User:Sandboxthrowjuly/sandbox

Complex Society

"A recognized stage in evolutionary models of social organization that broadly equates with the idea of ‘states’ or ‘civilizations’ as relatively large‐scale societies in which there is institutionalized inequality and abundant bureaucracy, and power is distributed between several competing centres. Archaeologically, the emergence of such societies is recognized through the development of expansive regional political economies, evidence of corporate organization, the presence of large architectural monuments, distinctive iconography and ideology, and structured mortuary practice."

"Toward the end of the Neolithic period, beginning in West Asia and North Africa, several factors combined to produce complex societies—large, organized, stable communities in which farm surpluses enabled many people to specialize in occupations other than farming. These societies included towns and cities, sizable permanent settlements supported by surplus food from surrounding farms. To manage their substantial populations, they typically formed governments, engaged in trade, organized religions, and extended control over surrounding lands, eventually creating very large and populous regional societies"

"By the fourth millennium B.C.E., near the Tigris (TI-gris) and Euphrates (yoo-FRA-tez) rivers in West Asia and the Nile in northeast Africa, some towns were growing into cities— very large, complex, densely populated settlements in which many people engaged in occupations other than farming. These early cities, housing over 10,000 people and some- times substantially more, also featured sizable buildings, bustling marketplaces, and exten- sive fortifications."

"Before complex societies emerged, there was little need for strong central governments. Decisions could be made and conflicts resolved in foraging bands by the whole group, and in villages by family leaders. If one villager injured another, for example, the heads of households could meet to determine punishment and compensation, usually in accord with community customs. Since everyone was acquainted, and frequently related, such informal mechanisms normally sufficed."

"As settlements grew so large that not everyone knew each other, however, residents could no longer rely on family and village leaders to settle disputes or decide issues for the whole community. Large societies hence developed governments, often starting with a single strong leader who, as the need arose, empowered others to assist him. Over time the result was an array of officials who carried out decisions, maintained order, organized food reserves, supervised construction projects, and resolved conflicts among strangers. If one city resident harmed another, the injured party could thus appeal, not to family and friends, but to a government official with the authority to impose punishment and compensation."

"Historians have long noted that these early states, and others emerging a bit later in India and China (Map 1.5), all arose in river valleys in semiarid regions. Some scholars have held that such environments prompted the formation of states, claiming that they were probably created to organize vast numbers of people to build banks and dikes for flood control and irrigation systems to bring river water to farm fields. Others, however, citing evidence that irrigation ditches existed before states in West Asia and China, have suggested instead that societies formed states mainly to manage and control their growing populations."