Fuji Lozada's Webpage    

Butler University

Archaeology and Transitions

Paleolithic: "stone age"; 2 million years ago to 10,000 years ago

transition -- agriculture as the society's economic base

Neolithic: farming villages, but no cities; 10,000 years ago - around 7,000 years ago, with start of evidence of cities

transition -- cities

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Criteria for recognizing a City
(Kehoe, p. 107-108)

1. settlements of city size
2. indications that the society was organized on the basis of territory rather than only by kin groups -- administrative buildings, symbols of territory and their rulers, fortresses, etc.
3. capital wealth from taxes or tribute
4. monumental public works (temples, palaces, irrigation systems, etc.)
5. class-stratified society -- differences in home size, furnishings, graves, etc.
6. full-time craft specialists -- workshop areas, specialized tools
7. long-distance trade in luxuries -- sign of class stratification
8. representational art including human portraiture -- linked to stratification
9. writing -- record-keeping
10. true science -- system of measurement, engineering, astronomy, etc.

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  Dept. of Anthropology
  Davidson College
  Box 6969
  Davidson, NC 28035 USA

  office: Chambers B12
  tel. 704-894-2035
  fax. 704-894-2842
  erlozada@davidson.edu

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