ANTH 100 Domestication and the Archeology of Tribes and Chiefdoms

Domestication and The Archaeology of Tribes and Chiefdoms

Archaeologists Want to Know

  • What changed after generations of hunting and gathering?

  • Why do similar changes occur at different times globally?

  • Why do political and economic organizations change together?

Plant and Animal Domestication

  • Domestication involves changing wild species through human manipulation

  • majority of our history has been spent as hunters and gatherers

  • groups of people in different areas across the world began to domesticate and control plants and animals

  • wild plant and animal species develop and continue to develop free of any human interference

  • humans have manipulated domestication of plants and animals to such an extent that they can no longer grow on their own

  • Impact of domestication on human society worldwide

  • Archaeologists study effects of shift to food production

  • Domestication of plants and animals occurred independently worldwide

  • Goals of archaeologists in studying domestication

    • account for when people took up agriculture and animal domestication

    • chart what happens In societies when you shift from the hunting and gathering of wild foods to domesticated plants and animals

  • Domestication process involves changing relationships between plants, animals, and humans

    Domestication of Animals

  • Theories on the first domesticated animal: the dog dating 18,000-32,000 years ago

    • this pre-dated the domestication of other species by several 1000 years

    • around 10,000 years ago, other important species were domesticated

  • Signs of animal domestication:

    • body morphology

      • shape

      • differences between the bodies of wild and domesticated animals

    • population demography

      • differences in the range of genders and ages between a domesticated group of animals and those found in the wild

      • the number of females increase in domesticated groups of animals

  • Common changes in domesticated animals

    • body size changes (some get larger, others get smaller)

  • Reasons for animal domestication: work and resources

  • Criteria for domesticating animals

    • flexible diet

    • fast growth rate

    • able to breed in captivity

    • temperament

    • Modifiable hierarchy

    • useful to humans

    Domestication of Plants

  • Domestication of plants: evidence and changes

    • evidence about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East

    • domesticated independently all over the world

    • ex. wheat, corn

    • larger in size

    • larger seeds

    • produce a higher yield

    • brittle shell protecting the seed

    • domestication often results in faster-growing and larger individuals

  • Evidence for plant domestication

    • grinding stones (plant processing)

    • sickle blades with sheen from striking grasses

    • permanent structures (i.e. houses)

    • storage

    • house with stone foundation from site of Beidha, Jordan

  • consequences of early domestication

    • increase in female fertility and increase in birth rate

    • rapid increases in population

    • increased food surplus

    • more calories

    • support larger populations

    • larger settlements

    • increased craft specialization

    • increased concepts of ownership

    • increased difference in wealth

    • increased difference in prestige

    • increased differences in power

  • Social consequences of domestication: social stratification and complexity

    • as societies get larger, they become more complex

  • Impact of settling down on society

    • accumulate goods'; some people accumulate more than others

    • greater reward, but also greater risk

    • you become less mobile so when things go badly there are big costs and nowhere to go

    • Example of the potato crop failure in Ireland

  • Reasons for choosing to grow own crops

    • population pressure

    • distribution of local plants and animals

    • environmental and genetic changes

    • local inventions in technologies

  • Factors influencing the shift from food collection to food production

  • Changes within society due to shift to agriculture

  • Impact on population size, settlement size, resource ownership, surplus production of food, specialization, markets, trade, technological changes, environmental impact, over-specialization, and possible risks

Tribes

  • Characteristics of tribes: common language, culture, and region

  • Kin-based groups in tribes: lineage (direct descent) and clan (larger than lineage)

  • Definition of tribes as economically independent villages

  • Changes in political organization along the continuum from bands to states

Tribal Organization

  • Tribes are more complex than bands.

    • Greater diversity in organization and subsistence practices.

  • Organized into communities.

    • Larger than bands, ranging from 250 to several thousand people.

    • Multi-local village integration.

  • Communities are more permanent.

    • Engage in hunting, gathering, small farming (horticulture), or herding.

  • Warfare among tribes is common.

  • Life in tribes has pros and cons.

Tribal Political Organization and Leadership

  • more complex than bands

  • greater diversity in organization and subsistence practices

  • Power is non-centralized.

  • achievements and abilities determine place within the society

  • villages are egalitarian

  • Leadership by influential individuals like "Big Men" and "Headmen."

    • Temporary leadership with charisma and speaking abilities.

    • maintain status by giving away wealth and by being generous

  • Informal political organization in tribes.

Economic Organization

  • Involves small-scale farming or herding.

  • Little occupational specialization, with tasks based on sex and age.

  • Part-time craft specialization like ceramics, metalwork, or wood carvers.

Religious Organizations

  • Part-time religious practitioners known as "Shamans."

  • Work on a one-to-one relationship with village members.

Subsistence

  • Horticulture involves small-scale farming with domesticated food plants.

    • Now is done only in tropical regions

    • low-intensity cultivation

    • villages may move if soils become weak

    • garden plots provide the vast amount of food consumed

  • Pastoralism is based on herding animals in areas with poor agricultural soils.

    • correlates to small population densities because animals need large areas to graze

    • correlates to nomadic to semi-nomadic settlement patterns because animals need to be moved

    • moderate wealth differences

Chiefdoms

  • Larger populations than tribes, with thousands to millions of people.

  • Densely populated with multilocal groups.

  • Centralized power, prestige, and wealth within a small elite class.

  • Ranked societies with inequality as a defining aspect.

    • chief and family

    • district chiefs

    • everyone else

    • status is based on distance from the chief

  • Cahokia near St. Louis, was the center of a large chiefdom

    • one of the most significant archaeological sites in North America in terms of providing insights into increased social complexity

  • paramount village

    • unifies chiefdoms

    • power prestiege and wealth become centralized within a small elite class of individuals who generally live in the paramount village

Intensive agriculture

  • Large-scale agricultural production, storage, tribute taxes, and semi-permanent pastoralism with permanent cultivation.

  • Use of fertilizers, irrigation, plows, and crop rotation for higher yields.

  • usesn the same plots of land

    • investigates in production: terraces, canals etc.

    • land ownership becomes extremely importaint

    • large scale production

    • allows for population growth and craft specialization

  • Leads to population growth, craft specialization, and complex political organization.

  • large, central village with many satellite villages

  • monumental buildings: noble tombs, noble houses

  • large public works progects: temples, tombs, defensive

  • markets: exchange of foreign goods

Role of the Chief

  • Collects tribute, redistributes goods, organizes labor, supervises ceremonies, and directs military activities.

  • Hereditary position with access to military, ideological, and economic power.

  • usually permanent

  • ascribed (inherited) leadership

  • militatry power

    • can call people to fight for the chiefdom (power is unstable and part-time)

    • derived from coercing compliance (people will be punished if they do not answer the call)

    • must be used carefully and strategically

  • ideological power

    • code of social order, how social and political organization are strucutured

    • a weak source of power unless it is manifested in material forms

    • cheif is frequently connected to the supernatural

  • economic

    • ability to restrict access to key productive resources or consumptive goods

    • control access to important resources (land or important trade items)