"On a mountain of skulls, in the castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood! What was will be! What is will be no more! Now is the season of evil!"
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 01/11/2011 7:00:06 AM PST by decimon
During the first part of the Bronze Age in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe, a large proportion of the population lived in what are known as tell-building societies. A thesis in archaeology from the University of Gothenburg shows that the leaders of these societies had the ability to combine several sources of power in an effective way in order to dominate the rest of the population, which contributed towards creating a notably stable social system. Tell-building societies are named after a distinct form of settlements with a high density of population and construction, which over the course of time accumulated such thick cultural layers that they took on the shape of low mounds.
On the basis of a discussion and analysis of previously published material from the Carpathian Basin and new findings from the tell settlement Százhalombatta-Földvár in Hungary, the author of the thesis, Claes Uhnér, describes the ways in which leaders could exercise power. Tell-building societies had relatively advanced economies. The subsistence economy, which was based on agricultural production and animal husbandry, produced a good return, and the societies were involved in regional and long-distance exchange of bronzes and other valuable craft products. "By exercising a degree of control over these parts of the economy, it was possible for leaders to finance political activities and power- exerting organisations," says Uhnér. He shows in his thesis that, through military power, leaders were able to control surrounding settlements from fortified tells. As the majority of these settlements were situated next to rivers and other natural transport routes, they could demand tribute from passing trade expeditions and act as intermediaries in the exchange of goods that took place in the region. In addition, a large tell was a manifestation of a successful society with a long history. This situation made it possible for leaders to use the cultural traditions of the society in ideological power strategies.
"The tells served as physical manifestations of a social system that worked well, which legitimised the social position of the elites and their right to lead. An important conclusion drawn by Uhnér is that the sources of power could be used in strategies where they supported each other. Economic power made it possible to master military and ideological means of power. Military power was utilised to safeguard economic and ideological resources, while ideology legitimised the social system. This was largely possible because the tell settlements served as political power centres. Redistribution of staples and specialised production was attached to these sites, and they had key military and ideological significance. "By controlling tells and the activities carried out in them, leaders had an organisational advantage over the rest of the population, and others found it very difficult to build up competing power positions," says Uhnér. The thesis has been successfully defended.
Do tell ping.
In case of dispute didn’t the elites simply have a few neighbors brought over for dinner?
Let’s all celebrate the invention of tyranny.
Chianti, fava beans and good neighbors.
Human nature, manifest.
"On a mountain of skulls, in the castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood! What was will be! What is will be no more! Now is the season of evil!"
Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end...
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I think it was Harrahs doing the work.
As part of the business of prepping a site in Indiana you have to do a cultural survey to make sure you are not messing with someone's pioneer or American Indian graveyard, or obscuring or damaging a Clovis site (yup, lots of them there), or dealing a deadly blow to future mineral wealth, or environmental needs.
So, Harrahs hired somebody to do the work up on the bluffs above the Ohio and they discovered the largest single repository of Woodland Indian arrow points, axe points, etc., et al ever discovered in history. There were MILLIONS of the things in what appeared to be a Paleolithic FACTORY. (NOTE: it's all set aside as an archaeological preserve for perpetuity ~ and although it cost Harrahs something, you don't find things like this just anywhere).
The Shawnee Indians controlled that site, and the Falls on the Ohio at what is now Louisville for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
It was pretty doggone obvious that they had both the economic power and the military power to do what they wanted ~ in much the same fashion in fact. They didn't need to build a tall building ~ just take the flint facility at the top of the hill overlooking those falls and they were nearly invulnerable.
(NOTE: This is why the Woodland "style" is so terribly uniform for such a long period of time. The points were actually made at a central location from the same deposit of stone. Your grand father's collection is probably worthless, but keep it anyway. My Clovis collection is still good.)
And as a bonus, at the end of the tour you get to throw an atlatl at a buffalo decoy.
Some years ago I saw a National Geographic article about one of these tells. It was about 50 feet high. I think they estimated that each generation represented about 6 inches of crumbled house debris. They had dug a trench and some of the oldest pottery (more than 6,000 years old) was the most colorful and creative. Then about 3,000 years ago the pottery was well made but very drab and depressing. I think this was in Bulgaria.
Yeah, I could see that. ;’)
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