Social Complexity Flashcards
What happened in the Holocene climactic shift?
Glacier melting that raised water levels and large mammals going extinct, making smaller mammals more prevalent
What is the Neolithic Revolution?
Shift from hunting megafauna to broad spectrum foraging that lead to less nomadic lifestyles and the beginning of domestication
What is subsistent strategy?
How we meet our needs
What are the 4 causes of domestication
- Climate
- Environment
- Population
- Technology
What are the 4 effects of domestication?
- Display of power and wealth
- Competition for abundance of resources
- Introduction of alcohol
- Sedentism and Settlements
What is sedentism?
permanent human habitation through settlements and domestication
Consequences of sedentism? Example?
Competitive hierarchical society and nutritional deficiencies. Natufians.
2 types of Domestication?
Animal and Plant domestication
What is Animal Domestication?
Active capturing and taming of wild animals
6 stages of animal domestication
- Random Hunting
- Controlled Hunting
- Herd Following
- Loose Herding
- Close Herding
- Factory Farming
Consequences of animal domestication
Docile, social, and higher yield animals were domesticated and eventually became dependent on humans for survival
What is plant domestication?
Cultivation - Modifying the environment to make it habitable for a plant
What is agriculture?
Systemic modification of the environment to produce max resources
3 steps to plant domestication
- Cultivation
- Species grows in cultivated area
- Human intervention through artificial selection
Consequences of plant domestication
domesticated plant species become biologically different from their wild forms and become dependent on humans for survival
Egalitarian vs Stratification
Egalitarian societies had equal power and wealth, while stratified societies had unequal power and wealth within the population
What are complex societies?
Societies with large populations, extensive division of labour, and occupational specialization
Forager vs Complex technology
Foragers used easy to obtain materials that were generally easy to use, while complex societies use materials that require production and needs technique to use. Teepee vs Pyramid
4 categories of complex societies
- Bands
- Tribes
- Chiefdom
- States
increasing in complexity from nomadism
List 5 evidence of complex societies
- Monumental architecture
- Tombs
- Residence Patterns
- Artifact concentration
- Historical Records
5 hypothesis for the origins of complex societies
- Domestication, sedentism, and production
- Resource scarcity management
- Large populations that needed organization
- Land availability and conflict
- Warfare and competition
