Archaeology 100-D200

Ancient Peoples and Places

Archaeology and the Study of Prehistory…

Week 8: FROM TOWNS TO CITIES & CHILDE’S SECOND REVOLUTION

March 12th & 14th 2012

Dr. Alvaro HiguerasSimon Fraser University, Spring 2012

Camp (palimpsest) – occasional/seasonal

Hamlet

Village

Temple / Cave / Waterfall

Ceremonial Center

Town

City + hinterland (A regional sphere?)

The City

> Development of the settlement of a town, towards the city: new orders, politics,

economics...

> Regional settlement patterns: integration and hierarchical relationships

> Towards Hyper-urbanism and “the World-at-a-City-Scale” : Urbis.

> The structure of a city and social hierarchies.

> Forbidden cities and social cosmogony (will vary based on the importance of religion in

society).

Chan Chan, North Coast of Peru

Cities before or after the state?(Sedentary villages before agriculture)

City state is earliest example (Mesopotamia)

Functional cities (Egypt): limited to certain functions… several “capitals”

First nominal control from the “religious center” then a de facto territorial control of

region

Planning: If a city is a relatively dense concentration of people disposed in such a

way as to reveal central organizing principles other than kinship: Comparing cases of

urban planning.

Childe’s Urban Revolution 10 traits

1 Size: the first cities must have been more extensive and more densely populated than any previous settlements.

2 ‘In composition and function the urban population already differed from that of any village … full-time specialist craftsmen, transport workers, merchants, officials and priests.’

3 ‘Each primary producer paid over the tiny surplus he could wring from the soil with his still very limited technical equipment as tithe or tax to an imaginary deity or a divine king who thus concentrated the surplus.’

4 ‘Truly monumental public buildings not only distinguish each known city from any village but also symbolise the concentration of the social surplus.’

5 ‘But naturally priests, civil and military leaders and officials absorbed a major share of the concentrated surplus and thus formed a “ruling class”.’

6 ‘Writing.’

7 ‘The elaboration of exact and predictive sciences – arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.’

8 ‘Conceptualised and sophisticated styles [of art].’

9 ‘Regular “foreign” trade over quite long distances.’

10 ‘A State organisation based now on residence rather than kinship.’

Elements of complexity, quantity and quality

in a progressive line, sometimes interrupted, but all present in the city

Administration: the exotic goods, the staple goods

labor division & control

water control & managment

ritual calendar and ceremonies

inherited power and ruling classes (social change)

social hierarchy

de Kooning

> Models and ideas (some say “theories”) on the origin of state-level societies.

Flash Module on Causes for the development of the state

Enigmatic States

Primary Complex societies: the State

EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA

> Chazan says “enigmatic”. But we see how archaeology is resolving the picture and why

enigmas are not that common;

> “All empires are states. Not all states are empires”.

> The expansion of territories: spatial organization, corporate and administrative

architecture in provincial settings;

> How and why very complex societies get yet more complex… (and will disintegrate for

that same reason).

1500

1000

500

0

500

1000

3000 Mesoa Andes Mesop Egypt Ch Ind NA

Hop

ew

ell

Hellenic

Precera-mic: Caral Sumer-ED

Akkad

Babylon

Persia

Rom

e

Uruk

AssyriaNeo-Bab

Ubaid

W

Mis

siss

ipia

nC

ah

oki

a

An

aza

si C

C

Adena

PovertyPoint

NW

Others

Stoneheng

e

Zim

bab

we

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

The region along the course of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

The heartland of Mesopotamia is in southern Iraq

There are no mineral resources in southern Mesopotamia—only available building materials are reeds from marshes and mud

Soils in the region are extremely fertile Many early sites in the region are deeply

buried by the deposit of river silts—not much is known about the Paleolithic and Neolithic in the area

Can Chiefdoms be documented in this setting?

Chronology

Ubaid period (5000-4000 BC): first irrigation works. Grave goods show a polarised social stratification and decreasing egalitarianism;

Competitive households, in which some fall behind as a result of downward social mobility;

Rise of an elite class of hereditary chieftains, perhaps heads of kin groups linked in some way to the administration of the temple shrines and their granaries, responsible for mediating intra-group conflict and maintaining social order.

Ideological “horizon”

Uruk period (4000-3200 BC): when the first urban sites appear, with the site Uruk

> A clear domination of the paramount site vs. sites in the hinterland

> Shows that the city, walled or otherwise, is linked to its hinterland. Urb+suburb

> Evidence for expansion beyond ideological means

Early Dynastic period (3200-2350 BC): when a series of independent city-states, with power to military rulers, supported by ancestry. Walled city of Uruk.

