Chapter 9: People and Society in the Past

Multiple Choice Questions

Test me now

Weblinks

This final theme examines the way human societies organised themselves in the past and looks at evidence for social divisions and change.

General sources

A good source of short summary papers including recent research is the Comparative Archaeology Ring at:
http://www.comp-archaeology.org/

What is social archaeology?

9.1 Forms of social and political organisation

A good introduction to types of society (including video clips) is at:
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/glues/societyintro.html

Minoan Crete http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MINOA/CONTENTS.HTM

A useful source of timelines and introductions to major civilisations is at:
http://www.timemaps.com/atlas/index.html

The BBC has an interactive package linking civilisation and religion at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/civilisations/index.shtml

9.2 The archaeology of power and social control

This section will include articles on the evidence for power and social control in the past and also provide case studies.

The Palette of Narmer is an early example of the way rulers projected themselves:
http://www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/0101_narmer/palette.html

An anthropological discussion of power in egalitarian societies is at:
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/glues/leadership.html

9.3 The archaeology of rank and status

This section will include articles on the evidence for social and economic hierarchies in the past and also provide case studies.

A 3D recreation of part of a palace is at:
http://www.learningsites.com/NWPalace/NWPalhome.html

The Hebridean Iron Age including brochs is at:
http://www.arcl.ed.ac.uk/arch/publications/hebrides/

9.4 The archaeology of gender

Venus of Willendorf http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/
Women in Egypt http://www.utexas.edu/courses/denbow/labs/egypt2.htm

9.5 The archaeology of population and ethnicity

Anglo Saxons http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/4/Matthews.html

Ancient diets:
Paleodietary research group http://www.staff.brad.ac.uk/mprichar/PRGMain.html
DNA is explained at http://www.dnaheritage.com/masterclass2.asp

9.6 The archaeology of social change

The collapse of a civilisation is illustrated at:
Minoan collapse http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/minoan_01.shtml

9.7 The archaeology of social conflict

This section includes the archaeology of warfare.

Britain's WW2 heritage is recorded at:
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/index.html
Languard Fort (UK) http://www.landguard.com/
Towton http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/TowtonBattlefield
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/archsci/depart/report97/towton.htm

Assyrian sites including Nineveh and Nimrud are at:
http://www.crystalinks.com/nineveh.html

A 2D walkthrough of a palace is at:
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/palaces/explore/exp_set.html

Battlefield archaeology in general:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/excavations_techniques

D Day beaches http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/excavations_techniques
Napoleons' army http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/excavations_techniques/

A webquest on Oetzi the Iceman is at:
http://www.rdsc.vic.edu.au/oetzi/oetzi.htm

Diet:
http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/isoig/projects/fingernails/results/interpretdata.html

9.8 Human origins

The Max Planck Institute homepage for human evolution is:
http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/index.htm

Originsnet provides a really useful starting point for this topic http://www.originsnet.org/home.html as does the University of Southampton site http://www.soton.ac.uk/~drus105/caho/index.html

An academic discussion of the application of Y chromosome research is at:
http://www.le.ac.uk/genetics/maj4/JoblingTS.03.NRG.Review.pdf
http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/Science_2000_v290_p1155.pdf

Haplogroup maps are at:
http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mcdonald/WorldHaplogroupsMaps.pdf

A chromosome distribution map is at:
http://www.dnaheritage.com/ysnptree.asp

The genographic project:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/t/the_genographic_project.htm

A website with useful graphics on the spread of humans is at:
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

An early upper Palaeolithic cave site in Turkey is at:
http://web.arizona.edu/~hatayup/

A range of useful European Palaeolithic resources are at:
http://donsmaps.com/index.html#sites

Zinken provides a wide range of links at:
http://zinken.typepad.com/palaeo/

An overview of Palaeolithic lithic assemblages is at:
http://www.hf.uio.no/iakh/forskning/sarc/iakh/lithic/sarc.html

Robert Bednarik's paper on beads is at:
http://www.semioticon.com/frontline/bednarik.htm

Boxgrove http://matt.pope.users.btopenworld.com/boxgrove/boxhome.htm

Shotton River Project (Midlands) http://www.arch-ant.bham.ac.uk/shottonproject/iceage.htm