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10 Social Organization

Complete the table below with information you heard in lecture, fill in all the blank spaces:

blank cell

Band

Segmentary Society

Chiefdom

State

Total Numbers

 Less than 100 Up to a few 1000 5000-20,000+ 20,000+

Social Organization

Class-based hierarchy under king or emperor; Armies

Economic Organization

Central accumulation & redistribution; Some craft specialization

Religious Organization

Religious leaders; Calendrical rituals

Contemporary Examples

 Inuit; San; Australian Aborigines Pueblos; New Guinea Highlanders;
Nuer and Dinka		 NW Coast Native Americans; 18th century Polynesia All modern states

Settlement Pattern

 Urban: cities, towns; frontier defenses; roads

Architecture

 See Figure 10.1 below: Mezhirich mammoth hut See Figure 10:2 below: Çatalhöyük
Permanent huts; Burial Mounds; Shrines		 See Figure 10.3 below: Stonehenge See Figure 10.4 below: Chichén Itzá

Archaeological Examples

 Early metal working and Formative societies

                                                                      Table 10.1: Social Organization Chart

Picture of a hut made from bones and animal skin
Figure 10.1: Mezhirich mammoth hut
image of Çatal höyük archaeological excavation with standing stone brick architecture
Figure 10.2:  Çatalhöyük
Image of Stonehenge. Archaeological site having several stones erected vertically with one stone placed horizontally on top of the other vertical stones
Figure 10.3: Stonehenge
Chichen Itza, a ruined ancient Maya city occupying an area of 4 square miles
Figure 10.4: Chichén Itzá

 

  1. What is the four-fold classification system of societies, and who was the anthropologist that developed it?

     

  2. Settlement pattern analysis is a common method for investigating social organization in the past, since different types of societies lived in different types of homes and settlements. For example, most hunter-gatherers live in band societies, a) what type(s) of architecture do band societies often have?  These groups can be highly mobile which means they move around the landscape a lot, b) what would their settlement pattern look like? c) What types of archaeological sites would you expect to be left behind by band societies?

  3. Describe each type of social organization in detail.

  • Band:

 

 

 

  • Segmentary Society:

 

 

 

  • Chiefdom:

 

 

 

  • State:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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