Learning Outcomes:

1.  Explore the common and anthropological definitions of "civilization."

2.  Identify the diverse factors underlying the transformation from chiefdoms to states.

3.  Identify the parallel facotrs of the primary state systems comprising the earliest civilizations.

4.  Compare the historical and ecological foundations of primary state formation.

5.  Extend theories of civilization to include "World System" theory of Immanuel Wallerstein.

6.  Apply World System concepts to contemporary political economy.

Introduction: The concepts of "Civilization" and "State" as foundations for the study of complex society.

1.  Course Preliminary Examination (not graded):    This exercise is designed to help me set the emphasis in lectures.  I will be seeking a common ground for my lectures, as well as areas of individual expertise we may use in organizing the group discussion sessions.  The questions will also help identify for students the range of topics to be engaged in the course.

2.  Primary States and Kin-Based Social Organization: Hypotheses of State Formation.  Kinship.  Rank and caste systems.  Totemism and craft specialization.

3.  General Discussion:  The cultural attributes of states: cities, writing, monuments, art, and polity.

4.  General Discussion:  The ecological dimensions of state formation: environmental and demographic processes leading to large-scale organization.  Water control.  Prediction of natural events.  Religious specialization.  Allocation of land.  Domestication and husbandry.

5.  Institutionalization of Power

6.  Mesopotamia:  Prehistoric Foundations.  The Mesopotamia section also includes some foundational material relating to all of the Old World Neolithic, especially in the area of the origins of writing and related symbolic systems attested in the archaeological record.

7.  Mesopotamia:  Distinctive Regional Cultural Patterns

8.  Mesopotamia:  Evaluation

9.  Discussion:  Semitic and Indo-European Hegemonies in "Western Civilization."  This class will review the arguments pertinent to Marija Gimbutas' treatment of the "Kurgan" culture as a late Neolithic early Bronze Age development in Western Europe and the Middle East.  First Summary Essay Due for Reading in Class

10.  Egypt:  Documentary and Archaeological Background

11.  Egypt:  The Nile and Distinctive Political Developments in Northeast Africa

12.  Egypt:  Evaluation

13.  Discussion:  Later Egyptian Culture and the Cultures of Crete and Greece.  This class will synthesize the information on the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterannean region.  Second Summary Essay Due for Reading in Class.

14.  Indus Valley:  Sanskrit and the Legal Foundations of Indian Civilization

15.  Indus Valley and China:  Some broad comparisons.

16.  China:  The Influence of Iconic Writing on the Development of Civilization in East Asia

17.  China:  Evaluation and Discussion.  At least a part of this class will deal with hydrolic theories of state-level development.  We will also during this part of the course deal with Immanuel Wallerstein's notions of World Empires as an aspect of World System Theory.  Third Summary Essay Due for Reading in Class

18.  Mesoamerica:  Preclassic Developments

19.  Mesoamerica:  The Maya, the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs, and Classic Traditions in the Valley of Mexico.

20.  Mesoamerica:  Contact and the Fall of Mesoamerican Civilization: Comparison of the Levels of Sociocultural Integration of the Spanish and Aztec cultures.

21.  Evaluation  and Discussion.  This class will emphasize the idea of kin-based polity in the formation of state-level systems. Fourth Summary Essay Due for Reading in Class

22.  Inca Civilization:  Complex Society without the Wheel

23.  Inca Civilization:  The Extent of Inca Control on the Eve of Contact

24.  Inca Civilization:  Weaving and Stonework

25.  Evaluation and Discussion.  The Inca Civilization presents several unique contrasts to the other examples of primary state formation.  The class will identify these and attempt to account for them.  Fifth Summary Essay Due for Reading in Class

26.  Secondary State-Level Developments in Europe, Africa, and Asia

27.  World Empires and "Civilization".  This class will combine consideration of Wallerstein's "world system theory" with the functional treatment of Western institutions in D.N. Fustel de Coulanges' Ancient City.

Final Exam

The final examination will cover cultural processes and hypotheses of state formation, taking into account all of the six classical examples of primary state formation and the development of institutional structures identifiable as "civilization."  Students will be working from an extended list of attributes and qualities discovered through the work of the class.  The examination is an essay test with at least one general question and some questions addressing individual student interests.