Inequality

Graeber and Wengrow (2021)

-inequality ≠ social complexity

-states do not necessarily pass from equality to inequality

-rooted in colonial ideologies

-ignore both the potential for inequality in societies of all forms and the ways in which equality is actively enforced and negotiated (rather than a default)

Indus Valley Civilization (Green 2022)

-no evidence of notable social inequality or a ruling class

-public goods coordinated through civic deliberation, bureaucracy, and guildlike organizations rather than through the domination of labor forces by the elite

Indus Valley Civilization Equality: Archaeological Evidence (Green 2022)

-unity over the wider region in the form of seals and standardized weights indicating administration of production and exchange

-found in household contexts, indicates collective governance/role of everyday people in administrative and standardizing processes

-small “offices” alongside large open spaces, points towards collective deliberation

-Buildings of bureaucracy in Mohenjo-daro in very accessible locations, often adjacent to major public intersections

process through which which social groups become dissociated from each other through social stratification and dynamics of domination and subordination

Differentiation (Yoffee 2005)

“High Potential Inequality” in Mesopotamia (Algaze 2013)

-agricultural surplus

-interregional connections

-new kinds of religious leaders

Late Uruk period social inequality (Algaze 2013)

-administrative documents describe laborers in the same way as state-controlled herds of domestic animals

-dehumanizing, viewed as property

-in contrast priest-kings viewed as one step away from the gods

Elite Burials in Hallstatt Europe (Frey 1991)

-elaborate with goods of high value and craftsmanship

-chariot burials reserved for only the highest social class

-”princessly burial” at Vix: service for a banquet with many foreign objects of Greek and Etruscan origin

-Stark inequality in burials pointer to wider social inequality at sites like Heuneburg

Public vs. Private space in Cyprus (Fisher 2006)

-Cypriot built environment played active role in shaping sociopolitical relationships during LBA shift from village-based culture to urban-oriented complex society

-impressive administrative, religious, and residential architecture

-publicity/privacy: segmentation of space in a way that places some under conditions of surveillance and privileging others with privacy

-segregation/access: boundaries can segregate places by status, gender, race, culture, class, or age

-identity/difference: symbolize socially constructed identities and differences of individuals, cultures, cultures, institutions and nations

Relationship between power and architecture (Dovey 1991)

Ashlar Building, Enkomi, Cyprus (Fisher 2006)

-massive monumental structure

-sw section focus of domestic activities

-variations in accessibility/control of places indicative of varying uses for gatherings vs. occasions and public vs. private

-delineates status distinction between inhabitants and visitors 

Symbolic egalitarianism in Caracol (Houk 2015)

-during Late Classic utilized “symbolic egalitarianism”- the use of symbols to increase cooperation and minimize differences among a group of people

-homogenous ceramic assemblages between elites and non-elites during this time

-however large investments in monumental architecture, still elite class

geographically and culturally central place that has:

-regional political control

-large and dense population

-complex division of labor

-internal social stratification

Checklist approach to urbanism (Hoffman et al. 1986)

Temples, social roles, and power (Ur 2014)

-urbanization process enabled development of new social roles for elites based in ideology and management rather than direct contributions to economic productivity (eg “religious figures”)

-new forms of justification for such roles through associations between themselves and the gods

White Temple complex (Algaze 2013)

-Anu Precinct of Uruk

-massive tripartite structure dedicated to god Enlil

-took estimated 1500 workers working 10 hours per day 5 years to build

Temples and ideology (Yoffee 2005)

-imposition of ideology into the spatial environment through ritual spaces, temples, and monuments

-symbol of the immense wealth of the state

-ultimately served to integrate new urban populations into a shared institutionalized framework

Tumulus 18, Speckhau Mound Group, Heuneburg (Gartski et al. 2014)

-16 secondary burials

-arranged in circular fashion around central burial

-central burial: cremation, fine ceramics

-variable grave goods

Tell el-Dab’a (Müller 2013)

-Ancient site of Avaris, gained importance as trade hub in 2nd millennium BCE due to its strategic position at the crossroads of Egyptian and Levantine realms

-investigating late Middle Kingdom residential area

-single houses with subsidiary buildings, storage compounds, wide courtyard

-last phase: enormous enlargement

-burials with attendants

Egyptian Middle Class at (Müller 2013)

-often debated if Egypt had middle class

-had servants in subsidiary buildings, burials with attendants

-enough storage for food for 20-25 even though max 8 family members

-very little evidence of government/administration

-could have been traders, well-trained craftsmen, or rich farmers

Heuneburg Rich Burials (Rowlands and Frankenstein 1978)

-establishment of wider trade links between western part of central Europe, Greek colonies, and the Etruscans, prestige goods in graves

-some items only for elites (items in burials with wagons), based off of Ancient Greek Chariot burials

-manufactured wagons for wider region