else
- Water pool → water was a big deal
Women important roles in bureaucracy
Extraordinary wealth in Tomb of Fu Hao
- hierarchical differences in mortuary treatment
- Most graves have ceramics and stone artefacts
Describe craft specialization and writing in the Erligang State
Craft Specialization:
- Many workshops in city
- Sophisticated bronze casting
Magnitude of things being constructed
Writing:
- Driven by politics
- Divination (religious) - for making decisions
- Scapulimancy (oracle bones)
- Literacy limited - diviners
Central authority:
- Elite controlled crafts
- King, rulers monopolise supernatural
- Taxation: corvee (labour tax) - pay your taxes by working
What are the most notable aspects of the eartly state in china?
Less urban than mesopotamia - not territorial state
High shamanism - no separation of church and state - like egypt
Large concentration of wealth with the elite - not a lot of stuff about commoners
Important role of “outsiders”
Independent, parallel development - pieces that are familiar from around the world but a totally different form of doing things - shows people’s creativity - after domestication and agriculture you can invent anything you want - what are your influences?
What were the earliest civilizations in the lowland and highland of Mexico (mesoamerica)
Lowland:
Olmec
Maya
Highland:
Monte Alban
Teothuacan
Describe the Olmec’s use of the land, art, and writing
1500-500 BC
Developments in Oaxaca and Mexico valleys influenced by earlier Olmec
Monumental architecture/art
Writing - would go on to be utilized by all later states in the region
Intensive use of the landscape - Olmec drained swamps - rich soil at the bottom - increased agricultural productivity by 7000% → traded it out - wealthiness allowed for developments outside of just food getting
What were basalt heads and where were they?
San Lorenzo (1250-900 BC) (oldest known olmec civilization - mexico)
- some enormous - 40 tons
- Thinking that they represented real people
- Each have a little helmet
Describe the writing and numerical system of the Olmec
Writing:
- First writing in the new world - 650 BC
- Tres Zapotes
- Calendars
Numerical System:
- Stela C
- Numerals and paired calendars
Two kinds:
- Religious: 13 months of 20 days = 260 (Maya Tzolk’in)
- Astronomical: 18 months of 20 days +5 = 365 (Maya Haab’) → very close to the lunar calendar system we use today
Describe Monte Alban
Valley of Oaxaca
900 BC - 750 AD
Many small states
By 150 BC, Monte Alban dominates small Oaxaca states
Intensive use of landscape - terracing
Centre of everything - Monte Alban:
- Large population : 30 000 (50 0AD)
- Ceremonial or political centre
- Art includes enemies
- Priestly elite
- Gods: rain, lightning, jaguar, maize
Describe the weird thing Monte Alban II did
Reconstruction of skull rack (tzompantli) at Loma de la Coyotera
These guys wiped out the leadership and put their heads on the rack and replaced the leadership
Mayan also did this but in a less brutal way
Describe the timeline and city of the Teotihuacan & the Toltec
Valley of mexico
Timeline:
AD 1 : started as twin towns
AD 150 : 20 000
AD 150-600 : 120 000
Multi-cultural city
80% of population in city
Different languages, cultural practices, and places of origin
What was the pyramid of the sun
Pyramid with nothing inside of it - filled with rubble
The structure itself is not that important
Cave at the bottom - portal to underworld
All people emerged from caves - very important (idea from the Olmec)
Describe the Teotihuacan centre
Ceremonial complex
- Pyramid, shrines, palaces
Elite residences
Market and craft area
Economic Base:
- Geographically positioned in a good place - right in the middle - have to go through it to get anywhere - have people moving through it all the time
- Agriculture
- Trade and market: local, regional hub, process exotic materials, external trade
- Obsidian trade linked everybody
- Controlled access to gulf coast
describe the state religion of the Teotihuacan
Tlaloc (rain) and Quetzalcoatl important gods
Elaborated by later states in mesoamerica
Also political - references power
What brought about the end of the Teotihuacan?
Political domination and tribute
- Dominance over smaller states in local area
- Colonies at great distances (ex. guatemala)
- Alliance with Mt Alban?
- Influence Maya - ex. At Tikal
Describe the collapse of Teotihuacan
Slow erosion
General decline before 600 AD
Reasons:
- Population-resource imbalance
- Competition: Maya, Zapotec, Chichimeca (Aztec)
- 750 AD - city burnt
- Fall associated with broad changes in Mesoamerica (ex. Collapse of Maya centres)