Uruk is the oldest known city in the world The city was by far the largest site in a

landscape densely settled with smaller towns and villages Uruk covered 2.5 km2 and had a

population of 20,000-40,000 The city grew around its central temple

precinct Temples were build of limestone and

bitumen, both imported Many temples were build on platforms,

precursors to ziggurats

Three pillars of authority in UrukThe temple

–a permanent building at the heart of the city– the deity to which the temple was dedicated was

a basic element of the city’s identityThe palace

–duties of the king included maintenance of the temple and military leadership of the city

–King had jurisdiction over regulation of commercial activities, punishment for violent acts, and aspects of family life

The city council : evidence indicates the council selected the king. I probably had other civic decision making functions as well

Mesopotamian societyThere were clear disparities in

wealth and privilege among members of society

Clothing and hairstyle were often used to mark status

In the cemetery at Ur, hundreds of burials were found that were simple interments

In the Royal Tombs at Ur, the dead were buried with spectacular arrays of precious goods and sacrificial victims

Queen Puabi’s headdress from the Royal Tombs of Ur.

Writing systemThe cuneiform writing system was first

developed during the Uruk period Cuneiform is written by impressing signs into

wet clay using a stylus Cuneiform originated as a pictographic script;

each “picture” represented a term or concept By the Early Dynastic, cuneiform symbols

were used to represent syllables Cuneiform was used to write several different

languages of the region

WritingEarliest cuneiform documents

recorded ownership and economic transactions

Tablet (3000BC) allocation the rations of beer. Uruk

Cylinder seals, carved with images and writing, were used by scribes to mark ownership and to ensure that closed rooms or vessels remained so

Over the course of 2000 years, the use of cuneiform expanded to include recording of epics, histories, dictionaries, mathematical treatises, letters, treaties, and accounts

Gilgamesh, the legend of origin

How and why very complex societies get yet more complex… these factors will

work on a short term basis and will disintegrate for these very same reasons

(beyond simplistic factors as climate change).Finances : debasing the coinage

Administration : decentralization, corruption…

Tax revenue collection – breaking the links betwren provinces and Metropolis

Military : dependency on loyalty of foreign troops

Defense: Constant enemies, weakened borders, lack of strategies

1500

1000

500

0

500

1000

3000 Mesoa Andes Mesop Egypt Ch Ind NA

Hop

ew

ell

Hellenic

Precera-mic: Caral Sumer-ED

Akkad

Babylon

Persia

Rom

e

Uruk

AssyriaNeo-Bab

Ubaid

W

Mis

siss

ipia

nC

ah

oki

a

An

aza

si C

C

Adena

PovertyPoint

NW

Others

Stoneheng

e

Zim

bab

we

Rom

e

NK Imp

MK

OK

Hellenic

I:Hyksos

Persia

Shang

W

3rd

The Nile Valley cuts through the deserts of the Sudan and Egypt from its source in Lake

Victoria before reaching the Mediterranean Sea

The contrast between the lush Nile Valley and the surrounding desert is stark–Egypt is an extreme case of circumscription—the

limits of arable land are clearly defined. Inhabited lands are desert areas.

Upper Egypt — refers to the southern part Lower Egypt — refers to the northern part of the

Egyptian Nile Valley

Religious traditional vs the new religion

Predynastic Egypt pre-3000 BC

• emerging social complexity: burials

• pottery• basalt and

alabaster stone bowls

• flaked stone tools: daggers

• faience (glass)• copper working

Naqada II Burial c. 3200 BC

Trade in Egyptian society

• ostrich egg-shell from central Africa• turquoise from Sinai• lead and silver from Anatolia• lapis lazuli from Afghanistan• olive oil from Palestine• ivory, skins, incense from Nubia• gold mines in Eastern Desert

Earliest evidence for the unification of Egypt under a single ruler is a carved slate known as the Narmer Palette

The rule of Narmer marks the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period

The Palette of Narmer shows vivid scenes of conquest by King Narmer

Significantly, Narmer wears the white conical crown of Upper Egypt on one side of the palette, while the opposite side shows him wearing the red crown of lower Egypt. This indicates that he ruled the entire Nile Valley

Narmer PaletteHierakonpolis, c. 3050 BC

Queen Arsinoë II in the Philae temple, Aswan,ca. 250 BC.

Queen Hatshepsut, ca. 1500 BC, NK

The PharaohIs the ultimate source of the power of the Egyptian

ruler was his identification as a divinity–The pharaoh was the human incarnation of

Horus, the paramount god in the Egyptian pantheon

–Upon his death, the pharaoh became the incarnation of Osiris, god of the dead

–The king also had a special relationship to Ra, the sun god, though it varied

Power of the pharaoh was tightly linked to the critical Egyptian concept of ma’at, which combines the virtues of balance and judgement

Mastaba 3038, Anedjib?, Dyn. 1, Saqqara c. 2700 BC

Mastaba Tomb

Step Pyramid

Saqqara, c. 2670 BCDjoser, 3rd DynastyFirst true pyramid, built by ImhotepWalled complex

• evolved from a mastaba. Only after building was underway did the project evolve into a pyramidal shape.

