How did the elite in complex societies use architecture to establish their position of power?

Shakil Mirza212 908 505

Professor: Cathie Sutton TA: Cathie SuttonAnthropolgy 2150

April 12, 14Word Count: 1025

Never would someone believe in this technological advanced age that men

would be able to build such monumental architecture thousands of years ago. Even

blueprints to map such structures required extensive planning and analytics. The

rise of complex societies was defined by Childe as division of labour within a system

regulated by laws over a large population density (Chazan 2011:265-266). In this

essay, I will highlight how aspects of architecture in complex societies, were used by

the elite to establish position of power. The elite used ritual practices as one cluster

to gain power through architecture, the stronger the elite the stronger force of

inequality among the society, and lastly the elite used architecture for

administrative purposes as well.

Firstly, one common ritual strategically used by the elite were mass feasts for

all the people of society. The earliest form of a complex society was Northwest Coast

that was comprised of mostly hunter-gatherers and source of food was salmon and

shellfish. Sharing is a distinct feature of this group and took in the form of

competitive sharing through feasts called potlatches (Chazan 2011:274). The

biggest antiquity found to support great feasts were in Cahokia, Mound 51 was

excavated and found vessels, pottery, and bones of and deer and hints at the fact

that Monk’s Mound was a place which showed the elite’s power by organizing such

events which gathered 30,000 people (Chazan 2011:297-297). Also, architectural

monuments have been the hubs of sporting events. The elites would set up a game

between players, and was sometimes a matter of life and death. The game was an

echo of the myths held by the Mayans and was played in the heart of the city

(Chazan 2011:378). Furthermore, in Ancient Egypt, heavy faith was based on

mythology and the relationship with the Pharaoh who in return would promise

slaves for life in the hereafter. Many of the pyramids and other architectures in

complex societies were built because of this very notion of the afterlife being

promised raising the questions of coercion through manipulation and that is a very

basic explanation in a way which elitists gained power through architecture (Chazan

2011: 321-322). The take home message is that these rituals brought together

enormous amounts of people, and showed that the elites had control of the society,

and the more often these events were held, the stronger the connection to elitists.

Secondly, the gap between the rich and the poor proliferated in the complex

societies. Distinct appearances were created so that there was a separation between

the nobleman and slaves. For example, Maori women from New Zealand had a high

status inferred from the feather cloaks and jade pendants (Chazan 2011:267). Also,

in Pueblo Bonitio lies The Great House and is evidence of social inequality and

restricted two rooms where two males were found with lavish offerings. The

function of Pueblo Bonito was to serve as a ceremonial center, which was attended

by many people. The Royal Tombs of Ur which was found with large amount

jewelry, tools, musical instruments in Mesopotamia displayed extracts of inequality,

evidence of hairstyle and clothing appeared to be a major difference between the

upper and lower class (Chazan 211:311). The more greed of power of the elitists

lead to selfish and sometimes questionable reasoning, because, kings sacrifice

precious objects for the destruction of wealth to “accumulate more of it; this effort

was the key to the ruler’s power” (Chazan 211:312). Next, wherever we have seen

warfare, there was a strict link to the centralized bond of wealth and power that

kept the society tight-knit to a unified symbol for example the Aegans. Although only

covered a small area in comparison to other societies, it had the most elaborate halls

detailed to the carvings, which were the center of the Mycenaeans called a megaron.

The violence was mainly with the Minoans, but the based on objective evidence,

Mycenaeans had better able and skillful bodies. The elitists took credit, assuring

their people safety, and in return strengthened their position of power by gaining

the trust of the citizens (Chazan 2011:340-343).

Third of all, architectures of these complex societies were also used as

administrative purposes. As Mesopotamia expanded their empire, regional centers

were set-up but to unify the pockets of habitants to one center required the

advancement of technology. One department of administration was concerned with

the economy; Mesopotamia was set up in between to water streams and this

allowed trade networks to fuel merchants to work not mainly on the coasts but

inland. The government had a specialization and surplus on vessels, and bowls and

used this for monopolization on wealth (Chazan 2011:310). In Chaco Canyon, all

roads lead to Pueblo Bonito called the Chacoan Network. This compelled people to

bring food and pottery from surrounding areas because the elitists had gained

control using the Great Houses as the meeting point of collecting taxes (Chazan

2011: 292). In the Incan empire, it was the unorthodox tradition, that the kings had

to get wealth on their own and that it was not just handed over to them or inherited.

This led many kings to go on conquests, and obtain wealth on their own. However,

Machu Picchu was home to masonry style aristocratic buildings to serve as a

ceremonial site to remember the predecessors of the society, and the panaqa was a

mark of success of a king to fascinate the peasant’s psyche for them to understand

the authority of elitists (Chazan 2011: 407).

In conclusion, I would reiterate that the elitists evolved, as did the complex

societies from Easter Island to Mesopotamia to Central and South America and to

China that showcased its own way of establishing power among its people. Elitists

used rituals, producing inequality, and trade networking in relation to architecture

works in establishing their position of power. The monuments served many

functions and purposes, but that would never had happened, without organizing a

mass unification under the elitists.

Bibliography

Chazan, Michael

World prehistory and archaeology: a pathway through time. Toronto,

ON: Pearson Education Inc.

If you could be an ordinary citizen in any of the ancient civilizations we have studied, which would it be and why?

