Section: Social Complexity

Subsection: Hierarchical Complexity

Settlement Hierarchy

settlement hierarchy records (in levels) the hierarchy of not just settlement sizes, but also their complexity as reflected in different roles they play within the (quasi)polity. as settlements become more populous they acquire more complex functions: transportational (e.g. port); economic (e.g. market); administrative (e.g. storehouse, local government building); cultural (e.g. theatre); religious (e.g. temple), utilitarian (e.g. hospital), monumental (e.g. statues, plazas). example: (1) large city (monumental structures, theatre, market, hospital, central government buildings) (2) city (market, theatre, regional government buildings) (3) large town (market, administrative buildings) (4) town (administrative buildings, storehouse)) (5) village (shrine) (6) hamlet (residential only). in the narrative paragraph explain the different levels and list their functions. provide a (crude) estimate of population sizes. for example, large town (market, temple, administrative buildings): 2,000-5,000 inhabitants. (See here)

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Variable	Definition
Polity	The Seshat Polity ID
Year(s)	The years for which we have the data. [negative = BCE]
Tag	[Evidenced, Disputed, Suspected, Inferred, Unknown]
Verified	A Seshat Expert has approved this piece of data.

Variable	Definition
settlement_hierarchy_from	The lower range of settlement hierarchy for a polity.
settlement_hierarchy_to	The upper range of settlement hierarchy for a polity.

Actual Data:

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#	Polity	Year(s)	Settlement Hierarchy from	Settlement Hierarchy to	Description	Edit
91	(Kingdom of Hawaii - Post-Kamehameha Period)	Full Year Range of Kingdom of Hawaii - Post-Kamehameha Period is assumed. [1820, 1898]	3	3	None
92	(Anglo-Saxon England I)	Full Year Range of Anglo-Saxon England I is assumed. [410, 926]	6	6	None
93	(Napoleonic France)	Full Year Range of Napoleonic France is assumed. [1816, 1870]	6	6	None
94	(Austro-Hungarian Monarchy)	Full Year Range of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is assumed. [1867, 1918]	5	5	None
95	(Holy Roman Empire - Ottonian-Salian Dynasty)	Full Year Range of Holy Roman Empire - Ottonian-Salian Dynasty is assumed. [919, 1125]	5	5	None
96	(British Empire II)	Full Year Range of British Empire II is assumed. [1850, 1968]	6	6	None
97	(Qasimid Dynasty XXXXXXX)	Full Year Range of Qasimid Dynasty XXXXXXX is assumed. [1637, 1805]	3	3	None
98	(Qin Empire)	Full Year Range of Qin Empire is assumed. [-338, -207]	5	5	None
99	(Plantagenet England)	Full Year Range of Plantagenet England is assumed. [1154, 1485]	4	4	None
100	(Early East Africa Iron Age)	Full Year Range of Early East Africa Iron Age is assumed. [200, 499]	1	1	levels. Autonomous homesteads. "The ubiquity of Urewe [ceramics], coupled with its relatively small size, suggests that these vessels were produced and used by family-groups, and on a regular, domestic level. However, it is evident that Urewe-related activities also transcend the purely utilitarian realm, with the remarkable emphasis placed on quality of production. On the domestic level, this investment in commonplace objects may be an example of ceramics being used as tools of social cohesion or as the 'channels through which society implants its values in the individual—every day at mealtimes' (David et al. 1988: 379). As such, the importance of family and the home is emphasised through investment in key domestic goods—ceramics. This picture of small-scale, familial units fits well with the wider evidence from archaeology, which suggests these early communities probably consisted of dispersed networks of homesteads, rather than centralised societies (Reid 1994/5; Van Grunderbeek et al. 1983)." [Ashley 2010, p. 146]

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