9 - Reconstructing social processes

Summary

State emergence is a relatively rapid, though of course not instantaneous, transformation following on a period of cyclical conflict and limited growth. The parallels between independent cases encourage further efforts to construct general explanations for these phenomena, however they are defined.

Henry Wright (1986: 358)

Introduction

Recent studies of social–cultural evolution have treated the topic from two approaches: process and agency; the relationship between them should be complementary, since most processes are long-term patterns of behavior by multiple agents (Flannery 1999: 18). In the previous chapters I have discussed both process and agency in the development of complex society in the Yellow River region. There are some general tendencies toward social complexity, while social change was affected by multiple factors in no predetermined sequence. The variables affecting social process include environmental and ecological conditions, demographic changes, factional competition, ritual activities, craft specialization, and regional interaction. In this final chapter, I will attempt to offer a comprehensive reconstruction of developmental trajectories toward early states in China. This reconstruction will, in turn, provide the basis for a discussion about the theoretical implications of archaeological research on complex society. These implications are viewed from two perspectives: first, a general evolutionary progress in socio-political hierarchy and integration; and, second, the interplay between particular cultural dynamics and environmental conditions, which affected the variability of social evolution.

Development of social hierarchy and integration

Clear evidence of social hierarchy first occurred in western Henan during the mid-Yangshao period (ca. 4000–3500 BC).