Origins of Inequality
Origin of Inequality
Stark Inequality in Evolution
Size Difference
Alpha v Beta
Male v Female
Dimorphism
Apes high
Most closely related
Gorillas have Harems
Ancestors of Homo Sapiens have lower Dimorphism
We have lower body size difference than other primates
Is inequality natural?
Low in Gibbons
Hunter Gatherer Societies
Language introduced communication
Hunter-Gatherer societies egalitarian
Development of tools lowered power of Alpha Males
Little private property
Rise of Agriculture
Timeline
8500 BCE: Fertile Cresent
8000 BCE China
7000 BCE New Gueina
3500 BCE Andes
2500 BCE Mid-West
Benefits of Hunter Gathering
Better Nourished
Lived longer
Work less
Less prone to disease
Why was agriculture adopted?
Not near to animals
End of Ice Age (10000 BCE)
Human population declines
Extinction of Large Mammals
Availability of meat declines
Rise in temperature
Fertile lands for plant cultivation
Vegetables more & more mportant to humanity #
Domestication of Plants & Animals
Domestication of plants & animals more & more profitable
Selective breeding
Genetic makeup of plants and animals started to change
Heaving & more docile animals being selected by humans for reproduction
Fast growing, larger, more calorie heavy plants being eaten
Sedentary lifestyle leads to larger population
Why was Near East first?
Temperate Climate
Hella good plants & animals
A lot of them
Can be moved across Asia
First Cities, Invention of Writing
Near East
Diverse Geography
High Mountains
Zagros
Lebanon
Marshlands
South Iran
Fertile Lands
Good lord there is a lot
Euphrates
Desert
East Iraq
Rainfall
200mm: Dry farming possible
400mm Dry farming stable
Irrigations systems needed for agriculture
Mesopotamian Prehistory
8500: First permanent agricultural villages
7000: Agricultural goes to north mesopotamia
Relies on irrigation systems
4500 Ubaid Culture
4500 Rise in large village burials with obisidian imports
Unified material culture throughout Mesopotamia
Pottery
First appearance of inequality and class division
Uruk
4000 - 3500 BCE: Huge increase in settlements in Mesopotamia
3000 settlements die down
Uruk gigantic though
Why Uruk?
Location
On irrigated lands right next to the euphrates
Nearby Steppes
Animal Husbandry
Marshes provided fish & fowl
Urban Revolution
"Hey yall lets go into a city ay!"
Techonology
Seed Plow
Planting seeds more deeply in soil & enhance fertility
Organizational Innovation
Socialization of Labor
Proto Writing
Early writing represented by symbols led to accounting system
Specialized production & distrubution organized by temple officials
Evolution
Initially, symbols used to denote owners of individual goods
Symbols are used for similar-sounding words
Symbols turn into syllables
Most of population works
Accounting
Temple officals who owned land gave food to populace in fixed rations
Farmers
Fishers
Herdsmen
Gave produce to hierarchy of priests & burecracy
Headed by priest king
Legitimized wealth by claiming to be representing city god