ANT 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 62: Broadspectrum, Upper Paleolithic, Elman Service
Document Summary
Humans survive in grass only environments by herding animals that are able to turn cellulose into meat, milk, etc. Nomadism = the entire group moves with the herd through the year trade for crops. Transhumance = part of the group moves with the heard but most stay in the home village. A consistent and central aspect of any culture. Foraging (hunters and gatherers), horticulture (plant), pastoral (animal), agriculture (control of nature) Industrial, commercial = high levels of efficiency in food production and distribution allow big societies to be a part of a single political unit. Elman service: identified types of political organization. Band egalitarian (power differences are small no distinctive political organization or formal law) Tribe no formal government and no way of enforcing political decisions; "village head" leads by example and persuasion. Chiefdom kin-based groupings are still important but wealth and power differences are now more obvious; position of chief is often hereditary.
