Spotlight on Students: The Archaeology of States

In this latest installment of the Spotlight on Students series my SA 202 students were tasked with applying their lessons about state level societies to explaining one such society that existed in the past.  The following are exemplary examples of their great works.  Show them your appreciation for their hard work in the comments!

The site of Teotihuacan (© Frédéric Letullier)

By: Kara Bernskoetter

            Shortly after the time of Christ, a city-state named Teotihuacán reached its peak. Teotihuacán was located in the northeastern Valley of Mexico (northeast of present day Mexico City). Before its peak, the area consisted mostly of small, scattered farming villages on the hilly slopes of the valley with few citizens (Ember et al 212). These areas all became part of the state level society known as Teotihuacán. The goal of this paper is to define a state level society and demonstrate why Teotihuacán is considered one.

            A state level society is “an autonomous political unit with centralized decision making over many communities with power to govern by force (collect taxes, draft people for work and war, and make and enforce laws) and a hierarchical social structure topped by an elite class with a governmental monopoly to use force to implement policies” (Ember et al 212). Each village surrounding Teotihuacán had only a few hundred people and each were politically independent. Between 300 and 200 B.C., elite centers rose in the valley. By A.D. 100, the population in the Teotihuacán Valley had grown to 80,000 (Ember et al 212). By A.D. 500, 90% of the valley population was drawn to the center of Teotihuacán (Ember et al 212). Population growth at this rate calls for organized government. Teotihuacán met the qualifications of being a state by possibly having an oligarchic republic for government, which later shifted to a stronger centralized government with one leader that ruled the valley (Univeristy of Montana, 2007). The specific time period of each kind of government of Teotihuacán is still a mystery to many anthropologists today. Each village had only a few hundred people and each was politically independent. Between 300 and 200 B.C., elite centers rose in the valley. By A.D. 100, the population in the Teotihuacán Valley had grown to 80,000 (Ember et al 212). By A.D. 500, 90% of the valley population was drawn to the center of Teotihuacán (Ember et al 212).

            There are theories about the origins of state societies that explain why Teotihuacán, and other states like it, developed. The first theory is about irrigation. Irrigation seems to play a major role in the region that state societies were developed in. Irrigation made the land “habitable” and productive for agriculture (Ember et al 215). Agriculture is needed to sustain any permanent settlement. The need for labor and resource management over irrigation may have led to a formation of the political elite and therefore a centralized government (Ember et al 215). These people that oversaw the irrigation system then became the governors of the society. This increased production led to specialization within the state and the need for defense. The Teotihuacán Valley was excavated in 2013. Small floodwater irrigation systems were found under a residential structure. Radiocarbon dating in the ceramic showed that the architecture dated back to A.D. 200-300 (Nichols, 2013). Most of the irrigation system remains measured around 30 centimeters wide (Nichols, 2013). This is the first of its kind found in this area of Mesoamerica.

            The second theory about the origins of state level societies is about population growth, circumscription, and war. Circumscription just means restrictions or within limits: i.e. circumscribed shapes in other shapes. Anthropologist Robert Carneiro says, “states could emerge because of population growth if an area is physically or socially limited” (Ember et al 215). Wars and competition leads to the subordination of defeated groups. These groups must submit to the group that defeated them. Defeating other settlements increases population size, eventually leading to the development of larger, more organized states. Social circumscription is just as important as environmental circumscription. Migration is harder with difficult terrain such as mountains or deserts (environmental), but it may be even harder to move if other settlements or people are close by (Ember et al 215). Even in areas with no geographical circumscription, Carneiro’s theory still applies. In the Teotihuacán Valley, large architecture (like the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon) contributed to population growth as well (Cowgill, 2015). These pyramids signaled that religion was a large influence in Teotihuacán. Anthropologists excavated four tunnels leading into the Pyramid of the Sun. The tunnels are the result of “quarrying porous volcanic materials underneath the volcanic tuff” which date back to around A.D. 150 (Manzanilla, 2008). This pyramid also is where they buried some of the dead, showing that death and the afterlife is very important (Manzanilla, 2008). Connections with others were vital to a civilization.

            The third theory deals with local and long-distance trade. Without trade, a civilization is limited to only the resources available in that region. By trading, an area can increase their resources and receive vital things their society might need like salt or different rocks (Stoner, 2015). By developing a trade relationship with those nearby, cultural elements are shared, making the trading partners very similar. Sometimes, they may even come together to make a bigger society that can become a state level society. Trade leads to social statification, which is why we see social classes forming in Mesoamerica around this time. Trade provides insight of the “social complexity” in this region of the world (Stoner, 2015). Anthropolgist William Stoner was excavating the Teotihuacán Valley and found white, engraved ceramics, made of obsidian that matched the obsidian native to Altica (Stoner, 2015). The chemical makeup and engravings of the ceramics match the ones in Altica, which is located near Teotihuacán in the Teotihuacán Valley and became a part of the Teotihuacán state (Stoner, 2015). This example supports the trade theory. Surrounding and even long-distance civilizations can depend on another and can lead to the combining of settlements into states level societies.

            State level societies are civilizations with a strong, centralized political system. Teotihuacán meets the three theories, irrigation, populations growth, and trade, that explain the origins of state level societies. It is considered the first model for urbanization and large-scale planning of the New World.

Works Cited

Cowgill, G. (2015, January 26). Origins and Developments of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives. Retrieved from Annual Reviews: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25064864

Ember, C. M. (2011). Anthropolgy - 13th Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Manzanilla, L. C. (2008, October 10). Dating Results from Excavations at Quarry Tunnels Behind the Pyramind of the Sun at Teotihuacan. Retrieved from Cambridge University Press: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0956536100001450

Nichols, D. M. (2013, May 17). Watering the Field of the Teotihuacán. Retrieved from Cambridge University - Ancient Mesoamerica: http://journals.cambridge.org/ATM

Stoner, W. D. (2015, January 22). The emergence of Early–Middle Formative exchange patterns in Mesoamerica: A view from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley. Retrieved from Journal of Anthropological Archaeology: journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/ locate/ jaa

Univeristy of Montana. (2007, September 12). State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Retrieved from Annual Review of Anthropolgy: arjournals.annualreviews.org