ANT317H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Indigenous Peoples Of The Eastern Woodlands, Ascribed Status, Interactome
Document Summary
Topic 11: cultural complexity in the eastern woodlands. Settlement pattern: occupational specialization, mortuary practices, record keeping. Social scale: egalitarian, no such thing as a purely egalitarian society, status is considered to be achieved, unranked (band, ranked, unstratified (tribe, hierarchical, status is ascribed/born into, simple (chiefdom, complex (state) Social inequality: material, differential access to resources, elite get more resources. In terms of the archaeological record, this means more resources will be found in certain areas. Ideological domination: symbolic structure that justifies the differential access to resources and status. Chiefdom: ascribed status (by birth, 2 levels, elite. Family, status comes from being born into the family: commoner, preferential access to resources by elite, economically specialized. State: 3 levels, elite, bureaucracy, commoners, e. g. Empire: extension of state, warfare and conquest, e. g. Increasing concern with placement of settlements relative to each other instead of in relation to environment. Settlement pattern: variation in settlement size, variation in settlement functions.
