Ch8 States and Empires in Asia and Africa 02 16 2014 Introduction Asia and Africa After the Transition on Agriculture The rise of early states and urban centers Look at rise of hierarchical polities and exchange networks that linked them from the dawn of polities across Asia and in parts of Africa Rise of hierarchical polities generally linked with economic traditions in exchange and production In Eurasia and Africa distribution of goods relatively inexpensively give rise to increasingly large scale and specialized craft industries Although frequently controlled by independent entrepreneurs over time offer central political institutions greater opportunities for limiting access and concentrating wealth As societies increase in size and organizational complexity mechanisms of exchange also shift from face to face contacts to tribute and marketing Specific sequences of transition and rates of change not uniform as well as specific organization of different states Some focused on exclusive power of individual rulers for families others more dispersed power sharing arrangements World s first states evolved in Mesopotamia where temple institution became key focus Mesopotamian temple functioned differently than the Mesoamerican temple Mesopotamian had a key economic role received goods through tribute and then redistributed a portion during feasts and other activities Scholars agree large scale irrigation was key feature of early Mesopotamian civilization and remnants of ancient waterways still evident in desiccated landscape specific relationship between water management and state development in Southwest Asia remains matter for debate Some argue allocation of water and maintenance of canals necessitated some kind of central authority Others suggest monumental water control systems were built only after rise of powerful states After rise of early Asian civilizations waves of communication and exchange by land and sea between the Indus region China and Southwest Asia helped fuel waves of political expansion and fragmentation in Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Laos and neighboring lands Site Eridu 02 16 2014 An early ceremonial center in Mesopotamia For past 10 000 years people of Southwest Asia lived in farming communities Built their houses settlements of mud bricks deteriorated quickly and forcing rebuilding abodes built up to create tells around the o Mounds contain debris from thousands of years of habitation Ancient irrigation canals also cover landscape of Southwest Asia for past 7000 years irrigation has been practiced in this part of the landscape world o Remnants of canals remain a visible reminder of the region s rich archaeological past Soils of alluvial pain are deposited by annual floods of Tigris and Euphrates rivers irrigation through these rivers as well No early agricultural villages have been recorded on the flat plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq area known as Mesopotamia but site of first developed civilization By 6000 B C first scattered farming villages were settled on northern fringe of Tigris and Euphrates floodplain By 5500 B C a new style of painted pottery called Halafian had spread throughout a wide area of northern Mesopotamia replacing the monochrome wares that had been made previously o Remarkable similarity of Halafian pottery over a wide area suggests that small villages were linked into far reaching networks Shortly after Halafian ceramics in north Mesopotamian settlements began to increase in size and abundance in the southern alluvial plains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers area known as Sumer No sedentary villages before 6th millennium B C have yet been recorded in this area Economy based on fish irrigation agriculture and domestic cattle Sumer became a demographic and political core of Southwest Asia for most of the next 4000 years The Ubaid period which began the sequence was marked by an increasing reliance on canal irrigation and the establishment of the temple First villages in southern Mesopotamia were small but very rapidly a few of the settlement increased in size and importance Eridu one of the earliest known settlements on the southern Mesopotamian alluvium was established before the end of 6th millennium B C Ancient Sumerian accounts of creation name Eridu as one of the first communities to emerge from the primeval sea Architectural plan of significant nonresidential structure bears similarity to later Sumerian temple suggest that it may have served as an early temple may have been used for offerings Temple institution may have had antecedents that preceded the movement of populations into Mesopotamia s southern alluvium Tholoi ancient Mesopotamian round structures that often were attached to a rectangular antechamber or annex resulting in a keyhole shape Temple institution was a focal point of early civilizations in Southwest Asia questions about its origin and antecedents are important for Southwest Asian history If temple emerged only in Sumer its development may be linked to the increasing and necessary reliance on canal irrigation o Management of irrigation systems requires cooperation among farming populations to allocate water and maintain canals particular problem with Sumer rivers carry and deposit great quantities of silt In antecedents of the temple were established before the occupation of the southern Mesopotamian alluvium perhaps the movement into Sumer became possible only once a central redistributive institution such as the temple was in place Without integrative institution agricultural hazards of flooding drought and dust storms could not have overcome Irrigation management may have been responsible for the expansion and elaboration of the temple institution but not for initiation Another consequence of irrigation is that it tends to enhance disparities in agricultural productivity and hence land value In Sumer emerging inequalities in agrarian production may have fostered increasing economic stratification By 4500 B C southern Mesopotamian alluvium was dotted with towns and public buildings Based on irrigation farming economy produced enough food to support a growing population yielded a surplus that supported craft producers and decision makers Development of the temple institution and spread of canal irrigation were key features of the Ubaid period in southern Mesopotamia Period identified by widespread monochrome pottery decorated with geometric designs Also characterized by population