Old World Prehistory, Origins of Civilizations
Lesson Objectives: Compare civilizational development in four pristine states (Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Egypt, China), later states such as Great Zimbabwe, and the evolution of complex societies in Europe.
Even more than the previous sections on North and South America, this section is the very briefest of summaries of the whole rest of the world, highlighting only one or two sites from the hundreds of thousands that are important in the development of local and national cultural traditions (and several chapters of the text are skipped). It eliminates completely the later, secondary states that are part of what are sometimes called the classical civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, and many many others that are often studied in history classes even though they have a rich archaeology. Also NOT covered in this section are the historical archaeology of most of the world and the development of secondary states in most of the world (Great Zimbabwe is an exception to this).
Briefly describe the pristine states that emerged in the four areas of the Old World. The first civilization in the world arose in Mesopotamia, the land around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iran and Iraq, in southwest Asia, around 3000 B.C. It was characterized by temple-based cities such as Eridu, with stepped pyramids called ziggurats, canal irrigation farming, and cuneiform writing on clay tablets. The earliest city emerged at Uruk, where early dynasties used armies with bronze weapons and chariots to conquer and control. A succession of city-states rose and fell, and powerful leaders and elites were buried with incredible wealth, including wagons and chariots, oxen, and human servants and other sacrifices, showing marked social stratification. How does this history relate to what is going on in this region of the world today? Can constant conflict become a part of culture history destined to continue?
Describe the rise and fall of early civilization in
the Indus Valley of Pakistan and India. The Harappan civilization,
as we just saw in the movie about Mohenjo-daro, arose in a river valley
environment similar to that of Mesopotamia between 2600-1900 B.C. Incredibly
well-planned cities had covered drains, periodic rebuilding possibly
due to flooding, standard weights and measures, evidence of extreme
craft specialization, and a writing system we cannot yet read. There
was far less socioeconomic differentiation—no rich tombs or elaborate
palaces. For this reason, and because of the lack of evidence for military
might, some want to bump down this culture to the level of chiefdom
and not a true civilization. And yet there are many connections with
modern civilization in the region seen in the archaeological record,
such as depictions of yoga, ritual burning and bathing, costumes, and
bull and elephant symbolism. Do cultures have to be aggressive and military
to be civilized?
How early did Egyptian civilization develop, and how was it different? It was centered along the Nile River, whose dependable annual flooding supported extensive agriculture, and after emerging before 3000 B.C. lasted as a centralized entity for over 2,500 years. The Upper and Lower Egypt segments were unified by the first pharaoh, and there followed different kingdoms and dynasties recorded in written hieroglyphs that we can read well. Famous pyramids and other monumental architecture were built at Giza and many other places for individual rulers, reflecting power and complex organization and engineering. Many think Egyptian civilization in general was more conservative and insular, but of course there were connections with other complex Old World cultures. We are perhaps more familiar with Egypt from the popular media; King Tut was not all that important; he just happened to have a tomb that remained unlooted until recent times and was able to be studied better.
What are the highlights of the rise of the state in
China? Beginning in 2205 B.C., we have written records of the
earliest dynasties, and we try to establish the archaeology of each
of them. An-yang is an ancient capital city of the Shang dynasty, 1766-1122
B.C., which has a royal center and household at its center, bronze foundries
and other craft centers, and royal burials with sacrificed retainers,
horses, chariots, and luxury items such as huge bronze pots. During
the Qin dynasty, conquest of many regions led to the first imperial
state (221 B.C.), with the capital at Xianyang. The Great Wall was completed
on the northern border, the legal system codified and writing system
standardized, and paper was invented. The first emperor’s tomb
was built over many decades; it covered a 500-acre complex and contained
some 8,000 life-sized terra-cotta figures of warriors and horses with
wooden chariots, arrayed for battle with thousands of swords and other
artifacts. Clearly there was enormous sociopolitical stratification.
Where else did states emerge in the world? Nearly everywhere,
eventually, as secondary states built upon or were influenced by earlier
forms. We will not have time in this class to discuss the Mediterranean,
Rome, or Greece, not to mention Southeast Asia and other locales, though
these places have rich archaeological records as well.
Why are west and south African sites included in the textbook but not other places? Probably because sub-saharan Africa is still ignored, just like all of eastern South America and much of Southeast Asia, in standard courses and textbooks. These regions are all hot and forested, and/or in the Southern Hemisphere, and still relatively alien to Western culture. But there is much to learn, and we can now abandon the ethnocentric interpretations of the past that saw development of cultural complexity as the product of diffusion from external, more superior cultures. The city of Jenne-jeno, inland on the Niger River in southwestern Mali, had been settled for a millennium when it became prominent around A.D. 800 as a trade and ironworking center, declining after the arrival of Arab traders and the introduction of Islam.
The civilization represented at Great Zimbabwe
in south central Africa is now recognized as a product of the indigenous
Shona (Karanga) people. Beginning about A.D. 1250, enormous stone structures
and enclosures were built into the natural rock outcrops and on the
open plain. The conical tower is solid and of unknown function. This
center and others grew in power, with cattle herding and commercial
connections with Indian Ocean settlements, including trade with Arab
and Indian merchants. Its importance declined after the sixteenth century,
when the Portuguese established a fort on the coast and disrupted trade.
The name of the site became the name of the country after colonial dominance
was thrown off and Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. The famous stylized depiction
of a bird, from stone statues at this and other sites, is now on the
face of the Zimbabwe dollar. Part of the post-apartheid African renaissance,
the archaeology of this region has come a long way since a government
archaeologist was fired in the 1950s for suggesting that Great Zimbabwe
was created by indigenous people and not intruding superior Arabs or
other outsiders. The archaeology director at the site today is Edward
Matenga, who is native to the area.
Why does the book go from a few places on the map to more intensive treatment
of European archaeology? Because it is ethnocentric and geared for the English-speaking
audience whose ancestral home is Europe, and because more archaeology has been
done in Europe so we do know a lot.
Why spend a class on Ötzi, the Ice Man of Europe? He is one of the most sensational recent discoveries, is the subject of lots of hot new scientific study, and is an archaeological resource embroiled in political and interpretive and professional issues and controversies that can illuminate some of the realities of twenty-first-century archaeology. Though he only gets three pages in the text (479-481), he will probably get more in the next edition. After this frozen guy started melting out of an Alpine glacier in 1991, he was found by lay people, climbers who tried to hack him out with ski poles and with a stick they later found to be one of his ancient artifacts. Encounters with the law and with others who tried to help preceded his excavation by local archaeologists. They had to go back to do the job properly and record other associated artifacts. Experts fought to have him, and surveyors were brought to redo the international boundary, determining that he was actually found in Italy. He was examined in both Austria and Italy and now, finally, sits in a special cold room in the museum in Bolzano, Italy. Tattoos on the body are in places where there was arthritis, so they may be medical or magical. Stomach contents showed diet, and pollen indicated that the time of death was in the spring. Artifacts included bow and arrows, a chipped stone knife, and an ax determined to be of copper; he was thought to be of a Bronze Age culture, but the ax and a radiocarbon date indicated a late Neolithic placement, about 5,300 years ago. Scanned images just detected an arrowpoint in his back, and reconstructions of his violent death scene are legion, though he could easily have been killed by a hunting accident of the kind we have in Florida all the time! Medical, diet, genetic, and other fancy studies continue, and each one brings new sensational imaginings about his culture and means of death.