The Development of Cities and States

1. The Development of Cities and States Chapter 19

2. The Origin of Complex Societies: The Contribution of V. Gordon Childe • V. Gordon Childe recognized a connection between the beginnings of farming and the development of complex societies • The beginnings of farming was a necessary precondition for what he called the Neolithic Revolution: the social, political, and economic changes often associated with the beginning of complex societies • The rise of urbanism, the origin and growth of cities, was a critical feature of his Urban Revolution

3. Contemporary Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Complex Societies • Archaeologists, today, are more inclined to see a variety of hierarchical structures which may have an effect on a population • There is an interest in individual decisions which may effect an entire population or region • There is also an increase in interest of so-called “secondary states,” to gain a regional or multiregional perspective from investigating the interactions between emerging complex societies • Finally, the integration of historical sources with archaeological evidence provides a more complete perspective of the past

4. The Evolution of Complex Societies in Mesopotamia • Mesopotamia (between rivers), the alluvial lowland between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (modern-day Iraq), is home to the world’s oldest urban societies • Control of these rivers was essential for agriculture to succeed in Mesopotamia • Within a few thousand years, modest farming communities gave rise to the great urban societies of the ancient world

5. The Settling of the Mesopotamian Lowlands: The Hassuna Culture • Village farmers, known as the Hassuna culture, had begun to move into the lowlands of northern Mesopotamia by 7000 B.C. • Characterized by small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms • Pottery first appears around the same time, the typology of which later became one of the principal tools for Mesopotamian archaeologists

6. The Settling of the Mesopotamian Lowlands: The Samarran Culture • The people of the Samarran Culture, another group of early farmers, were the first to settle the Mesopotamian lowlands proper around 6300 B.C. • Samarran pottery is similar to Hassuna, as are the multiroomed, rectangular dwellings • Structures grow during this period, up to 15 rooms; architecture advances to incorporate groups of separate, mulitroomed dwellings and defense systems • Eventually replaced by the Halafians by 6500 B.C., who are best identified by their finely made pottery

7. Pottery as Evidence for the Settling of the Mesopotamian Lowlands

8. The Ubaid Period • The Ubaid Period,named for the site of Al Ubaid, is the early cultural phase of the Tigris-Euphrates floodplain • Ubaid Period Sites: • Tell Madhhur, revealed a well-preserved Ubaid dwelling • Eridu, was believed by the Sumerians to be the first city of the world- which has yet to be refuted by archaeologists. • Contained a long series of temples, which are found at other Ubaid sites, including Uruk (biblical Erech), Ur, and others

9. The Proto-Literate Period • The proto-literate period, began with the end of the Ubaid period around 4000 B.C. • This period was comprised of two phases: the Uruk phase (4000 to 3100 B.C.) and the Jemdat Nasr period (3100 to 2900 B.C.) • This time period brought about great technological advancements which would later make complex societies possible, these advancements included: • Ox-drawn plows, the wheel, the potter’s wheel, metalworking, and earliest written records • Mesopotamia’s earliest urban society, Sumer, and the first of its dynasties did not appear until 2900 B.C.

10. The Earliest Written Records • First appeared at the end of the Uruk period, included: • Pictographs, pictorial representations impressed into clay with a stylus- the dried clay formed a permanent record • Cuneiform writing, made of wedge-shaped symbols pressed into clay, each symbol representing a syllable • Cylinder seals, smooth stone cylinder carved with intricate scenes, produced unique marks of authorship or ownership

11. The Emergence of Cities • During the Uruk phase, Eridu, Ur, and Uruk, Nippur, and Kish, expanded in size to become cities • Each of the larger cities contained a temple of monumental proportions, implying the temple priesthood had control over the labor force and craftspeople • The early Sumerian cities were religious centers, focused on a temple precinct and surrounded by workers and craft specialists who traded wares and services for their livelihoods

12. The Beginning of History • The deluge described in Sumerian myth, from which the biblical story of the Great Flood is derived, actually refers to a localized natural catastrophe which encompassed most of the Sumerian world • The Early Dynastic Period (from ca. 2900 B.C.), is the period immediately following the deluge • The Kings List is a document from this period, which contains the names of the rulers of the cities of Sumer and is the beginning of the historical record

13. The King’s List

14. Remote Sensing and Landscape Reconstruction in Archaeology • Remote sensing is a series of non-destructive techniques for recovering geographical, geological, ecological, and archaeological data from a distance, including: • Ariel photography, satellite imagery, thermal infrared multispectral scanning (TIMS), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and Lidar, an airborne laser measuring instrument

15. Remote Sensing and Landscape Reconstruction in Archaeology • Data collected from remote sensing techniques can be used to reconstruct landscapes of archaeological sites with the help of geographical information system (GIS) software and global positioning systems (GPS)

16. What Lead to the Rise of Early State Societies? • Many theories suggest state formation was dependent on single factors allowing one group of people to control others, such as: • those who could control water for irrigation or flood control; • traders, as Mesopotamia was dependent on long-distance trade for many basic resources; • military leaders, brought about by the need for defense of increasing wealth of cities

17. What Lead to the Rise of Early State Societies? • Archaeological evidence does not deem any single factor significant enough for the rise of cities, though the combination of a population great enough to merit administrative integration and the ability to mobilize economic resources for trade or surplus are necessary preconditions for state formation (Johnson and Earle 1987)

18. The Royal Cemetery of Ur • The excavations of the Royal Cemetery of Ur provide insight into Sumerian society and social classes, which had developed by the end of the Early Dynastic Period • Common people were found in simple coffins; • others contained a variety of rich offerings; • those of the extreme elite contained sacrificed humans and animals arranged in a type of eternal funerary procession

19. Archaeology and War in Iraq • Since western visitors have provided a market for antiquities, looting has occurred at sites in Iraq • Saddam Hussein’s regime provided a limited degree of protection of ancient sites • After the first Gulf War (1990-91), there was a dramatic increase in pillaging at ancient sites • Massive looting and chaos has been ongoing since the U.S.’s 2003 invasion, leaving a question as to the eventual state of archaeological material in Iraq

20. Conclusions • Small farming communities in northern Mesopotamian had settled the southernmost regions of the Mesopotamian lowlands within 1000 years • These communities developed into villages with elaborate temples, that later became true cities with writing systems and long-distance trade • Still unclear what factors ultimately effect state formation, though defense and trade lead to eventual concentration of power within them