Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study

773 Pages·2016·6.51 MB·English

by  Bruce G. Trigger

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Understanding Early Civilizations
This book offers the first detailed comparative study of the seven best-
documented early civilizations: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Shang
China,theAztecsandadjacentpeoplesintheValleyofMexico,theClassic
Maya,theInka,andtheYoruba.Unlikepreviousstudies,equalattentionis
paid to similarities and differences in their sociopolitical organization, eco-
nomic systems, religion, and culture. Many of this study’s findings are sur-
prising and provocative. Agricultural systems, technologies, and economic
behaviourturnouttohavebeenfarmorediversethanwasexpected.Yetonly
two basic types of political organization are found – city-states and territo-
rialstates–andtheyinfluencedeconomicbehaviouratleastasmuchasdid
environmentaldifferences.Underlyingvariousreligiousbeliefswasasingle,
distinctivepatternthatisuniquetoearlycivilizationandmusthavedeveloped
independentlyindifferentregionsoftheworld.Manyothersharedreligious
beliefsappeartohavebeentransformationsofasharedheritagefromearlier
times.Esteemedlifestylesthatdifferedidiosyncraticallyfromoneearlycivi-
lizationtoanotherinfluencedhumanbehaviourinwaysthatoftenpersisted
despite changing material and political circumstances. These findings and
manyotherschallengenotonlycurrentunderstandingsofearlycivilizations
butalsothetheoreticalfoundationsofmodernarchaeologyandanthropology.
Thekeytounderstandingearlycivilizationsliesnotintheirhistoricalconnec-
tionsbutinwhattheycantellusaboutsimilaritiesanddifferencesinhuman
behaviour.
Bruce G. Trigger was James McGill Professor in the Department of An-
thropologyatMcGillUniversity.HereceivedhisPhDfromYaleUniversity
andhascarriedoutarchaeologicalresearchinEgyptandtheSudan.Hisin-
terests included the comparative study of early civilizations, the history of
archaeology,andarchaeologicalandanthropologicaltheory.Hereceivedvar-
ious scholarly awards, including the presitigious Prix Le´on-Ge´rin from the
Quebec government, for his sustained contributions to the social sciences.
He was an honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and
anhonorarymemberofthePrehistoricSociety(U.K.).Hisnumerousbooks
includeTheChildrenofAataentsic:AHistoryoftheHuronPeopleto1660
(1976),AHistoryofArchaeologicalThought(Cambridge1989),EarlyCiv-
ilizations:AncientEgyptinContext(1993),SocioculturalEvolution(1998),
andTheCambridgeHistoryoftheNativePeoplesoftheAmericas,Volume1
(Cambridge1996),co-editedwithWilcombE.Washburn.
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ii
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Understanding Early
Civilizations
A Comparative Study
BRUCE G. TRIGGER
McGillUniversity
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(cid:2)C BruceG.Trigger2003
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andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout
thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2003
Firstpaperbackedition2007
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Trigger,BruceG.
Understandingearlycivilizations:acomparativestudy/BruceG.Trigger.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-521-82245-9
1.Civilization,Ancient. 2.Socialarchaeology. 3.Prehistoricpeoples. I.Title.
cb311.t77 2003
930–dc21 2002074052
isbn978-0-521-822459hardback
isbn978-0-521-70545-5paperback
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Contents
ListofIllustrations pagevii
Preface ix
Introduction
1 RationalismandRelativism 3
2 ComparativeStudies 15
3 Defining‘EarlyCivilization’ 40
4 EvidenceandInterpretation 53
Sociopolitical Organization
5 Kingship 71
6 States:CityandTerritorial 92
7 Urbanism 120
8 ClassSystemsandSocialMobility 142
9 FamilyOrganizationandGenderRoles 167
