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 her your appreciation for her hard work in the comments!

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. 13^th 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.