The Rise of Civilization

The Rise of Civilization

“The eminent anthropologist's (?)

insights into the first of our species”

Who is civilised?

Who is civilised?

Denisova Cave, Siberia – 41,000 years ago

Ziggurat

Standard of Ur - War

What are civilizations, and why are archaeologists so interested in them?

I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said -- "two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert ... near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Ozymandias’

Civilizations are often seen as units of

history

Common sense demands that we accept civilizations as units naturally given in history.Alfred Kroeber, Configurations of cultural growth,

1944

I see, in place of that empty figment of one linear history which can be kept up only by shutting one's eyes to the overwhelming multitude of the facts, the drama of a number of mighty Cultures, each springing with primitive strength from the soil of a mother-region to which it remains firmly bound throughout its whole life-cycle; each stamping its material, its mankind, in its own image; each having its own idea, its own passions, its own life, will and feeling, its own death.

Oswald Spengler, Decline of the West (1917)

But civilizations are surprisingly difficult to

define

But civilizations are surprisingly difficult to

define

… often leading to laundry-list definitions.

Definition of ‘civilization’ - V. Gordon Childe, 1947

1. Large and thickly populated settlements

2. A variety of specialized occupations3. The ability to produce and store

surplus food and other goods4. Large public buildings5. A variety and ranking of social

positions6. Writing and a system of notation7. The beginning of science8. The development of an important art

style9. Trade over long distances10.The beginning of social control

based on a central government rather than kinship

John Baker, 1974

1. In the ordinary circumstances of life in public places, they cover the greater part of the trunk with clothes.

2. They keep the body clean and take care to dispose of its waste products. 3. They do not practice severe mutilation or deformation of the body, except for medical

reasons. 4. They have knowledge of building in brick or stone, if the necessary materials are

available in their territory. 5. Many of them live in towns or cities, which are linked by roads. 6. They cultivate food-plants. 7. They domesticate animals and use some of the larger ones for transport (or have in the

past so used them), if suitable species are available. 8. They have knowledge of the use of metals, if these are available. 9. They use wheels. 10.They exchange property by the use of money. 11.They order their society by a system of laws, which are enforced in such a way that

they ordinarily go about their various concerns in times of peace without danger of attack or arbitrary arrest.

12. They permit accused persons to defend themselves and to bring witnesses for their defence.

13.They do not use torture to extract information or for punishment. 14.They do not practice cannibalism. 15.Their religious systems include ethical elements and are not purely or grossly

superstitious. 16.They use a script (not simply a succession of pictures) to communicate ideas. 17.There is some facility in the abstract use of numbers, without consideration of actual

objects (or in other words, at least a start has been made in mathematics). 18.A calendar is in use, accurate to within a few days in the year. 19.Arrangements are made for the instruction or the young in intellectual subjects. 20.There is some appreciation of the fine arts. 21.Knowledge and understanding are valued as ends in themselves.

Because of this, archaeologists have

increasingly turned to the state as an analytical unit…

Anthropological definition of the state

• A central government exists, with four main characteristics:

• (1) stable political hierarchy (usually with a single ruler);

• (2) a state bureaucracy;• (3) redistribution systems; • (4) and some degree of monopoly over coercive force.

Because of this, archaeologists have

increasingly turned to the state as an analytical unit……in which case, civilizations

are considered to be politico-cultural forms above the level of the individual

state, knitting states together into coherent

cultural systems.

Cuneiform 3300 BC

What can we say about ancient civilizations

that might be interesting for a

Renaissance Weekend?

(1) Civilizations are various.

(2) Civilizations are a recipe for being

elite

La Venta

Longshan (3000 – 1800 BC)

(3) The margins of civilizations are

difficult to define, and often dangerous

places to be

Civilizational core

Tributary zoneRaiding zone

Civilizational core

Tributary zoneRaiding zone

Boko Haram

(3) The margins of civilizations are

difficult to define, and often dangerous

places to be…but also places of opportunity and wealth creation for the poor and

desperate.

(2) Civilizations end. All of them.

I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said -- "two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert ... near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Ozymandias’