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.
Bibliography
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When analyzing ancient civilization and how it began, there are many elements and aspects that should be considered. Questions such as how did civilization begin? What lead to its creation? Where did it begin, and why in that particular location? Many of these questions can be examined and answered by researching what many believe is the world’s earliest civilization, Mesopotamia. It is widely believed that this region was chosen and supported one of the world’s first civilizations. This area was settled over 10,000 years ago by a group of people known as the Sumerians (Cunningham & Reich, 2010).
Clarke, D., & Maguire, P. (200). Skara Brae: Northern Europe's best preserved neolithic village ; (p. 14). Edinburgh: Historic Scotland.
Evolution can be seen throughout all aspects of life, but for each aspect evolution does not occur in the same process. In his article entitled “Natural Selection, Scale, and Cultural Evolution,” Dunnell emphasizes and explains why evolution has made such a small impact on archaeology. Cultural evolution and biological evolution are not the same. Biological evolution uses theoretical propositions that explain the mechanisms of biological adaptation and evolution. The laws of cultural evolution “are not theoretical propositions but rather empirical generalizations” (Dunnell, 1996: 25). Cultural evolution does not explain the differences among the occurrences cultural phenomena. Dunnell’s main goal is to effectively formulate ways to integrate evolutionary characteristics and anthropological theory (Dunnell, 1996).
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
The Neolithic Period, which includes events from 12,000 years ago, is one of the most important revolutions to occur in history. The Neolithic lifestyle was established first in the Middle East, and then later in the Yellow river basin in China, which then spread over the years into the Western Hemisphere. During this time period, the domestication of plants and animals and the development of cities was starting to become more prominent and well known to many different civilizations across many different countries. It consisted of many changes in human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of farming and settlement, which supported a larger population. As civilizations expanded, so did traditions and techniques. A major technological and cultural change to modern ways of thinking and acting began in Western Europe, and from these beginning new approaches to science and law spread quickly around the world. It spread to countries, causing more people to become aware of when and where to properly irrigate a crop, which type of area had the best security, and other common living strategies. Surely enough, many years later, traditions are the same as they were thousands of years ago. Although traditions may not have changed, the way people think about their God and religions have changed from culture to culture. Throughout the years, men and women from the Middle West completely changed their relationship from nature, to a more independent lifestyle; human beings learned to have more control over their lives.
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.
Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Paleolithic age presents the era when key human adaptations evolved in response to a variety of environmental changes experienced at the time. This period of human evolution coincided with change within the surrounding of man. Such included cooling, drying and unpredictable climatic patterns over the time. This increased amount of variability in environmental conditions raised the level of uncertainty and instability in their respective terms of survival, necessitated the man to adopt new habits to increase adaptability to the new and changing surroundings. The evolved structures and behaviors led to specialization to enable coping with changing and unpredictable conditions.
The term civilization refers to what is considered the most advanced stage of structure and social development. One of the biggest shifts that forever changed the fate of the human race was the event of the Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Age began sometime between 10,000 and 7,000 B.C.E. The Neolithic Revolution is thought to have been triggered by a shift in climate that allowed peoples in the right locations to begin experimenting with early forms of agriculture. It is important to note that this revolution was not limited to the Cradle of Civilization: the change occurred at approximately the same time period the world over, wherever circumstance was right: for example, peoples all across Mesoamerica began to shift at the same time as others on the opposite side of the world, throughout Asia.
For the Paleolithic people hunting and gathering was a way to survive. With that, I believe that the animals were sacred. They were a gift that gave them the ability to be able to have clothes, and food. Even the bones were used as tools. That is why I believe that after every animal was killed there was a ceremony to commemorate the sacrifice. It was an honor to be able to have the animals there as a resource. With the painting of the people on the wall they are shown in a circle. A circle of people is normally when a gathering is occurring, usually for a special event. I see it as the men would go out and hunt all day. While the women and children are taking care of the home. For when the men come home it will be ready to thank the animal
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.
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.
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
The upper paleolithic era brought us many social and cultural innovations. From the development of art, to the continued development of useful tools and weapons, the people existing in this time were the true forbears of modern human civilization. The advances made in self-awareness are extremely apparent as well, with significant new trends in social networks and personal adornment leading to what would be the foundation of society as we know it. These things combined make the upper paleolithic one of the most important periods of human development.
The Neolithic Agrarian Revolution was the world’s first historically confirmable revolution in agriculture. It was the progression of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, which was supported with a big increasing population. This agriculture involved the domestication of plants and animals, which developed around 9,500 B.C. During this age various types of plants and animals derived in different locations all over the world. It converted the small groups of hunters and gatherers into more intelligent agricultural people. Those groups then formed into sedentary societies that built towns and villages, while they also altered they natural environment around them by food-crop fertilization. Therefore, allowing them to have an abundance for their food production. Just these few developments have provided high population density settlements, complex labor diversification, trading economics, the development of portable art, architecture, culture, centralized administrations and political structures, hierarchical ideologies, and systems of knowledge.