Chiefs and Chiefdoms

Question 1

Acequias

Answer 1

• irrigation canals used by Hohokam people in southern arizona for maize, beans, cotton farming
• adapted to arid enviornments, help transport water, water control and storage needed for ag.
• early engineering and planning in non state complexes

Question 2

Adena and Hopewell

Answer 2

• cultures known for extensive earthworks, ceremonial enclosures, burial mounds
• significant social ranking shown by elaborate burials using red ocher and graphite, soapstone, pipes, tablets
• non elite individuals cremated & put in communal burial area

Question 3

Ancestral Pueblo

Answer 3

• “Anasazi”
• ancestors of hopi, zuni, rio grande ppls
• used pithouses, later replaced by stone and adobe pueblos
• practiced water diversion, minimal irrigation, and rainfall farming
• built kivas - semi-subterranean cermonial structures
• part of vasat exchange of networks reaching into mexico and california

Question 4

Bands

Answer 4

• simplest form of social orgs, usually small, kin based groups of hunter-gathered
• eglaitarian, lack formal hierarchy/leadership
• mobile, flexible leadership

Question 5

Big Man

Answer 5

• charasmatic leader in kin-based societies who gain influence through gift giving, favors, and loyalty instead of inheritance
• not hereditatry
• leads by persuasion, generosity, not force
• common in early cheifdoms before hereditary leadership
  Ex: Rabbit Boss of the Paiute and Shoshone - owner of rabbit nets for communal games, temporary authority based on ability and possesion of the net

Question 6

Burial Mounds

Answer 6

• earthen structures built over graves, used by eastern woodlands cultures (Adena, Hopewell, Missisipian)
• reflect ceremonialis, social ranking, ancestor veneration
• hopewell mounds included elaborate grave goods, while non elite burials were simplers and communal

Question 7

Cahokia

Answer 7

• large mississipian cheifdom center in Illnois
• over 120 mounds across 6 sq miles, including Monk’s mound (largest prehistoric structure of north mexico)
• population up to 40,000 - larger than london
• controlled trade at confluence of mississippi, missorui, and illinois rivers
• egnaged in long distance trade (shel, obsidian, copper, pottery)

Question 8

Chacon Canyon

Answer 8

• cultural and trade center in american southwest
• known for great houses, large peublos, and water control structures
• traded turquoise, seashells, copperbells, macaws
• abanonded due to drought and enviornmentla stress

Question 9

Chief

Answer 9

a leader within a chiefdom, often hereditary, who holds elite political and social authority
may control labor, surplus, trade, and ritual activity

Question 10

Chiefdoms

Answer 10

• ranked societies w/ centeralized authority but not yet states
• can be simple (1 level) or complex (multi level pr heterarchial)
• tied to arhictecture and resource control

Question 11

Eastern Moundbuilders

Answer 11

• cultures in eastern woodlands who build ceremonial earthworks
• Adena, Hopewell, Mississippi
• focus on kinship, funerary rituals, later maize ag.

Question 12

Economic Inequality

Answer 12

differences in wealth and material resources within or across societies
- not always atied to sociopolitical inequality, the inca shared labor and goods despite hierarchy

Question 13

Effigy Mounds

Answer 13

• earth mounds in the shapes of animals or symbols often used for burial or ceremonial purposes
• associated w/ eastern woodland cultures, like the effigy mound culture in wisconsin

Question 14

Egalitarian

Answer 14

• societies with minimal social ranking, where people have equal access to resourcesand power
• common in bands and small scale kin base groups

Question 15

Great Houses

Answer 15

• large, multi-room pueblos in Chaco Canyon, often part of ceremonial centers
• indicate planned construction, storage, and social coordination

Question 16

Heterarchy

Answer 16

• a form of social organization where different sources of power co-exist, instead of one clear hierarchy
• seen in complex chiefdoms that dont follow strict top down structures

Question 17

Hohokam

Answer 17

• farming society in southern arizona
• used acequias (irrigation canals) and built storage and water diversion systems
• long distance trade (feathers, copper)
• ancestors of O’odaham people

Question 18

Instituational Variability

Answer 18

the range and flexibility of social instituions like kinship or communal labor that can reduce or maintain inequality in complex societies

Question 19

Kinship

Answer 19

systems of relatedness that govern inhertitance, land ownership, and obligations in non state societies
- key to organizing reciprocity and political roles

Question 20

Kivas

Answer 20

• semi subterranean ceremonial structures used by ancestral pueblo ppls
• often associated w can rituals and community gatherings

Question 21

Lapita Culture

Answer 21

• earliest settlers of melanesia
• known for stamped pottery, ocean going double hulled canoes, transporting domesticated crops and animals
• spread culture thorugh northwestern pacific

Question 22

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Answer 22

• ancestral pueblo settlement w/ large towns, cliff dwellings, kvas
• focused on clan based ritual obligations
• abandonded due to environemtal or social stress

Question 23

Mica

Answer 23

• shiny mineral material found in Hopewell burial mounds, used in ritual and decorative items, like status and ceremonialism

Question 24

Mississippian Cultures

Answer 24

• cheifdoms across the eastern woodlands
• built large towns with ceremonial mounds, practiced maize agriculture, engaged in long distance trade
• known for southeastern ceremonial complex aka southern cult

Question 25

Mode of Production

Answer 25

- how a society produces, organizes, and dsitrubtues resources - centralized systems allow elites to monopolize surplus and control labor

Question 26

Pithouses

Answer 26

early semi-subterranean dwellings used by Ancestral Pueblo ppls before building above ground peublos

Question 27

Pueblos

Answer 27

Above ground multi room stone or adobe dwellings used by ancestral pueblo ppls - replaced pithosues and often built in large organized settlements

Question 28

Reciprocity

Answer 28

system of mutual exchange often w delayed returns that builds social bonds and obgliations - key in societies led by big men

Question 29

Resources

Answer 29

natural minerals land water crops animals that are controlled shared or monopolized - central to inequality and political power

Question 30

Soapstone Effigy Pipes

Answer 30

ceremonial pipes found in Hopewell burials often carved as animal or huamn forms- sign of status ritual signifigance and craft specialization

Question 31

Social complexcity

Answer 31

describes how socially organized a society is based on hierachy roles instituions and decision making systems - not a linear progression: there is not saverygy to civilization mpdel

Question 32

Sociopolitical Inequality

Answer 32

- differences in power and authority, who makes decisions, who leads, who contros labor and law - can exist with or without econonic inequaltiy

Question 33

Surplus

Answer 33

- producing more food or goods than needed for immediate use - allows for stroage, trade, specialization but can also be monopolized by elites

Question 34

Technology

Answer 34

- new tools or techniques (irrigation boats ceraics) that can increase productivity byt often benefit powerful first

Question 35

Tribes

Answer 35

- larger than abnds, but kin based, informal leaders, more settled - limited social ranking lack formal instituions