Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Role of Status in the Maintenance of Complex Society

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Researchers want to understand better the dynamics behind the emergence and development of large communities that have served as centers binding the populations of regions into integrated societies. Such communities first emerged as much as 8,000 years ago in many parts of the world and served as the foundation for the much larger-scale societies with very complex patterns of organization in which the majority of the world's population lives today. The kinds of activities that were concentrated in these early centers varied considerably from one region to another. In some instances increasing craft specialization and economic interdependence between households across a region seem crucial. In other instances religious beliefs and ritual activities were of the utmost importance. And in still other cases, conflict and military defense and offense appear to have played a principal role. In varying combinations, these and other social relationships often created strong inequalities of several kinds around which societies were organized. Just how particular patterns came to be emphasized in different places and how they led to varying degrees and kinds of social inequalities are not well understood. This is especially true of cases in which growing social inequalities were not grounded in differences in productive activities, wealth, and standards of living among the population. This project will pursue the possibility that in situations of relatively intense conflict, leaders in warfare acquire considerable prestige and more general authority and serve as the social centers of gravity for larger communities. As most often envisioned by researchers, such a path of development leads to increasing economic control and accumulation of wealth by these leaders, which enables them to broaden their social and political power. A prime opportunity to investigate this line of reasoning is provided by the rapid emergence of Sintashta-Petrovka societies of the southern Urals around 2000 BC. Elaborate warrior graves associated with small, compact, heavily fortified settlements indicate the social importance of war leaders, but little is known of the nature and organization of the communities they apparently led. Tightly-packed residences within small fortified areas have been studied, but held remarkably small numbers of inhabitants, probably representing only a portion of the regional populations of these polities. Previous research has failed to find much evidence of other hinterland communities in the regions around the fortified centers. But little-studied archaeological remains immediately outside the walls of the fortified centers may represent an important additional component of these communities. This research will target those remains and reconstruct the activities, statuses, and standards of living they represent and compare them to those of the people inside the fortifications. This will reveal whether the war leaders, as theorized, took on broader social and economic roles and a prestigious and became wealthy or whether a more egalitarian foundation anchored the society.