ARCH 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Leonard Woolley, Eridu, Ubaid Period
27 Jun 2018
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Department
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Professor
The Development of State Civilization Definition of State (Feder 2017)
Class societies, often rigidly stratified into social levels. The ruling class
controls the populace not by consensus but by coercion and force. The rulers
in a state society have the power to levy and collect taxes, to establish and
enforce laws, and to conscript people to do the work of the state.
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What Characterizes Civilization?*** (see Feder Chapter 10)
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Childe--read text about this
Food surplus
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Large, dense populations
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Social stratification--divided into levels (hierarchy): mainly showed
through grave goods, or housing
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Formal government
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Labor specialization
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A system of record keeping
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Monumental works
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Theories to explain the emergence of civilization
Irrigation
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Population growth and war
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Local and long-distance trade
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Early Civilizations MESOPOTAMIA
Earliest urban centers--southern Mesopotamia
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Known today as Iraq area
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Sumer is southern Mesopotamia
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Established around 10,000 ya
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Area of land lying between the two rivers: Tigris and Euphrates.
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Home to the world’s earliest urban societies
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Chronology of Mesopotamia
Charles Maisels--make notes from text
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Presence of warfare**
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Ubaid period (5000-4000 BC): earliest well-represented period in
southern Mesopotamia
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Uruk period (4000-3200 BC--6000ya): when the first "true" urban
sites appear
Uruk
Uruk is the oldest known city in the world
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The city was the largest site in a landscape densely
settled with smaller towns and villages (population of
at least 10,000 people- to 30,000 people)
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The city grew around its central temple precinct--
temple district, early writing is found in temples,
temples were the seat of the power
Writings (clay tablets) were of economic
transaction
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Early Dynastic period (3200-2350 BC): when a series of city-states
(socio-political unit) developed in southern Mesopotamia
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Ziggurat
Ziggurats are Sumerian mud brick temples
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Temples were built on top of large stepped platforms
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Size of a football field
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Most important God, priests oversee activities
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Examples include the Ziggurats at Eridu and Ur
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Ur, Mesopotamia - an ancient city in the Sumer region of
Mesopotamia. Excavations at this site revealed burials identified as
Royal Graves.
Excavated 1920 Leonard Woolley
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Reconstruction of Ur Royal Burial
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Artifacts from Ur Royal Burial
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1)
Origins of the State: Mesopotamia (pg. 362-378)
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
11:24 AM
Document Summary
The development of state civilization definition of state (feder 2017) Class societies, often rigidly stratified into social levels. The ruling class controls the populace not by consensus but by coercion and force. The rulers in a state society have the power to levy and collect taxes, to establish and enforce laws, and to conscript people to do the work of the state. Social stratification--divided into levels (hierarchy): mainly showed through grave goods, or housing. Area of land lying between the two rivers: tigris and euphrates. Ubaid period (5000-4000 bc): earliest well-represented period in southern mesopotamia. Uruk period (4000-3200 bc--6000ya): when the first true urban sites appear. Uruk is the oldest known city in the world. The city was the largest site in a landscape densely settled with smaller towns and villages (population of at least 10,000 people- to 30,000 people)