10 Administration 195
11 Law 221
12 MilitaryOrganization 240
13 SociopoliticalConstantsandVariables 264
Economy
14 FoodProduction 279
15 LandOwnership 315
16 TradeandCraftSpecialization 338
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vi Contents
17 AppropriationofWealth 375
18 EconomicConstantsandVariables 395
Cognitive and Symbolic Aspects
19 ConceptionsoftheSupernatural 409
20 CosmologyandCosmogony 444
21 Cult 472
22 Priests,Festivals,andthePoliticsoftheSupernatural 495
23 TheIndividualandtheUniverse 522
24 EliteArtandArchitecture 541
25 LiteracyandSpecializedKnowledge 584
26 ValuesandPersonalAspirations 626
27 CulturalConstantsandVariables 638
Discussion
28 CultureandReason 653
29 Conclusion 684
References 689
Index 733
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Illustrations
2.1 Mapshowinglocationsofsevenearlycivilizations page30
2.2 Comparativechronologyofearlycivilizations 32
6.1 Mapsofcity-statecivilizations,atcommonscale 95
6.2 Mapsofterritorialstates,atcommonscale 105
7.1 UrbancentresinMesopotamiaandamongtheYoruba 128
7.2 UrbancentresinMesoamerica 130
7.3 UrbancentresinEgyptandtheInkakingdom 135
7.4 UrbancentresinChina 138
9.1 Housesinearlycivilizations 170
12.1 Inkabattlescene 246
12.2 Mesopotamianbattlescenes 258
14.1 Mesopotamianirrigationsystem 291
14.2 Egyptianagriculturalbasinsystem 296
14.3 AgricultureintheValleyofMexico 305
16.1 Femaleweaversinearlycivilizations 361
19.1 Deitiesasdepictedinearlycivilizations 427
24.1 ClassicMayaandValleyofMexicopaintingstyles 546
24.2 EarlyShangritualvesselscastinbronzefromZhengzhou 547
24.3 Statuesinearlycivilizations 548
24.4 Inkaartstyles 552
24.5 Kingssubduingenemies 560
24.6 Templesonraisedplatformsincity-states 569
24.7 Royalpalacesincity-states 574
25.1 EarlyrecordinginMesopotamiaandEgypt 589
25.2 DevelopmentofMesopotamiansigns 590
25.3 Formalcharacteristicsofwritingsystemsinearly
civilizations 592
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Preface
In1959,myfinalyearasanundergraduateattheUniversityofToronto,Ipro-
ducedapaperentitled‘ADefinitionofUrbanism’foracourseinwhichRonald
Cohen, then a young assistant professor, sought to introduce his students to
themostrecenttrendsinecologicalandneoevolutionaryanalysis.Icompared
the ecological, demographic, economic, social, political, and cultural charac-
teristicsoffiveurbancentres:Tenochtitlan,Akhetaton,Rome,andanancient
Mesopotamian and a medieval Western European city. I concluded that the
eclectic range of features exhibited by these urban centres did not support
GideonSjoberg’s(1955,1960)generalconstructofthe‘preindustrialcity’and
that the early development of cities must have been multilinear rather than
unilinear. My recent rediscovery of this early work in a dusty filing cabinet
reminded me of how long I have been interested in comparative studies of
earlycivilizations.
Intheautumnof1959,asagraduatestudentatYaleUniversity,Ihadtheop-
portunitytostudythetheoryandmethodsofcross-culturalcomparisonunder
theexpertguidanceofGeorgePeterMurdockandClellanFord.In1963–64,
I learned still more about this subject from Raoul Naroll, a senior colleague
at Northwestern University. To these anthropologists, none still living, the
presentworkowesagreatdebt.
After that time, my interest in comparative studies was in abeyance while
Iworkedonsettlementarchaeology,historicalarchaeology,andthehistoryof
archaeology. Since 1970, however, I have taught approximately every second
year a course at McGill University entitled ‘The Social Institutions of Early
Civilizations’ and more recently ‘Comparative Studies of Early Civilizations’.
Thiscourseencouragedmyinterestinhowearlycivilizationsfunctionedand
resultedinthepublicationofafewpapersbasedonthecomparativestudyof
suchsocieties(Trigger1972,1976b,1979,1985a,1985b,1990a,1990b).
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