• All Pyr in the OK

Bent PyramidDahshur

• Built by Sneferu, 1st king of Dyn. 4

Pyramids of Giza• 4th Dynasty, Old Kingdom• integration of labourers into state• tomb, causeway, and mortuary temple• 2500-4000 people at Giza workhouses

Khufu

Khafre

Menkaure

Mikerinos Kephren Keops

Khafre Complex

• tomb (pyramid at 146m high)

• mortuary temple• causeway• valley temple

Sphinx • features of the pharaoh Khafre

• body of lion• guardian of

pyramids

Inside Khafre’s Pyramid

End of pyramid

building

• decline during Old Kingdom• erosion of central government• government overspending• Drought• Old Kingdom scale never achieved

again

Bent

Khuf

u

Kaph

re

First Intermediate Period

• period of instability: 70 kings in 70 days• increase in power of nomarchs• “Corn has perished everywhere. Laughter

has perished. Grief walks the land.”

End of First Intermediate Period

• 2134 BC Theban rebels• 2050 BC Thebes

becomes capital (replacing

Memphis) – Today’s Luxor.

Middle Kingdom: 2050-1800 BC

• Mentuhotep II• short-lived period of stability• Cult of Osiris increases in

popularity (in addition to the cult of Amon-Ra)

Thebes

Mentuhotep II, painted statue, Deir el Bahri, c.

2030 BC

• Amenemhat I charismatic founder of a new dynastic line

• Re-establishes Memphis as capital• Thebes becomes an important centre for

the Cult of Amon

• Democratisation of Egyptian religion• End of Middle Kingdom: power of Asiatic

peoples in Delta increases

Second Intermediate Period

Hyksos invasion 1800 BCIntroduction of iron, horse and chariot

Hyksos, Tomb of Knumhotep, Beni Hasan, c. 1895 BC

New Kingdom 1570-1080 BC

• Theban pharaohs: Ahmose the Liberator

• empire period• aggressive foreign

policy• religious upheaval• water wheel

Thutmose III

Shadufhand operated lever used for lifting water to feed canals

Saquiya• water wheel increased agricultural productivity• still used in the Egyptian countryside today

Thutmose III, Dyn. 18

• “Conqueror of ancient Egypt, builder of empire”

• taxed Assyria, Anatolia, Babylonia

• Dyn. 18 domination of Southwest Asia

• “trade” to Africa, Phoenicia, the Aegean

Grey schist statue of Thutmose III Karnak, c. 1478 BC

Akhenaten

• religious reform: monotheism

• Sun god Aten replaces Amun

• New capital at El-Amarna

• temple at Karnak• wife Nefertiti

Egyptian MuseumCairo, c. 1375 BC

Nefertiti

Berlin Museum

Amarna was founded as a new capital city by Akhenaten (NK)–Akhenaten put in place a reform of

Egyptian religion, discarding most of the Egyptian pantheon in favor of focusing on one deity, Aten, the visible disc of the sun

–He also developed a new art style in which he and his queen, Nefertiti, were depicted

–After his death, Akhenaten’s despised religious reforms were cast off, his monuments smashed, and his city at Armana abandoned

Tutankhamun

• boy-king• who is really in

control?• reinstated polytheism• El-Amarna abandoned• dies under uncertain

circumstances

Throne of Tutankhamun, showing him and wife Ankhesenamun

Ramesside Period, Dyn. 19 & 20

• Ramesses II, “The Great”• Ramesses III was

powerful• Ramesses IV-XI, series of

ephemeral kings

Rameses III overpowering enemies

Ramesses II

• defeated Hittites• Builds Temples of Luxor and Karnak at

Thebes

Luxor Temple, Thebes Colossal statue of Ramses II,Temple of Amun, Karnak

Tablet of treaty between Hattusili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt, at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Abu Simbel

Four 22-meter high statues of Rameses II, Temple of Rameses II

Temple of Nefertari(foreground)

Karnak

Great Hypostyle Hall

Avenue of ram-headed sphinxes

Valley of the Kings, Thebes Hypogeum – shaft & chamber

tombs

Tomb of Tutankhamun

• Valley of the Kings, Thebes• Howard Carter, 1920s• mostly undisturbed, not

looted• remarkable preservation

Tomb entrance

Rosetta Stone (Rashid)

• Hieroglyphs • Demotic• Ancient Greek

• inscription dedicated to Ptolemy V,

c. 198 BC• Pharaoh’s name in

cartouches