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| Elaborate burial of the Shang Dynasty (Image Source: Khan Academy) |
By:
Sarah Gardner
According to the textbook Anthropology, a state level society is,
“an autonomous political unit with centralized decision making over many
communities with power to govern by force (e.g., to collect taxes, draft people
for work and war, and make and enforce laws). Most states have cities with
public buildings; full-time craft and religious specialists; an “official” art
style; a hierarchical social structure topped by an elite class; and a
government monopoly on the legitimate use of force to implement policies”
(Ember et al. 524). In other words, a state level society is a community that
has become larger, more organized, more secure, and relatively more advanced
than the “chiefdom” level society that preceded it. In this assignment I will
discuss the general advantages/disadvantages that are associated with this
change in status, why specifically the Shang Dynasty is considered a state
level society, and finally the archaeological evidence and theories that
support this idea.
There are many advantages and
disadvantages that are associated with becoming a state level society. One
advantage is that as agriculture becomes more efficient, it does not require so
many people to maintain it. Many of the people in a region are freed up to
pursue and develop other skills/crafts and to participate in art, music, and
religious practices (Ember et al. 216). Populations tend to grow rapidly at
this point and to concentrate in cities, which can be good for defensive
purposes. The exponential growth of cities leads to the need for systematic
organization, some sort of governing body, and a way to enforce the new rules
(Ember et al. 215). Overall there is more safety and order, which allows a
community to thrive. A negative aspect associated with the state level society
is that a difference in the status or class of individual households develops.
This eventually leads to the increase of a very poor, usually unhealthy lower
class and because cities are so densely populated, disease can spread rapidly.
Additionally, the issue of food security is a concern (Ember et al. 218). If
most of the food for a city is being imported from far outside of the city then
there is a potential for that food supply to be interrupted or cut off
completely.
The Shang Dynasty in ancient China
(from about 1766 - 1046 B.C.) had many of the classic characteristics of a state
level society. One of the most important qualifications is that there is a centralized
authority that governs several outlier communities. There is evidence that the
Shang Dynasty did practice this from its capital city, present day Zhengzhou, and
it is stated, “These states are referred to generally
as the “outside territories,” and are the subjects of the king with
well-defined rights and responsibilities and a system of administration laid
down by the Shang central government” ( Xue 67). Xue also notes that several
“craft quarters” (another qualification for a state level society) have been
discovered, each specializing in something different such as jade, bronze,
bone, or ceramics (76-77). Finally, there is clear evidence that the Shang Dynasty
had highly developed religious practices (yet another qualification for state
level societies) and they constructed, “Large erected rocks and many [human]
sacrificial pits that point to religious or worshipping functions” (Xue 75).
Many archaeological sites and
artifacts of the Shang Dynasty have been discovered and subsequently support
the claim that they were a state level society. The most numerous are the
oracle bones, which are among the earliest known forms of Chinese writings. A religious official would inscribe a piece
of shell or animal bone with a question or topic of the king’s choosing, and
the shell or bone would then be heated until it cracked and the prophecy of the
future would be read in the patterns of the crack. It is written, “Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, there have
been over 100,000 pieces of animal shells or bones discovered” (Lee et
al. 9). Another common Shang Dynasty era artifact is
numerous pieces made of bronze. While the rest of the world was just becoming
acquainted with bronze, the Shang were already highly skilled with this metal.
They fashioned bronze into many ritual serving containers and weapons, as is
noted in the book China, “Many
bronze artifacts exist today from the Shang dynasty. It is clear they were
excellent metalworkers” (Lee et al. 9). These archaeological evidences
demonstrate that the Shang Dynasty had a hierarchical social structure (in this
case headed by a king), centralized decision making, specialized bronze-working
craftsmen, and religious authorities; all of these are components of a state
level society.
In closing, the Shang Dynasty meets
all of the stipulations listed in our textbook, Anthropology, for being classified as a state level society.
Centralized decision making is evidenced by the existence of a king and outlier
communities, full time crafts specialists who worked with bronze were clearly
established, and religious specialists were confirmed by the abundance of the
oracle bones and ritualistic dishes. Social stratification and the presence of
an elite class has also been observed: “By the Late Shang an elite minority of
administrators, warriors, and religious figures was controlling, and benefiting
from, the labors of the rest of the population” (Keightley 1). Finally,
according to some of the questions inscribed on the oracle bones, and the very
existence of a “warrior” class points to the fact that the government
maintained and authorized the use of force to implement and enforce rules.
Works Cited
Ember, Carol R., et al. Anthropology. 13th ed., Prentice Hall, 2011.
Keightley, David N. These
Bones Shall Rise Again : Selected Writings on Early China. State University
of New York Press, 2013. EBSCOhost.
Lee, Gisela, et al. China.
Primary Source Readers. World Cultures Through Time. Teacher Created Materials,
2007. EBSCOhost.
Xue, Fengxuan. Chinese City
and Urbanism: Evolution and Development. World Scientific, 2010. EBSCOhost.
2 comments:
State level societies are good and bad. Although, I personally see more good and like the fact that states can make separate rules as its own entity just not above the federal government.
that would be messed up if their food supply was cut off, then what would they do? how would they get their food?
-Kyla Thomas
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