Shakil Mirza212 908 505

Professor: Cathie Sutton TA: Cathie SuttonAnthropolgy 2150

April 12, 14Word Count: 1034

If I were an ordinary citizen in any of the ancient civilizations, I would choose

to live in the Indus Valley. My family is originally from this area, where the

excavations were discovered and that just connected me back to my homeland, and

in hopes of touring that area which is now called Sindh. But mainly why I was

intrigued by this society was that “the Harappan civilization remains wrapped in

enigma and mystery” (Chazan 2011:346). Many features of the Indus Valley really

stood out to me that distinguished from other societies were landscape,

organization, and governance.

The Harappan civilization is located along the Indus Valley, which the Indus

River flowed through from the Himalayas through modern day Pakistan into the

Arabian Sea stretching 3,000 km (Chazan 2011:346). Although it was very dry, this

society faced torrential and unpredictable changes in water level fluctuations where

they would have gone from either sometimes no water, to flooding of the city.

Secondly, Archaeologists can tell what Indus Valley people ate from examining their

teeth and discovered that agriculture was rich, with a wide arrange of domestication

of crops and animals such as wheat, barley, peas, dates, grapes, melons sheep, goats,

and cattle. According to this list of items, it is without a doubt the Harappans had a

healthy lifestyle (Sutton 2014:lecture notes). Also, the city had culture, which was

mainly craftwork such as bead making, shell working and ceramic that was

excavated and analyzed using material analysis and sourcing (Kenoyer 1997:262).

Religiously, it cannot be said with certainty what the religious life of the people

since our information is fragmentary. However, what we do know is that the Indus

people worshipped a Mother Goddesses and is evident from Harappan seal

impressions, terracotta, metal figures, and mortuaries and to clear a misconception

that may have crept into people’s minds is that these goddesses have nothing do to

with Hinduism, since they were introduced 1000 years before the decline of this

civilization (Caspers, 1993:74).

The city was very symmetrical as in the streets followed a grid, the streets

followed parallel of each other and all were relatively orientated to the points on a

compass. This would show there was some sort of civil authority to carry out these

public work tasks. There were also drainage systems in Harappa that was a unique

feature of Indus Valley civilization because it was not found in any other city of the

same antiquity, it was regularly inspected and at constant intervals. The city is

characterized on its own by the highly effective use of services rendered by the

municipal authority were the first signs of urbanization and town planning. (Mughal

1990:15-30) The most impressive structure was the Great Bath found in Mohenjo-

Daro it was a gypsum mortar, three meters deep and a flight of stairs down the basin

and archaeologists interpret this structure as either a religious ritual for cleanliness

or a nice place to cool off on a hot summer day (Chazan 2011:348). Another aspect

in the city life that amazes me was that there were wells; a commonality found on

the sites located near a group of mud-brick houses. Simplistic pipelines were also

set up to catch rainwater flowing into a reservoir in a central location for the people

and storage systems were excavated at sites which have the same function as

modern day silos, today (Jansen 2006: 180-186).

Thirdly, with governance came the advancement of writing. The Harappan

script were “small carved stone sealings used to mark vessels and bundles (Chazan

2011:348). A wide array of objects were used in this civilization to forward

messages inscribed on copper pieces, gold pendants, and bronze axes. The

mysteries which I was hinting in the introduction was referring to exactly this,

because Archaeologists have little clues as to what these inscriptions say because

some were unreadable and other had depictions of bulls, elephants, and rhinos and

majestical creatures such as unicorns with three heads (Chazan 2011:349). The

seals were used in trade and economics as well, the plain cubes of rocks were carved

to adhere to a strict standard, and each sector of society played its role giving

countenance to the state (Chazan 2011:350). Also governance was highlighted in the

previous paragraph highlighting the structures in the public sphere which impacted

its growth and amazes even man today as how a civilization could establish our

modern day systems. Although little can be said on what kind of government here

was it is a fact that the people lived peacefully, and it did not seem as if there was

any inequality excavated by graves which in comparison to other societies had six-

feet deep full of luxurious materials. Another clue to show there was an egalitarian

civilization was through the blueprints of the city’s layout, all people had the same

brick-made houses, the same wells, and the same quadrants for individual

agriculture (Mughal, 1990:55).

To conclude, the Indus Valley people and their everyday lifestyle of how they

interacted amongst each other and the state amazes me. Although their decline

came due to foreign invaders, their civilization was at peace. There was no caste

system, due little information on the government leaders and religious figures, there

would be a divide if they had been authoritative and compulsive but that is not the

case. If these were the noblemen of civilization, they were great cooperators to be

able to unify a whole civilization under peace and progression thousands of years

(Mughal 1990:72). Peace not because they were isolated but because they did not

have imperialistic desires. Their resources and niche was confined to them and did

not need to venture out for expansion, although it is evident there was trade along

the Indus River according to Mesopotamian texts referring them as “important

trading partners” (Chazan 2011:346).

Bibliography

Chazan, Michael

World prehistory and archaeology: a pathway through time. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Inc.

Kenoyer Jonathan M.

1997 Trade and technology of the Indus Valley: new insights from Harappa, Pakistan. World Archaeology 29(2):262–280.

Jansen, Michael“Water Supply and Sewage Disposal at Mohenjo-Daro.” World Archaeology 21(2) (1989): 177–192.

Mughal, Rafique M.

1990 Harappan settlement systems and patterns in the greater Indus Valley (circa 3500-1500 B.C.) Pakistan Archaeology. 25:1-72.

Sutton, Cathie

"Enigmas and Diversities.” Lecture, York University, Toronto, ON, March 13, 2014.