Category Archives: Bonus Blog

The Central Characteristic of State Authority





Bonus: Specialization and Tribute

The primary and secondary characteristics of a civilization seem to be relatively dependant on one another. With that, in my evaluation of which single primary characteristic and which single secondary characteristic is most integral to a civilization based on how it relates to the others. With that, I will start with the primary characteristic.

To me, specialization is the most important and most telling primary characteristic of a successful state. Specialization implies the presence of all other primary characteristics. With specialization, stratification will inevitably follow. Differing professions require differing pay and prestige. Beyond this, specialization would imply the presence of a complex economy. If your population has specific jobs and tasks to perform, your economy will thus become complex. Beyond this, the presence of specialization leads one to believe that said society is an urban one (one in which specialization can really count, as it can only exist within an urban environment), and that intensive agriculture is present. In this instance, one cannot have carpenters, soldiers, artisans, and sculptors if there is no food readily available. There is only one primary characteristic that I could see being somewhat exclusive from specialization, and that would be state authority. I cannot think of an instance in world history (off the top of my head) has happened, though I can certainly tell you that this would be the basis for the idea of anarchy (which would then do away with stratification as well). Nonetheless, specialization is absolutely integral to any developed civilization – without, the said civilization would surely fail.

In terms of secondary characteristics, I attempted to use the same method in order to single out one that is paramount. It was definitely more difficult, but I believe the most telling secondary characteristic would be the tribute or taxation imposed by the ruling government. I initially leaned toward writing, but I remembered that many ancient civilizations did not necessarily have a written language, but rather some form of hieroglyphics (though I am unsure as to whether this would count or not, so for the purposes of this blog, I will say they do not). The idea that a government would have the power to enforce some type of tribute or taxation implies a fairly well developed civilization. I cannot necessarily make the argument that every other secondary characteristic is dependent on this one, but it seems to fit in well within the theme of the primary characteristics.

State Art: Luxury of the Successful





Bonus blog: agriculture

It is difficult to say which of the six primary and numerous secondary characteristics of a state are most important: they are all so interrelated that trying to determine the most important is like trying to determine if the chicken or the egg came first. However, in my opinion, the most important is agriculture. Taken by itself it is not the be-all, end-all, but its occurrence is generally what sparks the emergence of the other characteristics. And, it is that it is fairly easy for archaeologists to find tangible evidence of intensive agriculture (for example, changed plant/animal distribution, changes in the features of plants/animals as seen in fossils, sickle sheen on blades). This is in contrast to some other state characteristics, such as state authority and state religion, because the information we have on these latter characteristics is often gathered through ethnohistory, which is generally nonconcrete information that requires extrapolation.

Arguably, nearly all of the primary characteristics are reliant on the preestablishment of intensive agriculture. Intensive agriculture occurs only in nonnomadic groups, and as the agriculture becomes more productive, it necessitates the establishment of storage buildings and some sort of administrators to distribute the harvest (so, more buildings and more people; thus, urbanism). When such large surpluses occur and there is a large enough amount of people devoted to maintaining the agricultural side of things, we also see the emergence of skilled workers who can dedicate their time to specialized crafts without fear of starving. These large surpluses also allow the state to start forming a complex economy–an excess of harvest goods allows it to exchange food and specialized crafts in exchange for items not readily available in its locality, thus developing   often-long-distance trade networks.

With the aforementioned establishment of distribution administrators also comes state authority (although not necessarily right away). Those with the power to control the distribution of food eventually find that they have all the power and therefore can make (and enforce) decisions. Here is where we typically also start to see the development of social stratification, with the state authority forming the upper class, then skilled laborers, then farmers. And of course, agriculture and the primary characteristics that emerge because of it influence secondary state characteristics such as epidemic disease (due to the high concentration of people around the productive agriculture zones) and state art, writing, and metallurgy (at a certain point, not everyone has to dedicate all of their time to agriculture; this is an aspect of specialization).

In sum, while all primary characteristics are extremely coinfluencial, agriculture often has to be the first to occur. It is difficult to imagine, for instance, a highly urbanized city that emerged before intensive agriculture was established or a complex economy that came into being before a community had a relatively easy, steady, reliable source of food.

Agriculture: The catalyst for all Characteristics of a State







