ANTH 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 45: Surplus Product, Social Stratification
Document Summary
Farmers typically cultivate specific areas of land unless they are pastoralists. Herdsmen require much more pastur for their animals. Disputes can arise over property right and inheritance of land. When land becomes scarce, a village might fission (one group leaves to find new land to work) When anthropologists (and particularly archaeologists) talk about complexity, we are not saying anything about intelligence (ex. the complexity of the mind) What we are trying to understand is differences in social organization and technology. There are fewer options available to a foraging society than a state and fewer decision to be made. Tend to be groups of kin-related people, who occasionally merge into larger groups (ca. Division of labour based on sex and age. But not all are alike (have different strategies) Smaller groups integrated into larger community via kinship. Nominal leader who redistributes food and performs a few minor ceremonial activities.
