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- Societies can roughly be classified into four groups. Mobile hunter-gatherer groups contain fewer than 100 people and lack formal leaders. Segmentary societies rarely number more than a few thousand individuals who are typically settled farmers. Chiefdoms operate on the principle of ranking and thus people have different social status. States preserve many of the features of chiefdoms but rulers have the authority to establish and enforce law.
- The scale of a society comes from an understanding of that society's settlement pattern which can only come from survey.
- The study of the buildings and other evidence of administration at a center gives valuable information about the social, political, and economic organization of society, as well as a picture of the life of the ruling elite. Road systems and lower-order administrative centers give further information about the social and political structure. The study of the differences in the treatment accorded to different individuals at death, in both the size and wealth of grave offerings, can reveal the complete range of status distinctions in a society.
- Other sources can also provide information about social organization. Literate societies leave behind a wealth of written data which can answer many social questions posed by archaeologists. Oral tradition can provide valuable information about even the remote past. Ethnoarchaeology is a fundamental method of approach for social archaeologists since some present-day societies function in similar ways to societies in the past.
- A personal identity is a general feature of our species but it is not always easy to reconstruct this identity from archaeological remains. The use of purely per-sonal objects in a society tends to correspond with the development of ritual activity and the construction of monumental buildings. Gender has become an important aspect of the archaeological study of identity as it is a social construct involving the sex-related roles of individuals in society.
Key Concept Identifications
You should be familiar with the meaning and importance of each of the following terms:
Establishing the Nature and Scale of the Society
Classification of Societies
- Mobile hunter-gatherer groups, p. 178
- Segmentary societies, p. 179
- Chiefdom, p. 179
- Early states, p. 179
Settlement Patterning
- Central Place Theory, p. 184
- Thiessen Polygons, p. 184
- Site Hierarchy, p. 184
- XTENT Modeling, p. 185
Further Sources of Information for Social Organization
- Written records, p. 186
- Oral traditions, p. 190
- Ethnoarchaeology, p. 190
Ancient Ethnicity and Language
- Ethnicity, p. 193
- Ethnos, p. 193
The Study of Ranking from Individual Burials
- Achieved status, p. 199
- Ascribed status, p. 199
Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis
- Factor analysis, p. 201
- Cluster analysis, p. 201
Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDSCAL)
- Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDSCAL), p. 210-11
Social Analysis at Moundville
- Ranked societies, p. 216-17
Relationships between Centralized Societies
The Archaeology of the Individual and of Identity
Molecular Genetics of Social Groups and Lineages
- Haplotype, p. 228
- Lineage, p. 228
- Y-Chromosome, p. 228
- mtDNA, p. 228
- Nuclear DNA, p. 229
- Polymorphism, p. 229
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