MMW 11 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Social Stratification, Çatalhöyük
14 Dec 2016
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Outline Lecture Four-- Roots of Social Stratification in the Neolithic
I) Gradual and Reluctant Shift to the Neolithic
a) Problem with the term “Agricultural Revolution”
i) Difference between “horticulture” and “agriculture”
ii) Why not a “revolution” per se
b) Expansion of Horticulture to Agriculture
i) Population increased 16-fold between 9000 and 4000 B.C.E.
ii) Move or grow more food
iii) How did farming/village life expand?
iv) “Co-dependent Domestication”
II) From Agriculture to Urbanization
a) The Origin of Cities
i) What factors compelled people to settle in towns and cities by 4000 B.C.E.?
ii) The “Water” Theory
(1) More effective means to construct and manage major irrigation projects?
(2) Need to centralize the management of water rights
(3) Cities as administrative centers to better manage water distribution and access?
iii) The “Trade” Theory
(1) Paleolithic “trading points” evolving into town markets and centers of storage and
redistribution?
iv) The “Temple” Theory
(1) Main motivation was SECURITY—both material and spiritual
(a) Priests as first group freed from subsistence labor
(b) Example of the constituents in a certain temple parish
b) Common Elements of Urban Centers
i) E.g. Çatal Huyuk in modern Turkey 6250-5400 B.C.E.
(1) Size: 15 acres, housing roughly 6000 people
(2) Extensive trade (obsidian, shells, timber)
(3) Also elaborate religious motifs (bull-heads, fertility deities, reburials)
ii) Was Çatal Huyuk an early example of “civilization”?
III) Social Stratification as Distinct Feature of Civilization
a) The Origin of Kingship
i) Bronze Age—3100 to 1200
ii) Rising prominence of warriors and war-leaders
(1) Qualities valued in a hunter
(2) “Polar magnets,” catalysts behind the growth of cities?
iii) Evidence of increasing urban social stratification
b) Gender Stratification
i) What are the reasons for how patriarchy evolved?
IV) Evidence of scratch plow = 6k years
V) Agriculture is dealing w plow, so agriculture revolution is not accurate
VI) revolution suggests overnight change but it’s not rlly like that
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