Reconstructing the Social Organisation of Prehistoric Societies
While social anthropologists can interact directly with people in
order to draw conclusions of social organisation, which Barnard and
Spencer (1996:510) describes as "the sum total of activities performed
in a given social context", archaeologists have only the physical
remains of a society as their tools to reconstructing prehistoric
social organisation. This essay aims to show that while there are
limitations on reconstructing social organisation, there are a great
number of tools at an archaeologist's disposal that can help uncover
evidence.
The anthropologist E. Service suggests that social organisation
spreads from dependence on food, clothing and shelter. Service shows
that in the animal world, herds only form as it becomes necessary to
acquire food or in order to gain protection from predators, and this
is how humans act - seeking food or protection, humans form
settlemens and societies (1971:25-26). Each of these settlement sites
is unique, but consideration must be given to its place in the wider
area. A hunter-gatherer base is going to be significantly different to
a large conurbation, and as a result, the first step in many cases is
to use geographical, not archaeological, techniques in order to
determine how 'important' this site was in relation to others in its
area of influence (or 'hinterland'). One method used is Walter
Christaller's Central Place Theory, which describes how on an
isotropic surface (one which is not contoured or broken by routes of
rivers), settlements will naturally form in a hexagonal pattern, and
the settlement in the centre will ...
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nature of archaeological evidence.
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...ncyclopedia of Archaeology, Ed. Deborah M. Pearsall. Vol. 3. Oxford, United Kingdom: Academic Press, 2008. p1896-1905. New Britain: Elsevier, Inc.
One of the most obvious and famous forms of evidence for a social hierarchy in Iron Age Britain is Stonehenge. This structure can be seen as a communal effort, which it most certainly was. However, given the sheer size of the stones and the detail in which they are laid out, something as significant as Stonehenge suggests that there was an underlying purpose in the structure. (Riverside, P.4).
Discussions in the 1970’s and 1980’s within both sides of the debate indicate population change, behavior change and natural processes to be the large determining factors (Attenbrow, 2004). Many archaeologists accepted there was a continuing increase over time in the number of archaeological sites established and used, as well as in the number of artefacts accumulated in individual sites, particularly in the past 5000 years (eg. Johnson 1979:39; Bowdler1981; Morwood 1984:371, 1986, 1987; Ross 1984, 1985:87; Beaton 1985: 16-18; Fletcher-Jones 1985: 282, 286; Lourandos 1985a: 393-411, 1985b: 38; White and Habgood 1985; Hiscock 1986) (Attenbrow, 2004). Population change refers to the changes in number of people or size of the population, behavioural changes referring to changes to activities such as tool manufacturing, subsistence practices as well as the use of space within a site (Attenbrow, 2004). Whilst natural processes include geomorphological and biological process that may have affected the archaeological record (At...
Graziadio, G, (1991) The Process of Social Stratification at Mycenae in the Shaft Grave Period: A Comparitive Examination of the Evidence, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 95, 403-40
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Processual Archaeology, was a movement in the archaeological field that began in the 1960‘s and changed the course of archaeology forever. Anthropologists such as Julian Steward were absolutely influential on many archaeologists and anthropologists during the early 1960s with his theories of cultural ecology which established a scientific way of understanding cultures as human adaption to the surrounding environment (Steward, 1955: 36-38). It was approaches such as Stewards that led eventually led to a rejection of culture-historical approaches to the archaeological record and propelled the ideas of cultural evolution and its reaction with the environment. This approach to cultural systems was essentially a rejection of the culture-historical approach of determinism by suggesting that the environment influences culture but is not a deterministic feature and that both culture and the environment were two separate systems that are dependent on each other for change (Steward, 1955: 36).
The transition in the diet and the process of obtaining food changed drastically when the Neolithic period began. Many anthropologists know this transition as the Neolithic Revolution (Bocquet-Appel 2011:560). During the Neolithic revolution, the population of the homo sapiens increase drastically and along with this increase of people came the increase of advantages and disadvantages.
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McKay, J/P/, Hill, B.D., Buckler, J., Ebrey, P.B., Beck, R.B., Crowston, C.H., & Wiesner-Hanks, M.E. (2008). A History of World Societies, Volume A: From Antiquity to 1500. New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin's
During the period of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, different leaders exhibited different styles of leadership and employed different political strategies. In addition, these leaders came to power and maintained their control in their own unique ways. Each leader seemed to have his own agenda, which set the tone for that era. Five prominent leaders of this time period were Agricola, Augustus, Julius Caesar, and the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. The point to be made with respect to these particular men is related to the obvious correlation between the nature of a leader’s agenda and the impact of his reign. In the end, a ruler’s fate was dependent not on his agenda, but on style and strategy with which he pushed his agenda. Those leaders whose methods were completely altruistic were heralded as great leaders, while those with devious and/or unethical methods of pushing their agendas were hastily assassinated.
Early American civilizations were composed of four different groups of people. These four groups were composed of the Mayas, Aztecs, Incas, and the North Americans. These groups were the same in many ways, but had some differences that would distinguish their group from the others. These civilizations ruled the Americas for long period of time. These civilizations were the same in almost every way, but they had their differences to show that they were a totally different group of people.
Evidence of organized settlements dating from this period has been found, and artefacts produced are mainly associated with burials. Objects were put into the grave with the body for the use of the spirit in the next life; thus a great quantity of such personal goods as pottery, tools, and weapons has been preserve...
Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine. "Ch. 13: Origins of Cities and States." Anthropology. 13th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005. 215+. Print.